Confit de Canard

It's a wonderful dish for a green winter and today in Brittany and most of Northern Europe, the rain and the wind are doing their worst for our unfortunate visitors. So why not get your oven on and  prepare this warming duck dish which is so easy and so welcome on a stormy summer evening!! 

Ingredients for 4 

4 large duck legs

30g sea salt

1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

2 fresh bay leaves , sliced

4 sprigs of thyme, finely chopped

800g duck or goose fat, melted

Method

Curing the duck legs

Lay the duck legs on a baking tray  flesh side upwards and sprinkle the sea salt, peppercorns, garlic and thyme evenly over the tray. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight. Next day rinse the marineade off the duck legs and pat dry with a cloth. 

Cooking the duck legs

Preheat oven to 140 degrees C. Place the duck legs in a large flameproof casserole dish. Cover with the melted fat and cook on top of stove on a gentle heat. Bring the fat to just below simmering point. There should be no bubbles breaking the surface (if you have a thermometer, check the temperature which should be 85 degrees C. 

Once simering transfer to the oven and cook uncovered for 2 and a half hours or until the duck legs are very tender. Leave to cool (in fact you could leave the legs in the cooking fat for up to three days in the fridge to further improve the flavour).

Finishing the duck legs

Remove the duck legs from the cooking fat. Over a medium heat in a dry frying pan, crisp and colour the duck legs on the skin side for 5-7 minutes, regularly removing excess fat. 

Serve with salad, fruit (oranges) lentils or beans.