Duck - Counterfeit Duck Confit
Duck Confit (literally Duck Preserved) is one of my favorite meats of all time and so there's no need to mention how excited I was to find this recipe in David Lebovit's cookbook, My Paris Kitchen. Just remember that this recipe needs to be started the day before since overnight marinating is required. The trick to this recipe is that the thighs are really crowded in the pan so if you only have a larger pan, cook more thighs, it crucial to the success of the recipe.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 4 Duck Legs
- 3 tbsp Fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp gin
- .25 tsp nutmeg ground fresh if possible
- .25 tsp allspice ground
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and halved lengthwise
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Prick the duck all over with a needle, making sure to pierce all the way through the skin
- Mix the salt, gin, nutmeg, and allspice in a baking dish that will hold all the legs snugly, with no room around them. Rub the spice mix all over the duck legs.
- Put the garlic and the bay leaves on the bottom of the baking dish and lay the duck legs, flesh side down, on top of them, making sure the garlic cloves are completely buried beneath. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- To cook the duck, wipe the duck gently with a paper towel to remove excess salt, then put the duck back into the dish, skin-side up. Put it in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 300F. Bake the duck thighs for 2.5 hours, taking them out during baking once or twice and basting them with any duck fat pooling around them.
- To finish the duck, increase the oven temperature to 375F and bake for 12 to 20 minutes, until the skin is deeply browned and very crispy.
Notes
Counterfeit or not, don't listen to David about the accompaniments, go ahead and stay traditional and serve with potatoes fried in duck fat. This is still duck confit. Sorry David