Duck Confit

There is nothing particularly difficult about making duck confit. It does take some planning and a bit of time though. Basically all you need is salt, duck legs and duck fat. Large quantities of duck fat in particular can be hard to find. Your butcher should be able to order it for you.

I used Thomas Keller's Green Salt recipe which is 1/2 cup kosher salt, 2 bay leaves, 2T thyme, 1/2 cup parsley, 1t black peppercorns all buzzed in a spice grinder. 1 tablespoon of this cure went on each duck leg for 24 hours. I then rinsed and dried the legs, and warmed the duck fat to 190* on the stovetop. Legs and a few heads of garlic were added to the oil and into a 200* oven for about 5 hours. I used a polder probe thermometer in order to monitor my lame kitchen oven... I kept it set at 212* in order to maintain a true 200* in the oven. I now have about 2 dozen duck legs preserved under fat... I'm thinking potato and duck pizza first and then cassoulet for NYE.