Confit de canard avec les pommes de terre à la sarladaise (rough translation: duck slowly poached in duck fat with potatoes pan-fried in duck fat topped with persillade) is one of those classic dishes from the French South-West which has since become a bistro staple found just about anywhere. If you’re have a sense of déjà-vu, I’m recycling an introduction. To say that I make a lot of confit is probably somewhat of an understatement, as I make the quail variant so often that it is starting to look like a signature dish.

This is the duck version, which can of course be easily modified to process geese (tasty but *very* expensive) and chicken. Up to about 50 years ago, the entire duck was used when preparing confit, though as an eater the “cuisses” were the preferred pieces. Duck confit now refers to just the legs as the duck breast (which isn’t particularly good as confit) is now prepared by other means.

As with all properly-prepared confits, it keeps incredibly well after it’s made by leaving it submerged/sealed in fat. Actually it tastes a whole lot better if you leave it to set up and reintegrate – the stuff “mellows” and develops a nutty flavor.

The best results are obtained from Moulard duck legs, which are the legs obtained from ducks used to produce foie gras; they may be obtained from good bouchers such as Boucherie Claude et Henri in the Atwater Market and elsewhere, including online sources in the United States. Duck legs from Pékin ducks (those are the ducks produced under the Lac Brome banner in Québec), are okay but don’t give the best results because the skins are thinner and the legs carry less fat.

Ingredients

• duck legs (drumstick + thigh)
• coarse sea salt
• turbinado sugar
• black peppercorns
• juniper berries
• dried thyme
• dried bay leaf
• duck fat
• potatoes
• garlic
• fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation of the duck confit

Wash leg quarters, pat dry with paper towel and place in a glass dish in one layer.

Add 4 tablespoons coarse sea salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 12 peppercorns and five juniper berries to a mortar and pestle. Grind the mixture until it becomes a coarse even powder. Add 1 teaspoon dried thyme. Mix thoroughly. This mixture can be scaled up (follow ratios) if there are many legs to process.

Sprinkle the salt cure over the duck, ensuring that the entire surface (skin and meat) is coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours to overnight. Remove duck from salt cure, quickly rinse in fresh water to remove excess cure, and pat dry with a paper towel.

Melt duck fat in an oven-proof pot (a Le Creuset or Corning Vision dutch oven works well) until it is just liquid (do not boil!). The amount of fat required is the volume necessary to submerge the duck entirely in fat once placed in the pot. Add one bay leaf and a couple of peeled garlic cloves to the fat. Carefully add the duck legs to the duck fat. Once all the leg quarters are immersed in oil, cover the pot and place in a 167ºF / 75ºC oven (use an oven thermometer) for 7-8 hours (check for doneness).

Alternate method: seal duck legs, bay leaf, garlic and duck fat into a plastic bag and place in a 158ºF / 70ºC circulating water bath for 10 hours.

Remove pot from oven and transfer duck into a glass container in a single layer. Sieve duck fat over the duck so that the the legs are again submerged in fat. Let cool until fat is cloudy, and then refrigerate. If using sous-vide, immediately ice down the bag in a container of ice water. For best results, confit should be left to set up at least 48 hours before service.

Preparation of the potatoes

Place the potatoes into a steamer and steam until almost cooked (note: steaming is not part of the traditional method but it cuts down overall cooking time). Remove from steamer, cut into thick slices and fry potato in duck fat until both sides of the potato slices are browned and crisp (the inside of the potato should be fluffy and fully-cooked). Use either alternative to finish potatoes.

Alternative 1:

• Remove potatoes from duck fat and sprinkle with fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt.
• Make a persillade by finely mince two or three large cloves of garlic and a large handful of flat-leaf parsley. Add several tablespoons of melted liquid duck fat (or olive oil) and a little salt and pepper.
• Spoon persillade over potatoes.

Alternative 2:

• Finely mince two or three large cloves of garlic and a large handful of flat-leaf parsley.
• Add several tablespoons of melted liquid duck fat and a little salt and pepper to the potatoes in the pan.
• Add garlic and parsley to the potatoes and shake to coat potatoes.

Service

Remove duck from fat and reheat in a low oven (e.g.  225ºF / 107ºC); this step will take at least 20 minutes, which should be adequate to finish the potatoes. To brown/crisp the skin, either place the duck skin side up under a broiler or salamander or pass the flame of a blowtorch over the skin.

Plate the potato and and place duck over or beside potato.

Butter Event Variation

The Butter Event‘s “Autumne” element was a multi-part dish that paired duck confit with pommes sarladaises with deconstructed cassoulet. This variant used steamed blue potatoes that had been hollowed out to carry butter, duck fat, duck confit and persillade in a very compact package. Apart from the thrill of eating something blue, it can make interesting party snacks.

Wine pairing

The traditional confit wines are from appellations of the South-West, but Bordeaux, Cahors and Pinot Noirs from several regions also work very nicely.

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