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Confit de Canard

Duck legs cured in salt and slow-cooked in duck fat

3h cook (+ 24h cure) 4 legs Easy

For 4 legs

  • 4 duck legs
  • 40 g coarse salt (~2% of the meat weight)
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 4 thyme sprigs
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 700 g – 1 kg duck fat (enough to submerge the legs)

Confit is one of the great preservation techniques — duck legs cured in salt, then poached slowly in their own fat until the meat is spoon-tender, and stored in that fat. Cure for a full day, rinse well (or it's too salty), cook low and slow, and crisp the skin only at the very end.

Method

Cure

  1. Rub the legs all over with the coarse salt, pepper, crushed garlic, thyme and bay. Cover and cure in the fridge at least 24 hours.

Short on time? A 3-hour salt cure works for a same-day confit, but a full 24 hours gives better flavour and texture.

Rinse & cook

  1. Rinse the legs well under water to remove the excess salt, then pat dry — skipping this leaves them far too salty.
  2. Melt the duck fat in a pot and submerge the legs completely. Cook very gently (barely a bubble) for at least 2h30–3h, until the meat is tender and pulls from the bone.

Store & serve

  1. Keep the legs submerged in the strained fat (they store for weeks this way).
  2. To serve, crisp the skin under the oven grill until golden. A syrupy red-wine sauce alongside is a good pairing.

Background

Rinsing after the cure is the step people skip and regret — the salt has done its job by then, and cooking the legs unrinsed makes them inedibly salty. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry before they go into the fat.

Keep the fat barely trembling, never boiling: gentle heat renders the connective tissue to gelatine and keeps the meat succulent, while a hard simmer toughens and dries it. Stored under a cap of fat, confit keeps for weeks and improves.

Mistakes I've Made

  • Not rinsing after curing. The confit comes out far too salty. Rinse the legs well and pat dry before cooking.
  • Cooking too hot. Boiling toughens and dries the meat. Hold the fat at the barest bubble for 2h30–3h.
  • Crisping too early. The skin softens again if it sits. Grill to crisp just before serving.

Sources