We love to eat it… it’s delicious! But could we really cook it?
Just the two of us? Remember, one of our prerequisites for
cooking a dish is that it has to
be able to be easily prepared
while sipping on a glass of bubbles… or chardonnay… or
pinot… or ok, you get the picture.
Don’t get us wrong, we can cook, but duck confit just seems to be more at home on a restaurant menu than on our kitchen bench. Nevertheless, we’ve never shied away from a challenge and we aren’t about to start now.
We pluck up the courage (sorry), head to the butcher and grab eight gorgeous organic Maryland duck legs and 3 tubs of duck fat. Yep, duck fat! Deliciously decadent stuff that just makes everything taste good (including roast potatoes…mmm).
We lay everything out on the bench and it doesn’t seem like we’ve got enough ingredients to make something that tastes so incredible, but we run with it. Here’s our recipe:
8 tbsp sea salt
8 sprigs fresh thyme, picked
Freshly cracked black pepper
6 bay leaves
8 duck legs
3 tubs duck fat
Place the salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaves into a processor and process for 30 seconds. Place the duck, skin side up into a shallow dish. Generously sprinkle the duck with the salt mix, but don’t be too heavy handed. You want to still be able to see the flesh through the salt. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours… no longer.
Pre-heat the oven to 150oC. Remove the duck from the fridge, rinse off the salt and pat dry. Put the duck fat into a shallow baking dish and into the oven until it melts. Remove from the oven and carefully slide the duck (skin side up) into the fat. Return the dish to the oven and cook slowly for 2 hours, turning occasionally.
Before serving, remove the duck from the fat, turn the oven up to 180oC and place the duck back in the oven on a clean baking tray for 5 minutes or until golden and crispy on top.
Was it a success? Absolutely… and on so many levels:
1) It was incredibly easy. Really… anyone can do it!
2) It was melt in the mouth, crispy, delicious duck goodness.
3) We did it with a cheeky glass of chardonnay in our hands.
4) We had 6 hours in the middle to go shopping.
5) Everyone was impressed.
MATCH! Try it with a pinot noir from the Mornington Peninsula, Tasmania or Yarra Valley. Job done!
