A Wonderful French Recipe for the Winter: Duck Confit

Long before the days of refrigeration, cooks had a different way of preserving their foods, particularly meats, to last them all Winter long. While it’s no longer necessary to preserve meats through smoking and curing, these methods lend themselves to particularly delicious dishes. Browse all our cooking vacations in France. The same can be said for confit. In the past, confit meant placing duck legs into jars of duck fat to store the meat for long periods of time. Today, meat can also be confited by cooking it in its own fat, which makes the meat succulent and tender. While duck confit isn’t a dish that should necessarily be made every weekend, it is one that’s particularly suited to the cold weather. It’s hearty, filling, and, simply put, intoxicating. It’s a splurge — and it’s one French recipe we highly recommend. Duck confit is particularly well known in Gascony and southwest France, but it’s popular throughout France as well. You can also make the dish your own by playing with the different spices and herbs in your salt mix, or by serving the duck confit over risotto or goose-fat roasted potatoes. Learn about the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

Duck Confit

Serves: 12 Prep time: 12 hours Cook time: 150 minutes Cook method: Roast Ingredients

• 12 duck legs
• 180 grams (about 6 1/2 oz) coarse sea salt
• 8 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped thyme
• Freshly coarse ground black pepper
• 1.5 kg (3 1/3 lbs) goose fat

Read about Bordeaux wines.  Instructions:

1. Mix the salt, black pepper, thyme, and bay leaf together.
2. In a dish rub the salt mixture all over the duck legs; cover the meat and refrigerate for 12 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 140°C (284°F), or Gas mark 2.
4. After 12 hours brush off as much of the salt mixture as possible and place duck legs into a deep roasting pan and cover with the goose fat. Place in oven and roast for 2 ½ hours, turning duck halfway through the process to ensure that it is basted occasionally.
5. Serve over risotto, and bon appétit!

Learn about the Midi-Pyrenees in France. Alternatively, if you’d like to save the cooked duck confit for later, you can store it in a kilner (rubber-sealed) jar by placing duck in a sterilized jar and totally covering with strained cooking goose fat. This can be stored for up to three months, and it only improves with time. Try a delicious recipe for duck breast in Bordeaux wine sauce from our friends in Southern France. If you’re looking for a different type of duck recipe, try this one for duck and andouille gumbo! By Liz Hall Learn more about the city of Bordeaux. Sign up to receive our newsletter, which includes travel tips, recipes, promotions, and information on our best cooking vacations. Explore more French recipes by searching our blog. Find more photos, videos, food facts, and travel stories from The International Kitchen on Facebook, Instagram,  and YouTube.