It is no secret that French cuisine is famous for its exquisite dishes with a stunning combination of flavors. One of its calling cards is duck confit. The original duck recipe was used for long-term storage of meat, later the dish underwent some changes and became a haute cuisine dish.
Ingredients:
- Duck legs – 600 g
- Duck fat – 200 g
- Juniper – 6 pcs.
- Cloves – 2 pcs.
- Bay leaf – 2 pcs.
- Thyme – for flavor
- Sea salt – 1/2 tsp.
Directions:
- Place the duck legs in a deep baking tray. Chop the juniper berries and cloves.
- Sprinkle the legs with the resulting mixture and salt. Add thyme leaves and bay leaves (break them into several pieces first).
- Rub the legs thoroughly with seasonings and salt. Cover the baking tray and put them in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day, rinse the duck legs with cold water and dry them with a paper towel. Heat a large saucepan over low heat and place the legs in it.
- Add duck fat to the legs. Cook on minimum heat for 2-2.5 hours. Then remove the saucepan from the stove and let the dish cool slightly. To check the readiness of the dish, you can pinch off a little meat from the legs: it should come off easily.
- Pour a little fat from the saucepan into a ceramic baking dish. Place the duck legs on top. Pour the remaining fat over the meat so that it completely covers it. Cover the dish and put it in the refrigerator. This way, the duck confit can be stored for several weeks. To serve the duck confit, remove the legs from the duck fat, pat dry with a paper towel, and fry in a frying pan or bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- The meat should be warmed through, and the skin should become crispy. Following the detailed instructions, you can easily cook duck confit – a restaurant-quality dish. Long simmering in fat allows you to make the duck meat incredibly soft and tender, and the spices give it a unique spicy taste. Serve the finished duck with mashed potatoes, garnished with berry sauce and thyme.