How to make Duck Leg Confit at Home

While it is made across France, the duck confit it is seen as a specialty of Gascony. The confit is prepared in a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salt curing a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then cooking it in its own fat.
In today’s recipe we will concentrate on making a duck leg confit (translated cuisses de canards confites in French) as this is a really simple and straightforward process.
However there is two factor I think that may stop some people from making that recipe and that is first, the time involved (the meat need to undergo a curing process of at least 24 hours) and the second is the fact that you need to get hold of large quantity of duck fat (around 1 litre/ 4 cups for 3 to 4 duck legs).
Anyway with that in mind that can be organised ahead of time. On the brighter side though, once cooked the confit legs can be easily kept for a week in the fridge (in a sealed container) before being consumed so it is the perfect dish you can make ahead of time and only take 10 minutes to warm up and serve whenever you want to surprise guests.
Ingredients needed:
- 1 litre ( 4 cups) of duck or goose fat
- 3 to 4 duck legs
- 50 to a 100 grams of rock salt ( up to you on how much you want to use)
- 1 teaspoon of juniper berries
- 1 teaspoon of dry thyme
- 1 teaspoon of black peppercorn
- 6 bay leaves
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves
Cookware:
- Pestle and mortar (or spice grinder)
- A medium size pot large enough so that it can accommodate the duck legs when laid flat.
- Cooking thermometer
Instructions:
Curing the Duck leg
Pour the rock salt in the mortar and grind it with the pestle until it become semi coarse. Add the peppercorn and juniper berries then grind again, finally add the dry thyme and the bay leave and grind until fine.
Coat each duck leg thoroughly with the herb slat on either side then wrap the duck leg tightly in plastic wrap. Repeat for each duck legs. When done keep the duck legs on a container in the fridge and leave them to cure for 24 hours minimum or up to 2 days. When the duck leg are cured, take them out of the plastic wrap and remove the excess of salt either with a baking brush or cloth or simply by rinsing them under cold water them pat them dry.
Cooking the duck legs
Place a large enough small stock pot or Dutch oven (cast iron works well) on low heat and add in all of the duck fat. Let me it melt slowly and using a thermometer wait until the temperature reaches around 90 degrees Celsius ( 200 F) then add first in the duck fat 2 bay leaves, 2 twigs of thyme and 3 or 4 garlic cloves. Next lay gently the duck legs flat in the pot making sure they are all submerged with duck fat. Finally cover the duck legs with a lid made of parchment and add on top the lid of smaller pot. This is to ensure the duck legs with stay submerged at all time during the cooking process.
Cooking time:
From what I experienced, cooking duck legs at such low heat takes a minimum of 2 hours 30 minutes for the meat to start to detach from the bones. However for the meat to really “fall of the bones” count 3h to 3 hours 30 minutes depending on the size of the duck legs you use.
Eating now or preserving for later?
When you make a confit of duck you basically have the option to either consume the duck immediately or preserve them in their fat for further use.
- Method one preserving the duck legs for later use:
If you choose that option (which usually result in a better tasting confit), my advice is to cook the duck legs for 2 hours 30 minutes only , Then turn the heat off, transfer the legs in an earthenware container ( as shown in the video) then to pass the duck fat through a sieve over the duck legs until fully covered. Leave then to cool down at room temperature first then cover with a plastic wrap and leave to cool down in the fridge until the fat totally solidifies. That process will allow you to keep the duck legs for at least a week and the duck legs will be ready to re-use anytime you like. When you want to re-use them take the duck legs out of the fat, carefully remove the excess of duck fat and broil for 5 minutes to crisp up the skins before serving (Great option for a Christmas party preparation)
- Consume the duck legs immediately:
As soon the duck legs are cooked reserve them on a plate or tray and let the excess fat drip of. Finally just before serving you will need to crisp up the skin using either a frying pan or a broiler. Both method yield similar result but I kind of preferred the broiler method when I tested it, as you can add all of the legs at once and get a uniform crispiness on the duck legs. In either scenario 5 minute should be enough to crisp up the skins.
Serving the duck legs:
Many people tends to overdo it when it comes to serving that dish. Plenty of time I see people advising to serve this confit duck legs with potatoes that are pan fried in duck fat which in my view is just too much fattiness. For me personally I prefer to serve a duck leg confit with a simple mixed green lettuce mixed coated in French dressing as only the vinegar can cut through the fat and really complement a bit of confit duck leg. But then again that is a personal preference.
Bon appetit
Watch the video tutorial:
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[…] Sancerre from Loire Valley is a great wine to pair with Stephane’s Duck Leg Confit. Let’s learn more about this wine, how it tastes and why it is a good […]
Stephane, My husband bought me a duck and I thought to roast it whole. The experts with duck all suggested not to do that as the beast takes much less time to cook than the legs and wings. So Duck la Orange’ for the breasts and Duck Confit for the legs & Wings it was.
I kept the fat that was rendered from the breasts, know I would need it for the Confit (what dies that mean in translation or is it just a technique name?) I followed your recipe except I could not find juniper berries in the store and have not a source for harvesting them. So I used dried rosemary in the Salt Rub as a substitute. After salting and wrapping them I kept them in the fridge for 2 weeks.
The only other difference was when cooking them I used the Poultry Triad (Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme) along with the bay leaves in the fat. I used the fat I had saved from the duck breasts and a 7.6 oz jar of duck fat my husband had bought online for me. I cooked it for 3 hours then refrigerated it about 26 hours. After, I broiled it as suggested it took about 5 min.
Then we tasted it. It was divine. I don’t believe I have ever enjoyed a meat dish half as much. It was sweet yet savory and the flavor was out of this world. We will definitely have Duck Confit again and again.
Thank you for making it easy to follow your directions. This is really a very simple dish to prepare and cook, it just has a lot of down time. Since I only cook once a week it is easy to wait.
Glad you made that delicious duck recipe. Like you said it is an easy one but the fact that you left the meat to cure for a real long time and kept it in the fat afterwards for so many hours has surely made the difference. Duck confit ( which by the way mean “candied”) really reveals all of its flavors when it is kept in a fridge for a long time once cooked, exactly like you did. So truly I think you guys have really worked as a team and you did an excellent job, bravo!