duck confit question
I made duck confit using the slow cooker method. My duck legs looked fine, the flavoured duck fat is lovely as is the concentrated jellied stock (separated out). I decided to bone some of the duck legs, and was surprised to find some pink showing in the meat of some of them. I had cooked it for several hours (about 7or 8, mostly at low after an hour at high) and the texture certainly seems cooked thoroughly. I would not at all be concerned to serve this (and would grill the legs anyway for a bit to crisp up the skin), but the problem is food safety for the duck I'll be storing smothered in the fat (in a refrigerator, I don't have a cool cellar cantina). Should I recook the duck leg pieces in fat on low for a couple more hours?
Could curing the legs in coarse salt, as one does for a confit, have anything to do with the pinkish colour?
By lagatta
on Oct 3, 2009 10:40 AM
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I think curing might have something to do with it, but the important thing is that the meat is by no means undercooked. If it were bloody pink and flabby, that would be undercooked, but I'm pretty confident that you're simply seeing the normal color of confited duck meat. My duck is always pink inside, even when it's just roasted, and the confit of turkey thighs I've done a couple of times have been pinkish as well.
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Don't worry, they're cooked. A lot of poultry meat, especially close to the bone looks pink, even when completely cooked.
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Glad to hear that. I did buy an extra 500 ml tub of duck fat, but it won't go to waste anyway. I just don't want to kill my friends when I'm serving them a special treat!
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If there was salt in your pre-cure, that could lead to pink color near the surface.
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