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Duck Confit

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Appears in Chef John Besh’s cookbook, Cooking From the Heart: My Favorite Lessons Learned Along the Way.  Read our review.

Chef Besh: "Confit—slow-roasted duck stored in its own fat—is an ancient way to preserve duck. I love serving these hot, crispy duck legs with anything from a hearty salad with a bracing vinaigrette, to luscious lentils, to sautéed apples or Sautéed Potatoes with Quince & Onions. I also use this confit to make rillettes (boneless confit emulsified with warm duck fat) that are then layered with thin slices of duck breast to create a terrine, essentially using every part of the bird in one dish."

Yield: Six legs

Ingredients:

6 duck legs and thighs 
salt 
freshly ground black pepper 
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced 
2 sprigs fresh thyme 
6 bay leaves 
4-6 cups duck fat

Method:

  1. Liberally season the duck legs all over with salt and pepper. Tuck a slice of garlic, a small branch of thyme, and a bay leaf on the flesh-side of each leg and lay in a large baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
  2. Preheat the oven to 325°. Melt the duck fat in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Pour the melted fat over the duck legs in the baking dish so that they are completely submerged. Slow-roast in the oven until the legs are fork tender, about 2 hours. Let the duck cool in the fat. When the legs and fat are cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.
  3. To serve the duck confit, preheat the oven to 375°. Remove the duck legs from the fat and place on a baking pan fitted with a wire rack. Bake until the skin is crispy and the legs are heated through, 25–30 minutes. Strain the remaining duck fat into a jar, refrigerate, and use for crispy fried potatoes.
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