Prep Time: As long as you want it too, but typically less than 7 days.
Feeds 3-4 people/ 4-5 lb Duck
Ingredients: 2 Ducklings, ~ 5 lbs
Salt
Pepper
Dried Thyme
Other Herbs
1 Bottle of Petite Syrah
½ cup of Red Raspberries (Black Raspberries work too, but they have more stems)
Red Cabbage
Mango
Balsamic Vinegar
Berry preserves
Day 1:
Step 1. Disassemble the Ducks using a very sharp fillet knife into breast meat fillets and Leg/Thigh’s in 1 piece. Trim and reserve the edges of the fat around the meat. Salt and pepper the breast skin and put them on paper towels in a tupper ware tray but which is NOT air-tight. Then put them in the refrigerator until dinner day. Change the paper towels often.
Step 2: Trim all excess fat from the carcass and dice it. Put it into a small fry pan and render all available fat.. Reserve the fat and enjoy the duckskin crackl’ns. Reserve all fat in a container and refridgerate.
Step 3: Roast the remainder of the bones (Optional – I don’t always do the roasting if I don’t have time). Put the bones in an 8 Quart pot of water and simmer as if making a stock. Cook until the bones are porous and brittle, skimming the top and adding water. When the bones are fully cooked, decant the liquid (probably 2-3 quarts) avoiding all fat and solids and refridgerate. On a subsequent day, reduce the remaining liquid to about a cup or two and refriderate again for Demi glace.
Step 4: Heavily salt and pepper the legs and store in the refridgerate for 2-3 days. (I often need to skip this step due to time constraints and go straight cooking the legs.
Day 3: Clean excess salt off the legs and put in the smallest baking dish in which they fit. Add the reserved duckfat, and top up with Olive Oil if necessary. Bake the legs at 325 for 2 hours in the dish with a cover. When the meat pulls away from the bone, pack the legs in a small storage container and cover in duck fat.
DUCK Day:
Pour ¾ – 1 bottle into a sauce pan and simmer. (The other ¼ bottle is for the cook). Add berries, 2 tablespoons of Jelly/Jam (Apricot, Boysenberry, etc all work well). Add 2 sprigs of green onion. Garlic powder can also be nice. Reduce until thick and add 2 Tablespoons of the Demi glace. Keep warm.
Duck 1 way: Remove the Confit’d legs and scrap off excess fat. Put them skin side down in a frying pan to brown and crisp them up. Drain fat again. In my house 2 legs go to kids who want Duck a al Fred Flintstone. Shred the meat off the others. And place over low heat. Add Julienned Mango (early if is firm, later if it is soft), diced green onion and finally chopped red cabbage. Add Balsamic to taste as well as salt and pepper (it probably does not need any).
Duck the other way: Let the breasts rest on the counter to raise to room temp. Score the skin in has marks. Pin prick with a wire brush is you have one. Raise the temp of a frypan to 350 (surface thermometer helps) for 6-7 minutes. Fry skin side down in batches of breasts according to how they fit in the pan. Set aside as they finish if you need more than 1 pan full. Press on the meat side as they fry to help oil fat render. Drain fat between batches and Drain and Wipe the pan thoroughly after the last bath. Now reestablish the temp and repeat the process cooking the meat side for 4-6 minutes depending on the thickness of the breast. This is a more crucial timing since the meat side does not have an insulator. Set breasts aside to rest, then slice on a bias for plating.
Plating:
Duck 1 way
Mix in more raw red cabbage into the confit mix and plate in a ring. Garnish with more raw green onion and small drizzle of Balsamic
Plate slices of breast (1/2 breast for small eaters) with a Schmear or drizzle of the Sauce according to taste.
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