Duck Confit.............On a budget

[Ernest]

Most of you have probably noticed my love for duck.
Let me share with you my Budget duck confit. Traditionally, duck confit involves an obscene amount of duck fat and that's not cheap.
So what I do is adapt. I have 4 duck legs, salted. I will use a 10 inch pie pan because I want the legs to be placed tightly together.
Seasoning is simple, a few thyme springs and crushed garlic placed at the bottom of the pan. I added a tablespoon of duck fat.



Place the legs in a single layer. More garlic and thyme.



I placed a sheet of parchment paper and tightly wrapped with 3 sheets of HD foil before placing in a 250 degrees oven for 2.5 hours



After 2.5 hours, let it cool and refrigerate without unwrapping.
after a day in the refrigerate ....



These are ready for crisping either in a skillet or grill. For now they will go back in my refrigerate for emergency duck fix.

I'll reserve the fat for potatoes and eggs.

[Jerod Broussard]

Nice, duckman. Ya got me craving some duck, that's fo sho.

[Ernest]

Duck is good eats!!

[Ernest]

I should have called this confit style maybe. LOL! Since it's not fully covered in duck fat, it defeats the purpose. But it's delicious. I believe confit is to do with preserving meats. Strat50, can you chime in please?

[_John_]

I have eaten many things, some I don't care to remember, but can't remember ever knowingly having duck. I say knowingly because not knowing has brought me tongue, brains, testicles and canine.

[Jerod Broussard]

What?????????????????

[Ernest]

HAHAHA! I had a summer BBQ a few years ago and somebody challenged me to make beef testicles edible. We got our meat from a local farm. I'm not one to back down from a challenge. Women loved them, they thought it was grilled rabbit sausage. Well I kinda told them that it was grilled rabbit sausage.

[smarkley]

LMAO!!!

[_John_]

Love it!

[Strat50]

A man after my own heart! lol

[Strat50]

Originally, I think, confit was a preservation method not just for meat, but for fruit too(syrup not fat is used). Some of the classic french cassoulets are made with confit. A trick I learned when making confit is that any fat will do. Lard, shortening, oil(s), and so forth all work.So, if you are short on say duck fat, no worries. Top off the fat level with what you have. Since you are making confit for flavor and not to preserve, this will work well. 250 is about the upper temp limit for making confit.An exception to this is for garlic. Then I use 300. This garlic is killer, but I think the fat is even better!

[Ernest]

Thank you Strat. I thought about topping it up with ghee coz I can make ghee easily, duck fat is expensive and hard to come by. But I didn't want to mess with duck flavor by adding ghee to it.

[Strat50]

Ghee would take the duck to another level, if done right. More herbs, etc, and your duck would go from "merely" excellent to epic! So would evoo, or even a mixture of the two? Then, of course, there's bacon fat. Heat at 200ish. while time consuming, might help when using ghee, etc. I can tell from your great pics, that you are a very good cook, so make it your own and do your "voodoo" your way.

[Ernest]

Much appreciated Strat!

[OGMrWhite]

Duck confit is my favorite protein! Thank you for sharing

[Ernest]

Here we go...... Plating Jasmine and wild rice with roasted mushrooms. Sauce is a reduction of fresh orange juice, orange marmalade and orange liqueur. Sauteed some shallots in duck fat before the reduction. Fantastic every time!

[smarkley]

beautiful!

[Ernest]

Thank you Smarkley!

[David Parrish]

Ernest that meal looks amazing. Well done Sir.

[Ernest]

It was fantastic! I'm thinking of going all out with full confit for New Year's eve dinner. It's always fantastic with my faux confit.

[troymeister]

Totally Awesome!!!!

[uarobert]

I like to do my confit in a vacuum bag by simmering it in hot water (180deg). I refrigerate it and when I'm ready to eat it, I just put it in the oven and crisp it.

[Ernest]

uarobert sorta like sous vide confit.

[uarobert]

uarobert sorta like sous vide confit.

It is.