Useful Charts

The Heat Chart below shows the advisable interior food temperatures for safe eating

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Confit de Canard

  • 4 duck legs
  • 1200 g/ 2.7 lbs goose fat See note
  • 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ scant 3 tablespoons coarse sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon juniper berries
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  1. Method:
  2. Mix together the salt, black peppercorns, and juniper berries. Crush in a mortar and pestle or in a small food processor. I prefer the food processor, it is quicker and easier. Add the thyme and stir well.
  3. Trim the excess fat from the underside of the duck legs.
  4. Thoroughly rub the duck legs with the salt mixture.
  5. Wrap each leg into plastic foil/cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours or up to 2 days.
  6. Duck confit:
  7. Wash and dry the duck legs. Place in a large Dutch oven, large enough to hold them all snugly without too much space left in between. They have to sit in a single layer, but the more space in between, the more fat you will need.
  8. Melt the fat in a jug saucepan and carefully pour it over the duck legs. Check with a kitchen thermometer if possible, the temperature of the fat should be between 70 and 80 degrees Celsius/ 160 -175 degrees Fahrenheit.
  9. Make sure that the meat is completely submerged in the fat. To ensure that the meat stays submerged during cooking, cut a piece of parchment paper, place it directly over the meat and place a heavy lid (from a smaller Dutch oven) on top.
  10. It is very important that the temperature of the goose fat is always constant and about 80 degrees Celsius/ 175 degrees Fahrenheit. The fat should only barely simmer and never boil.
  11. Reduce the heat to very low and cook the duck legs for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
  12. Check the temperature of the fat with the thermometer from time to time, to make sure that it doesn’t get too high.
  13. The duck legs are done when you can easily pierce the meat with a fork.
  14. Fry the duck legs:
  15. If you want to preserve the duck confit, read the blog post for instructions.
  16. To fry the duck legs, heat a large cast-iron or non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the duck legs, skin side down and fry for 5 minutes or until the skin is deeply golden and crispy. If you notice that the skin turns too dark too soon, lower the heat slightly.
  17. Turn the duck legs on the other side and fry them for another 5 minutes or until deeply golden. Serve as suggested above.