What to do with Duck Confit?

[Ida Red]

I see MMRUth made some this past weekend and I'm very impressed.
I will be in possesion of a good bit soon and I'm fishing for ideas beyond Cassoulet.

[mike9]

How about a "Cuban Duck Panini"? put the leg quarter in like a George Foreman Grill? Hard to go wrong with Confit + you have that wonder liquid Duck Gold to play with. You could debone the leg quarter too and stuff it with whatever strikes your fancy. Now there's thought for food . . . :beer

[Harters]

Good grief. A thread that's been dead for six years comes to life again.

[Paprikaboy]

I didn't realise Harters.
That will teach me to read the thread properly and not post after a roast and three pints of Landlord!

[Harters]

Question has to be, what were you searching for? :-0

I always liked Landlord in my drinking days. Perhaps not as much as I iked Robinson's, which is why I've been on the wagon for years now.

[Paprikaboy]

My first though is to use it for a ragu with pappardelle .
Work's for rabbit legs but you won't get the flavours of the duck into the sauce at the start.
If you make the sofrito base with pachetta and then add the shredded duck half way through it may work.

[sunshine842]

It's pretty common to make hachis parmentier, a riff on cottage pie, using duck confit for the meat layer under the potatoes.

[Robert Lauriston]

Garbure.

For a quart or so of excellent confit-making fat, roast a farm-raised goose. (Wild is so lean it needs to be barded.)

[Cflower5]

I'm using my confit for a salad with pear, dried cherries a champagne walnut vinaigrette, pistachio or walnuts. will probably go walnuts since I'm using walnut oil and some goat cheese. I would really like to use pistachios for the color. how would that be with the walnut oil. I was going to use blue cheese but someone the other day here said they didn't the blue cheese would go with the duck for an appetizer. How about for this salad?

[Olivia]

<drool> I am SO envious! It seems I can never make enough, as it always goes so fast in my house.

In addition to the above ideas, another is to make rillettes.

[MMRuth]

I made rillettes - one mistake I made, I think, was adding the fat gradually to the food processor (b/c I wasn't sure how much to use) and so I lost some of the texture I'd like to have. Next time!

The confit is incredibly easy to make - just a matter of getting my hands on the duck fat. I did notice that goose fat is much cheaper that duck fat, and am thinking about using it instead next time.

[Ida Red]

Could one just keep saving duck fat until you have enough for confit? I know it keeps for a long time but there must be some limits in terms of spoilage.

[MMRuth]

You could probably freeze it - but I don't cook duck often enough to accumulate enough fat for the confit.

[carswell]

Yes. Provided it doesn't have any drippings/moisture in it (they can be removed by heating the fat over low heat until its stops sputtering) and is stored in a well-sealed container, the fat will keep for months in the fridge and indefinitely in the freezer. When making confit, you can also supplement it with goose fat and even lard.

[carswell]

I actually prefer to place it skin side up in a baking dish or on a rack in a baking dish and heat in a 400F oven for 15-20 minutes. If the skin isn't as crisp as you'd like, run it under the broiler.

Favourite sides include:
- warm lentil salad
- grilled or roasted mushrooms, especially fresh ceps (porcini)
- various southwestern French potato preparations, especially Sarlat-style potatoes (peeled, sliced, fried in duck fat, showered with a *hachis* of chopped parley and garlic, and left covered for a few minutes before serving)

Deboned duck confit makes a killer ravioli stuffing by the way.

[GG Mora]

Terry Brennan's “Artisanal Cooking” has a recipe for risotto with wild mushrooms and duck confit. I made it for New Year's Eve last year; it was exquisite.

Warmed duck confit is also very good with braised lentils.

[Anya L]

Pan fry it to warm the meat and crisp the skin, then serve it with salad (especially good if the salad has beets, green beans, and walnuts).