Duck Confit

Since the Mangan Yaman Festival, my mom has been bugging me to send her a recipe for Duck Confit. It's not one of the common preparation we do at Everybody's Cafe. We typically cook duck adobo style. But then we've been using wild duck too rather than the farmed ones. I remember growing up the hunters in the early morning will bring their prize game at the restaurant so we can cook it. Wild ducks are tougher and more gamey and thus require more acid in cooking. Acide breaks the tough protein particles so Adobo is the way to go.

My mom recently tasted Claude Tayag's Duck Confit and asked me how to do it. I'm sure Claude Tayag, an excellent chef and artist himself, has his own special recipe. But I sent my mom the one that I've been using. I usually keep it simple since I use the confit meat for other preparations (stuff them in dumplings, or spring rolls or make them into a rillete).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Namee <nameejorolan@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 18, 2008 at 8:36 PM
Subject: The Jorolans - SFP - Duck Confit Recipe
To: The-Jorolans-SFP <The-Jorolans-SFP@googlegroups.com>

Hi Ma,

Here's a quick recipe that works for me. I've seen it done just cured in salt over night then cooked in fat the next day. That's the simplest too and it still works!

Duck Confit
- Thighs from 6 ducks, trimmed of all fat (you can render the fat so you'll have more to use for the confit process
- Curing mixture (1/2 cup of salt and sugar, chopped parsley, rosemary, and thyme- 1 tbl of each)

Toss the duck thighs in the curing mixture then store them in a pan skin side up. Recipes from colder countries would say keep it at room temp but it's too hot over there so I recommend you refrigerate it cure.

Confit is a process of preservation which is basically done by cooking a product (meat or vegetable) in fat or really low heat. I confit potatoes or leaks, sometimes salmon and tuna too, except that I don't cure those anymore, I just cook them in fat. I'll make you try them when I come home.

Crust the thighs and allow to dry overnight before confit process begins.
- 1 gal duck fat
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 sprig thyme
- Salt tt
- 1 tablespoon peppercorns

Brush the crust mixture off of the ducks and put them into a hotel pan. Add fat, and all aromatics and cover. Cook in oven @ 300 F until tender and falling apart. Cool in fat and use as needed, storing unused in fat. If covered with enough fat, refrigerated, confit can keep for 6 months.

You can also do this stove top under very very very low heat. It will take about 2 to 3 hours. If the fat is 'tulog' you can just put the paste on top of the meat and it will still melt in the oven. The danger of melting the pot prior to putting it on heat is that the fat might be too hot and it will sear the duck. You want everything to come up to temperature at the same time so using cold fat is fine.

You can use dried herbs if you can't find fresh ones. If you don't have any of the herbs, just use salt and garlic and it will still taste good good.

Have fun!

Love,
Namee