Confit...who does it?

I am currently traveling, and went out for dinner tonight to a very nice restaurant. When I go to a decent place, I will often try things I've never had before, and tonight I had duck leg confit with red cabbage and lentils. Holy cow! The duck on its own was mind blowing, but the combination with tangy cabbage, and rich, earthy lentils took it to a whole other level.

I'm not normally a big duck fan, but the skin was so perfectly crisp and the meat fell off the bone, I had never had anything like it before. I know confit is not trivial to make, basically cooking the meat in its own rendered fat over low heat for a long period of time, but has anyone made this before?

 

That meal has to be an all time favorite of mine especially if its sauteed red cabbage finished with a dose of raspberry vinegar. As for confit there is more involved than that as it must be cured first as well. The amount of time you store it in the fat after cooking will also change the finished product

 

Its nice to discover something new like that Bob. Sounds like they finished the leg off in a pan to crisp it up. . Are you going to attempt it at home?

 

For me duck confit rivals pork BBQ.

 

the only duck ive ever had was sammiched between a chicken and a turkey. that sounds like it would be great to try

 

Duck is my favourite meat. Peking, à l'orange, roasted or pate, it's all good.
A nice duck confit is another step above.
Now I'm going to have to find some on a menu soon...

 

I've done literally hundreds of pounds of confit. And that's just duck.

 

Same. It isn't that hard, just takes time. Getting some duck fat from someone to start it can be fun.

I've had good luck crisping up the skin in a 450 or 500 degree oven that I use to reheat the duck. With some Israeli cous cous cooked in duck stock and a dab of duck fat... oh boy. Next I need some Cassoulet...

 

You can practice with the ghetto version- chicken cooked in schmaltz. :k

For either chicken or duck, keep the fat at ~190 and cook for hours.

 

Buy a few whole Ducks, and go for it. I did it at home and it was delicious. I took apart the whole ducks, had a few dinners of seared duck breast (another amazaballs underappreciated meat) and saved the rendered fat each time. Also rendered the excess fat from taking apart the duck, and reserved that. By the time I had 6 breasts under my belt, I had a nice pile of rendered fat in my fridge. Did a fast cure for 24 hours, rinsed, and then slow cooked away. Plenty of good recipes online. Go for it!

 

And for an even more ghetto experience- carnitas! Chunks of pork cooked confit-style in lard.

I'll have another, and make mine chorizo! :cool1

 

At some point, I will likely give this a try at home. The meat was phenomenal, and comparing it to pulled pork for texture was pretty good. It was really the whole package of duck +lentils+cabbage (with vinegar) that put it on another level.

Jay-if there is pork fat or schmaltz involved, I'm there.

 

Seems I have heard that before somewhere?

 

:thumb

 

Someone need some duck?

 

Now we need a knife to clean them

 

I'm next door in BC if ya need to get rid of some...... :thumb

 

Those dogs look plum worn out, Pierre.

 

Them are gooses. And prob not enough fat between them to confit a quail leg...

Looks like a good time for man and dog.

 

54 ducks, 64 geese. Was a good year, they were quite fat as well. Awesome time. This was 1 1/2 hours of shooting, the dogs earned their keep!