This is my signature dish! I’ve spent years perfecting every little detail to make the perfect confit duck. The greatest compliment I have had was from a French guest who said it was better than her Grandmothers.
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Ingredients
Green Salt
- .5 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 4 tbsp Maldon sea salt
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley leaves roughly chopped
- 3 bay leaves roughly chopped
Confit Duck
- 4 duck legs
- 4 tbsp Green salt
- 1 kg duck fat enough to cover the legs
Equipment
- Infrared Temperature Gauge
- Duck fat
- Mini Blender
Instructions
Start by making the green salt
- Using a mortar and pestle break down the black pepper. Add to the food processor with all the other salt ingredients and blitz to make a fragrant green salt.
Cure the duck legs
- Use a tablespoon of green salt per duck leg and rub it all over. Lie skin side down on a tray, cover loosely and leave in the fridge for up to 8 hours.
- Remove from the fridge and you will see the water released in the bottom of the tray. Rinse each leg under the tap and pat dry.
Confit the legs
- Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 1/140C/120C Fan. Make sure you know the temperature of your oven, it should not be hotter that 120C in a fan oven
- In a the deep roasting tin or heat resistant casserole dish, melt the duck fat on the stove top. Add the duck legs skin side up.
- Cover with a cartouche and put in the oven for 2 and ¾ hours.
- Remove from the oven and the flesh should have moved away from the top of the drumstick. At this point you can store in the fridge covered in fat for future use.
To serve
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 9/240C/220C fan,
- Remove the legs from the fat, shaking as much excess off as possible. place on the baking tray and put in the hot oven for 20 minutes to crisp the skin.
- Once cooked and the skin is nicec and crispy, remove from the ovena nd drain off the excess duck fat. Keep this as you can use it several times over or for roast potatoes etc.
- Server with my potato rosti and a nice irony cavelo nero
Re-use the duck fat
- Allow the drained fat to cool and put in the fridge. The impurities and stock will set at the bottom and you can scrap the duck fat off the top and store to use again. In this instance, you cannot keep the stock that’s left at the bottom as it will be too salty to use in sauces.
Nutrition
Calories: 379kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 46gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 197mgSodium: 7167mgPotassium: 33mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 266IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 4mg
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