ISO: Duck Confit Recipe...and related guidelines

One family tradition that The Wife and I have continue to honor is that everyone gets to eat whatever they want on their birthdays. My oldest daughter has requested duck confit (because she's heard it takes a long time to make and is thus worthy of a birthday meal), and I've never made it before.

My friend, Chef Patoriq, has given me his recipe, but I'm interested in hearing from others -- particularly regarding common pitfalls, hints, etc.

David “Why Not a Duck” Hammond

I've made duck confit many times for cassoulet and use the recipe from Paula Wolfert's Cooking of Southwest France. Depending on your time frame, you can make it the day before serving or my preference-a month before serving to really let it ripen and have the flavors concentrate. Either way it's terrific! If you can't find the recipe or the book, which by the way is one of my favorites, i'll get it to you shortly. Thought I had it in my recipe program but was mistaken. I'm doing a cassoulet in 3 weeks so I'll need to pull it out anyways.

Rev,

If you have the recipe handy, I'm making it tomorrow for a 9/11 bday celebration.

Question: why is it that breast is never used for comfit? I understand that it's drier than leg or thigh, but why would that matter, or does it?

Good to hear from you.

Hammond

Hi David,

Typically, the breasts are in high demand for quick cooking (think high profit) usages such as sauteeing and grilling, which leaves the legs, carcass and giblets. In a restaurant, this is perfect because you now have almost total utilization of your materials. The carcass goes towards a garbure, a gumbo, or a consomme, the liver then becomes a mousse and finally the heart, giuzzards, and legs become confit. The confit, tucked away beneath a layer of rendered fat, now has a shelf life of a month or more.

I have made pheasant breast confit, and wouldn't do it again. You want the rich, fatty legs and thighs with tendons and connective tissue.

The fat can be reused, almost perpetually, as long as you're careful not to simmer your confit at too high a temp, in which case the fat will darken.

If you have time, it's best to cure the confit for a few days before cooking. Coarse salt, whole garlic cloves, fresh thyme twigs, bay leaf and fresh nutmeg. Rub this off before proceeding to poach. Poach until tender. You can substitute lard for some of the rendered duck fat if needed.

Evil Ronnie wrote:I have made pheasant breast confit, and wouldn't do it again. You want the rich, fatty legs and thighs with tendons and connective tissue.

Evil, would that not suggest, though, that there are reasons other than mere economy that dictate the use of legs and thighs but not breast? Try this on for size: the process of slow cooking in rendered fat involves replacement of water with fat; there is less water in the breast (a dry thing on most of us mammals), and so it's less possible for water to leave and fat to enter. So, a confited breast never attains the complete state of confit-edness as would a darker piece of meat.

Is it not also possible that, though the fatty layer of the confit would inhibit bacterial growth and thus rot, that a confited breast, being less infused with fat, might rot faster and thus defeat one of the main purposes of putting meat through this curing process?

Evil Ronnie wrote:The fat can be reused, almost perpetually, as long as you're careful not to simmer your confit at too high a temp, in which case the fat will darken.

Thank you very much for that hint! I figured to simmer at 200 -- what do you think?

Really appreciate the advice, my friend, and regards to the Lovely Donna.

Hammond

hi,

whenever i have made duck confit, i always cure the duck in salt and herbs overnight before it hits the oil; otherwise it can be difficult to season correctly without tearing it apart.

remember to season the oil also, a little thyme, peppercorns, whole garlic cloves, etc is a good place to start. The oil CAN be reused several times, but by the third or fourth it tends to become too seasoned. 200f should be fine.

Erik.

SushiGaijin wrote: remember to season the oil also, a little thyme, peppercorns, whole garlic cloves, etc is a good place to start. The oil CAN be reused several times, but by the third or fourth it tends to become too seasoned. 200f should be fine.

SushiGaijin, my sense was that garlic cloves and thyme and other things in the oil would tend to burn, thus Evil's suggestion of wiping off rub before simmering. Has this not been your experience?

Very much appreicate the input,

Hammond

hi,

the reason that the rub needs to be wiped off is to prevent over-salting of the duck, not necessarily because the rub burns. in my experience (its on our menu) the temperature of the fat is too low to burn even delicate stuff. we use a convection oven though, an induction oven may cook differently, since it usually does. I think the best advice might be to use your descretion.

Erik.

SushiGaijin wrote:hi,

the reason that the rub needs to be wiped off is to prevent over-salting of the duck, not necessarily because the rub burns. in my experience (its on our menu) the temperature of the fat is too low to burn even delicate stuff. we use a convection oven though, an induction oven may cook differently, since it usually does. I think the best advice might be to use your descretion.

Erik.

Erik,

I used only a little salt in the rub, but I wiped it off anyway.

This has been quite an experience. At the moment, I have 10 duck breasts smoking over cherry wood, the corresponding thigh-leg combos confiting away in the oven, a pot of duck stock going on the stove, and a big golden bowl of cracklings sitting on the counter, tempting local dieters.

Hammond

Hammond wrote:This has been quite an experience. At the moment, I have 10 duck breasts smoking over cherry wood, the corresponding thigh-leg combos confiting away in the oven, a pot of duck stock going on the stove, and a big golden bowl of cracklings sitting on the counter, tempting local dieters.

On such a warm day, you really are evoking the image of Willy Wonka (of Duck).

The duck breasts are this evening's dinner. When does the confit need to be served? I am sure your daughter is in the league of dieter's, it is really quite commendable she is even willing to try confit.

Julia Child in one of the Julia Child and Company cookbooks makes the perfect duck by cooking all the parts separately. She made cracklins from the skin. The legs were coated with dijon mustard and rolled in bread crumbs, then baked. The breasts were roasted. I could be mixing Julia's cookbooks here, but I believe the potatoes were cooked in the duck fat as well.

Best of luck!

Cathy2 wrote:

Hammond wrote:The duck breasts are this evening's dinner. When does the confit need to be served? I am sure your daughter is in the league of dieter's, it is really quite commendable she is even willing to try confit.

Actually, the party is not until next Sunday, so I'm giving the confit a week to cure. The smoked duck, we're trying tonight, but will save a goodly quantity for next weekend (I'm planning a salad with duck, dried cherries, and some other stuff TBD). The soup...? Well, I'm open to suggestion there. I like the idea of Duck Three Ways (soup, salad, entree), but haven't worked out the details for the first course. I'm thinking maybe just some fresh vegetables in a duck broth...but that sounds kind of dull. Maybe some crispy noodles in the soup? Perhaps a little cilantro? Any ideas?

Hammond

Hi,

If you ever revisit duck confit, and knowing you love pot pies, here is recipe for duck confit pot pie.

Regards,

This month, some friends and I are going to be confit-ing several ducks worth of legs. Does anyone have experience making confit with different types of ducks? If so, which would you recommend? We'll be making confit both the traditional way and sous vide, and we plan to purchase whole ducks with plans to prosciutto the breasts. Cost is a consideration since we'll be buying 5 or more whole birds.

Thanks,
Sharon