Classic Duck Confit Recipe: How to Make Duck Confit
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Nov 26, 2024 • 2 min read
Learn how to make duck confit, a French bistro classic, and you'll have decadent preserved duck legs all winter long.
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What Is Confit?
Confit (French for "preserve") is a traditional cooking technique that involves cooking and preserving meat in its own fat. The best-known example is confit de canard (duck confit), but you can confit all kinds of foods, including vegetables. (Try Chef Thomas Keller's confit eggplant.)
How to Make Duck Confit
Duck legs are an easy meat to confit. Cure (salt) the duck legs overnight, then slowly cook them in plenty of duck fat. Duck skin is particularly fatty, and you can save rendered duck fat from roasting a whole duck or pan-roasting duck breasts. Duck fat is also available from most butchers. Any extra duck fat you wind up with from this recipe is fabulous for roasting potatoes.
3 Ways to Serve Duck Confit
Since duck confit is preserved, it will last for months in the fridge, making it great last-minute dinner party fare. Try your homemade duck confit:
- 1. Bistro-style: Pair reheated duck legs with duck fat roasted potatoes and a vinegary salad to cut through the richness of the confit. Learn how to make the perfect vinaigrette here.
- 2. In pasta: Shredded duck confit is the perfect filling for stuffed pastas like agnolotti.
- 3. In cassoulet: Duck confit is a crucial ingredient in this classic white bean stew.
Classic Duck Confit Recipe
makes
4 duck legsprep time
20 mintotal time
11 hr 20 mincook time
3 hrIngredients
- 1
The day before you plan to cook, prepare the duck legs. French the legs by cutting a deep slit all the way down to the bone, from the ankle joint up to where the meaty part begins. Cut through the tendons and remove the skin, tendons, and cartilage around the bone.
- 2
Place the frenched legs in a baking dish and season all over with salt. Add peppercorns, thyme, juniper, bay leaves, and garlic. Cover and refrigerate overnight (up to 24 hours).
- 3
Remove the spices and garlic, and arrange the duck legs in a single layer in a large Dutch oven. Warm duck fat in a separate saucepan over medium-low heat until just melted. Pour melted duck fat into Dutch oven.
- 4
Cook over medium heat until a few bubbles appear. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook at a bare simmer until duck meat easily separates from the bone, about 2–3 hours.
- 5
Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature in the fat. Transfer the duck legs to a ceramic or glass dish with a lid. Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain the duck fat into a large measuring cup. Pour the fat over the duck legs so that the legs are completely submerged. Cover with a lid and refrigerate up to 6 months.
- 6
Reheat duck confit in a cast-iron pan over medium heat. Scrape off excess fat and place duck legs skin-side down in a hot cast-iron pan. Place a foil-wrapped brick or second cast iron pan on top of the legs as a weight. Fry until skin is crispy and well browned, about 10 minutes. Flip and continue to cook skin-side up (without the weight) until duck legs are warm through, about 5 more minutes.
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