Sous vide duck confit takes the classic French dish to new heights by immersing the duck legs in a precisely controlled water bath, ensuring a consistently tender and juicy outcome. This modern cooking technique achieves a perfect balance of flavors by gently cooking the duck in its own rendered fat, creating a delectable rendition of traditional duck confit.
What is Duck Confit?
Duck confit (or confit de canard in French) is a classic French dish that involves slow-cooking duck meat, typically the legs, in its own rendered fat. With the conventional method, the process begins by curing the duck in a salt mixture with herbs (typically thyme and sometimes bay leaves and juniper berries) and garlic.
After the curing process, the duck legs are typically placed in a roasting pan or Dutch oven in a single layer and covered in rendered duck fat (aka liquid gold). The duck legs are then cooked in a very low-temperature oven for several hours.
The low and slow cooking process breaks down the connective tissues in the meat resulting in ultra-tender duck legs with a luxurious melt-in-your-mouth texture and deep flavor. Duck confit is often served on its own or used as an ingredient in various recipes.
Why You'll Love This Recipe:
Simplified: This duck confit recipe simplifies the traditional method by using the sous vide method. This takes the guesswork out of covering the duck legs completely in fat, keeping them at a controlled temperature, and keeping an eye on them for a long time. This is a great option for home cooks looking to elevate their dining experience.
Less Waste: When making duck confit the traditional way, a lot of excess fat is used to cover the duck legs completely. The sous vide technique requires only a small amount of duck fat because the fat melts in the sous vide bag and coats the duck legs.
Intensified Flavor Infusion: The prolonged cooking time in a sous vide bath allows the flavors to meld and intensify, creating a more nuanced and flavorful duck confit.
Ingredient Notes:
- Duck Legs: Duck legs are typically used for duck confit because the slow cooking method breaks down the tough connective tissues. Goose legs, pheasant legs, or other wild bird legs are good substitutes. If you're looking to cook duck breasts try this sous vide duck breast recipe. Breasts require a different cooking temperature than legs.
- Duck Fat: Traditional duck confit is cooked in its own fat. Duck fat is the key ingredient for making duck confit. You can use other animal fats like goose fat, but you will achieve the best results from pure duck fat. Looking for more ways to use duck fat? Try making duck fat pie crust or duck fat cookies!
- Rosemary: Rosemary adds a subtle herb flavor to this duck confit recipe. You can also use thyme sprigs, or you can skip the herbs altogether.
- Sea Salt: Does it matter what type of salt I use? Yes! Non-iodized sea salt or kosher salt will provide the best results. Cooking meat for an extended period with iodized table salt can impart a metallic flavor to the meat. Salts without any additives are the best choice for duck confit.
Equipment Notes:
- Sous Vide Machine: A sous vide machine, or immersion circulator, takes the guesswork out of cooking duck by keeping it at a precise temperature during the whole cooking process. But sous vide cooking can be done without one. Check out this resource on sous vide cooking without a machine.
- Vacuum Sealer: While it takes a little more work to use the sous vide method without a vacuum sealer, it can be done. The water displacement method uses water to remove the air from a resealable plastic bag instead of using a vacuum bag.
- Cast Iron Pan: A cast iron pan is the best type of pan for getting perfectly crispy skin. But, you can use whatever type of pan or skillet you have available.
Step by Step Instructions:
How To Make Sous Vide Duck Confit:
The process of making sous vide duck confit is much less complicated than the traditional method. Read below for how to make this simplified French classic!
Step 1: Fill a large pot or another large container with water. Preheat the sous vide machine to 155°F.
Step 2: Pat duck legs dry with paper towels.
Step 3: Season duck all over with sea salt and black pepper.
Step 4: Add duck legs to a vacuum bag. Place smashed garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs, and 2 tablespoons of duck fat in the bag.
Step 5: Vacuum seal the bag.
Step 6: Place the vacuum-sealed bag of duck legs into the preheated water bath. Cook for 24-36 hours. The longer the legs cook, the softer they will be. Add water to the water bath as needed to keep the level above the minimum water level for the immersion circulator.
Step 7: The next day, remove the bag from the water bath and remove the legs from the bag. Pat the legs dry with paper towels.
Step 8: Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of duck fat in the pan.
Step 9: Carefully place the duck legs in the hot pan, skin side down. Sear for 1-2 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Flip and repeat on the other side.
Step 10: Remove the legs to a plate to rest. Drizzle the remaining duck fat from the pan over the legs. Sprinkle with sea salt. Serve and enjoy!
Pro Tip: Leftover duck fat can be strained and reused. Add the strained fat to a glass jar and refrigerate it. The cooled fat will solidify on top of any leftover cooking juices. Remove the solidified fat and place it in a clean container for future use.
How to Store Duck Confit:
Traditional duck confit is used as a preservation method, but this sous vide recipe doesn't cure the duck meat in the same way. So, it requires different storage techniques.
You should generally eat cooked meat within 3-4 days of cooking. To store sous vide duck confit, remove the meat from the bones and place it in a storage container.
You can pour enough fat into the container to cover the meat. This isn't necessary, but it can help keep the meat moist. Reheat duck confit in a cast iron pan in duck fat.
What to Serve with Duck Confit:
Confit duck legs make a beautiful main course. Since the flavor is so rich, it pairs well with light dishes. You can cut the richness with acid by serving duck confit with fennel orange salad or a simple green salad with homemade dressing and a glass of red wine.
Or, if you're looking to fully indulge, you can serve it with richer dishes like risotto or duck fat potatoes. No matter how you choose to serve it, you're going to love this simplified recipe!
Recipe FAQ's:
Yes! A sous vide machine simplifies the classic duck confit method. An immersion circulator keeps the duck at a consistent temperature without having to watch it.
Cooking duck meat in its own rendered fat for an extended period of time gives duck confit its rich flavor. The duck fat provides a rich flavor and texture to the duck meat this is both savory and indulgent.
Duck legs can be sous vide with a confit method at 155°F to help break down the tough connective tissues. You can cook duck breasts medium-rare by using a sous vide temperature of 120-125°F.
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Recipe:
📖 Recipe
Sous Vide Duck Confit
Ingredients
- 4 duck legs
- sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3 tablespoon duck fat, divided
Instructions
- Fill a large pot or other large container with water. Preheat sous vide machine to 155°F.
- Pat duck legs dry with paper towels. Season all over with sea salt and black pepper.
- Add duck legs to a vacuum bag. Place smashed garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs, and 2 tablespoons of duck fat in the bag.
- Vacuum seal the bag.
- Place the vacuum-sealed bag of duck legs into the preheated water bath. Cook for 24-36 hours. The longer the legs cook, the softer they will be. Add water to the water bath as needed to keep the level above the minimum water level for the immersion circulator.
- Remove the bag from the water bath and remove the legs from the bag. Pat the legs dry with paper towels.
- Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of duck fat in the pan.
- Carefully place the duck legs in the hot pan, skin side down. Sear for 1-2 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Flip and repeat on the other side.
- Remove the legs to a plate to rest. Drizzle the remaining duck fat from the pan over the legs. Sprinkle with sea salt. Serve and enjoy!
Curing Instructions:
- If you'd like to make a more traditional confit, you can cure the duck legs before cooking them.
- Coat the duck legs in salt, pepper, and thyme. Cover and refrigerate for 12-48 hours.
- Rinse the duck legs and pat dry. Follow the instructions above but skip the step for seasoning the duck with salt and pepper.
Notes
- Duck legs are typically used for duck confit because the slow cooking method breaks down the tough connective tissues. Goose legs, pheasant legs, or other wild bird legs are good substitutes.
- Duck fat is the key ingredient for making duck confit. You can use other animal fats like goose fat, but you will achieve the best results from pure duck fat.
- Rosemary adds a subtle herb flavor to this duck confit recipe. You can also use thyme sprigs, or you can skip the herbs altogether.
- Sea Salt: Does it matter what type of salt I use? Yes! Non-iodized sea salt or kosher salt will provide the best results. Cooking meat for an extended period with iodized table salt can impart a metallic flavor to the meat. Salts without any additives are the best choice for duck confit.
- A sous vide machine, or immersion circulator, takes the guesswork out of cooking duck by keeping it at a precise temperature during the whole cooking process. But sous vide cooking can be done without one. Check out this resource on sous vide cooking without a machine.
- While it takes a little more work to use the sous vide method without a vacuum sealer, it can be done. The water displacement method uses water to remove the air from a resealable plastic bag instead of using a vacuum bag.
- A cast iron pan is the best type of pan for getting perfectly crispy skin. But, you can use whatever type of pan or skillet you have available.
- Leftover duck fat can be strained and reused. Add the strained fat to a glass jar and refrigerate it. The cooled fat will solidify on top of any leftover cooking juices. Remove the solidified fat and place it in a clean container for future use.
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