This easy confit duck recipe is the bomb, a fall off the bone delight!
What to do with fresh duck legs? We tried out this confit duck recipe for the first time… and it was heavenly! Soft and succulent meat, yum.
Here’s how this confit duck recipe actually started.
We were at the supermarket last Saturday.
Just to quickly pick up some coffee.
That very familiar moment when you pop in a store to get just one thing.
And you come out with lots of one things.
The IKEA syndrome.
Well that happened at the supermarket.
Again.
We just needed a couple of boxes of coffee capsules.
Because you don’t want to run out of coffee during the weekend.
The coffee isle is somewhere in the back of the supermarket.
Making you pass other isles and departments first.
Long story short.
We really felt like we needed a family pack of moussaka, 2 bottles of wine for the price of 3 (summer promotion), anchovies, ginger beer and duck legs.
Quite the collection.
The duck legs were a bargain.
Discount
The shop assistant put a couple of flashy yellow discount stickers on them as we walked by.
About 3 euros for 2 fresh duck legs.
Sounds about right.
In the freezer they go.
We will come up with a dinner idea for them later.
Confit duck recipe from scratch!
So today is that day!
We love a good duck confit.
However we have never made a confit duck recipe from scratch before.
After some online digging we decide to go for the slow braise method.
Duck fat
We didn’t have goose or duck fat so we used pork lard instead.
Beef tallow or vegetable oil is also an option for this confit duck recipe.
What to serve with confit duck legs
We served our confit duck legs with deep fried potato and parsnip fries, and slow roasted leeks that we also put in the oven alongside the duck.
Beans are also a good match for confit duck, especially a French style cassoulet.
Confit duck is often served with braised red cabbage and roast potatoes or polenta.
Are you ready for our confit duck recipe?
Here we go!
Recipe
Our Easy Homemade Confit Duck Recipe
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time : 4 hours
Servings: 2 persons
Ingredients
2 fresh duck legs
10,5 oz (300 g) goose fat or lard
10 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tbsp coarse sea salt
1 tbsp peppercorns
salt
Instructions
- Rub the duck legs with the coarse salt.
- Place them in a baking dish and cover with clingfilm.
- Let the duck legs marinate for an hour in the fridge.
- Then rinse the salt back off under cold running tap water.
- Pat the duck legs dry with kitchen paper.
- Place the duck legs skin side up in a small baking dish.
- Add the fresh thyme, peppercorns and a good pinch of salt.
- Add the fat or lard. You can melt the fat first in a small pan and drizzle it on top of the duck legs. Or place a block of fat or lard on top of the legs and let it melt in the oven first. Make sure that the legs are submerged. Add extra fat, lard or oil if necessary.
- Cover the baking dish with tinfoil.
- Place the duck legs in a preheated oven at 230°F (110°C) for 4 hours or until the meat falls off the bone.
Extra tip
If you want some extra color and crispiness on the skin, you can remove the tinfoil after 2 hours.
If you are still not satisfied, pan fry the duck legs skin side down without adding any oil. The fat that coats the confit duck leg will be enough.
Confit duck tins
If you are not really thinking of trying out our time consuming slow braised confit duck recipe, or you just can’t find fresh duck legs anywhere then you can always buy confit duck legs in a tin.
They are of an outstanding quality.
Bonus is the extra duck fat that comes with it which you can keep in a container in your fridge and use later in cooking instead of butter or oil.
You can find confit duck tins in large supermarkets.
How about you?
Have you ever tried making a confit duck recipe at home?
Or do you prefer the tinned version?
Let us know in the comments below.
We’d love to hear from you!