Rick Stein - Duck Confit
From Rick Stein’s French Odyssey episode 5. Click on “more” to read the whole recipe.
Duck confit with braised red cabbage
Rick Stein says: “This is best served, in my opinion, with a frisee salad and braised red cabbage, which counterbalances the fattiness of the duck. You’ll notice that the cure requires a markedly small amount of salt, leading to a definitely cured but sweet confit.”
Ingredients
For the duck confit
4 large duck legs
100g/3½oz sel gris or rock salt
900g/2 lb duck or goose fat
For the braised red cabbage
500g/1 lb 1oz red cabbage, core removed and the rest thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
250g/8¾oz cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1½ tbsp white wine vinegar
1½ tbsp muscovado sugar
¼ tsp mixed ground spices, such as cloves, nutmeg and
cinnamon
½ tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
15g/½oz butter
To serve
frisee salad
Method
1. Make the duck confit at least 24 hours before you want to serve this dish. Place one duck leg in the bottom of a deep plastic, glass or stainless-steel bowl, sprinkle with a little of the salt, turn it over, sprinkle with more salt and add another duck leg. Continue until you’ve used up the duck legs and the salt.
2. Cover and leave in the fridge for six hours, turning the legs over halfway through. Don’t leave them any longer or the duck will become too salty.
3. Preheat the oven to 140C/284F/Gas 1.
4. Rub the salt off the duck legs and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Bring the duck or goose fat to a gentle simmer in a casserole dish in which the duck legs will fit snugly. Add the legs, making sure they are completely submerged, cover and transfer the dish to the oven. Cook for one-and-a-half hours, then remove from the oven and leave to cool in the fat. Chill for at least 24 hours or until needed.
5. For the braised red cabbage, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2. Layer the cabbage, onion, apples, vinegar, sugar, spices, salt and pepper into a small casserole dish, dot with butter and cover with a well-fitting lid. Leave to cook for three hours, stirring once or twice.
6. To serve, you can reheat the duck in one of two ways. Preheat the oven to 220C/428F/Gas 7. Lift the duck legs out of the fat and wipe off most but not quite all of it with kitchen paper. Put them skin-side up onto a rack resting over a roasting tin and roast for 15-20 minutes until the skin is crisp and golden and the meat has heated through. Alternatively, sauté the legs in a frying pan over a medium heat until crisp, golden and heated through. Either way they are delicious.
7. Spoon some of the red cabbage slightly to one side of four warmed plates and rest a piece of the duck confit on top. Pile some of the frisee salad alongside and serve.