Sous-vide confit duck

[Keith_W]

Here is another dish showing the advantage of sous-vide. Traditional duck confit involves 6-10 hours of slow roasting duck legs in duck fat, by which time the tough tendons in the leg become meltingly tender. In a restaurant, duck fat can be obtained by rendering out the fat from the skin. After a while, the legs render their own fat so they can obtain sufficient quantity of fat to confit duck. At home, you will not get enough duck fat unless you buy canned duck fat, and this is very expensive! Sous-vide'ing the duck legs avoids having to buy so much duck fat. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
- 4 duck marylands (femur removed, and legs frenched)
- 1 cup of kosher salt
- zest of one lemon
- 2 star anise, pounded
- 10 cloves
- 1 tbsp juniper berries
- 1 tbsp black peppercorn
- 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
- thyme leaves
- bay leaves

Method
- Mix all the ingredients together, make sure the duck is well covered, and leave to cure in the fridge for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, thoroughly wash the duck and pick out any spices stuck to the duck.
- Seal in a sous-vide bag with one bay leaf per bag. Sous-vide at 62C for 48 hours. For an even more tender result (at the risk of the meat falling off the bone when you remove it) - take it to 60 or 72 hours.
- After SV, thoroughly dry the legs on a paper towel then shallow fry to crisp up the skin. Cooked legs can be kept warm in the oven - it will not lose its crispness.
- Serve with your choice of side dishes

As per usual here are some pictures

Here is the duck confit after 48 hours of cooking. Note the juices are still slightly pink. This effect is impossible to achieve with the traditional confit method - medium rare duck legs whilst perfectly cooked.

Frenched duck legs crisping up in a frypan. Note the quantity of oil used. You need to move the legs frequently to stop it from sticking to the pan.

Completed dish, served here with Puy lentils.

Here is another version, this time served with blood orange sauce, blood orange, potato pave, and some veggies.

 

[treitz3]

Hey, Keith. I must admit, I am not a big fan of duck at all. Even at the $50+ a plate [with no sides] restaurants I've been to....not really my cup of tea. I will say this. Just thinking about cooking this Sous-vide for 72 hours along with the way you have described the cooking technique may actually have me left with a different take on duck.....well, that is if I can nail it the first or second go'round.

I did notice that in your list of ingredients you had mentioned 2 star anise, pounded. Without having anybody else who may be interested in this recipe look it up, would you be so kind as to let me know what this is? I must admit, I have not one clue as to what this is or even may be.

 

[Keith_W]

Hi treitz, what is it about duck that you don't like? If it's the texture, we can do something about that. But if it's the taste that puts you off ... well, this technique can be adapted to cook turkey and goose legs as well.

Star anise is a star shaped spice - actually a seed pod. I pound mine gently with a hammer to increase flavour release. I don't have a mortar and pestle. If I did, I would use that.

 

[puroagave]

Here is another version, this time served with blood orange sauce, blood orange, potato pave, and some veggies.[/QUOTE]

get me a napkin, im salivating

duck is the 8th wonder of the world in my book

 

[treitz3]

Hi treitz, what is it about duck that you don't like?

The overwhelming taste of grease or fat with every bite. It almost seems to over power the flavor of the meat.

 

[puroagave]

^ that leaves more foie gras for the rest of us duck fat is considered to be a healthy alternative to traditional butter. its also high in omega 3 and 6 oils.

 

[amirm]

Keith, confess. You are a restaurant chef. No? Can't imagine that nice of a plating without it being your profession . Wonderful job there....

 

[Keith_W]

Duck fat ... a healthy alternative to butter? Given what I know about animal fats I am not sure if that claim is correct. I will ask a dietician the next time I see one (which will hopefully be at tomorrow morning's ward round). I eat it in moderation and because I have a vicarious disregard for my own health when it comes to food

amir thanks but neither of those are examples of good plating I actually do know some restaurant chefs and I have asked them to help teach me how to plate. I think this little consomme I made for Valentine's day is a nicely plated dish:

 

[michelf]

Very nice pictures and an interesting method...in Québec we got access to duck confit in most grocery, sometimes at a very good price, but this particular sous-vide method should provide more taste.

 

[Keith_W]

Here is another SV confit duck, this time paired with a duck breast ballotine with mushroom duxelles and truffles. It was served with a Perigeux sauce (not pictured)

The confit duck legs - see recipe above.

For the Duck breast ballotine:
- 2/3 duck breast per person
- caul fat
- button mushroom, sliced
- cepes, sliced
- thyme
- shallots
- truffle oil
- truffles, shaved
- dash of cognac

Make the mushroom duxelles by frying all the duxelle ingredients (i.e. everything on the list except the first two). Adjust to taste and add the cognac then flambe. Make an incision in the duck breast and stuff with the duxelles. Wrap in caul fat then seal the package in a frypan over low heat. Sous-vide the ballotine at 65C for 3 hours. Remove, fry again, and reserve. Reheat in the oven at 100C for 30 minutes prior to service.

 

[GaryProtein]

That looks fantastically delicious, but it's a DUCK, NOT A TURKEY.

May I have an entire half duck please?

 

[Steve Williams]

It was a beautiful day yesterday here in SoCal so I put the top down and my wife and I drove to Newport Beach (about 20 minutes) where we spent the afternoon and ultimately had a late lunch at The Cannery where for the first time in my life I had a meal prepared "sous-vide" style. Specifically it was beef short ribs with polenta and a vegetable I had never seen before (a cross between broccoli and cauliflower) and the meat was truly the most tender and juicy that I have ever eaten.

Keith, you are onto something here and I must commend you on sharing your sous-vide recipes with us because that meal yesterday was absolutely superb and inspired me to try this method of cooking

 

[Keith_W]

Thanks Steve, but I am sure you have had SV cooking more times than you realize. Many restaurants do it in some way or another, it just makes food so much more predictable and consistent.

 

[GaryProtein]

OK, Keith. WHOSE Sous Vide device do you recommend.

From what I know, you need a vacuum bag/sealing device and a temperature controlled water bath.

I'm ready to make a purchase.

 

[Steve Williams]

Keith

that meal yesterday was truly magnificent. That plus the fact that your pix and recipes have inspired me enough that I want to try cooking this way

Can you give us 3 of your most favorite sous-vide recipes

Gary

any good store such as Sur La Table has Sous -vide stuff for sale

 

[JackD201]

OK, Keith. WHOSE Sous Vide device do you recommend.

From what I know, you need a vacuum bag/sealing device and a temperature controlled water bath.

I'm ready to make a purchase.

Not Keith but I have two consumer models. A Polyscience which is a recirculator that comes with a big tub or can be attached to a pot and an SVS which is a one box affair. If you are cooking for just one or two people the one box thing will do. Problem is the tank is small but the box is pretty big and awkward to store.

A friend who is a molecular biologist has all this access to lab stuff. She uses an industrial type one and I'm guessing one of these would be cheaper, just as effective but not as "pretty" as the commercial Poly unit.

The Polyscience packages can be had at Williams-Sonoma, the SVS in another popular kitchen store, I forget which right now but my wife picked it up somewhere in Union Square.

I'm actually looking for a small unit for keeping sauces warm since I prepare a few of these beforehand. Any suggestions for a mid size clamp on unit would be appreciated.

 

[JackD201]

Oops Steve already mentioned the store Sur La Table.

By the way Stevie, next time you're up north and eat at Gary Danko's his Sous Vide Quail is excellent

 

[Keith_W]

OK, Keith. WHOSE Sous Vide device do you recommend.

From what I know, you need a vacuum bag/sealing device and a temperature controlled water bath.

Hi Gary, i would recommend one of the immersion circulators. As for which one, I don't know ... because I don't own one yet! I have been eyeing the Polyscience circulator for quite a while. Right now I use a ghetto setup with a simple switch that cuts power to an electric hot plate when the preset temperature is reached.

As for a vacuum bagging machine, there are three ways you can do it:

- chamber vacuum sealer is the most versatile, but very expensive.
- foodsaver type vacuum sealer - this is what I have. It works, but it won't seal anything with liquids in it.
- zip-lock bag - the cheapest option, and the bags can be recycled. It will seal liquids, but you need to immerse the whole bag in water. You can not seal the bag at >1 atm.

I suggest using zip-lock bags until you decide that SV cooking is for you, then you can invest in a better machine.

 

[Keith_W]

Can you give us 3 of your most favorite sous-vide recipes

Sure, Steve. I have to say that I have always been more interested in technique rather than recipes. Once you understand why you do something, you can invent your own recipes. I'll make new threads. I think I have already posted 3 SV recipes in this subforum ... this one, the confit ocean trout, and the steak.

 

[Steve Williams]

But are they your three favorites