my dad started as a butcher...
and now is a food broker. He works for about 40 different small producers/breeders of cured ham, duck products, poultries, ready meals...and sell their range of products to supermarkets, wholesalers and local collectivies. He's a bit obsessed with food (in a good way!) and particularly likes duck. So we've always ate quite a bit of duck. I remembered that today because I had a confit leg of duck for lunch!
Not sure how easy it is to get your hands on a tin of confit duck legs in England (well, not at your average supermarket but I am sure soem delis/French markets/places like Harrods, Selfridges and the likes stock that) but it's such a great thing yo have in your cupboard since it needs so little work for a really fantastic meal.
Duck confit is basically pieces of ducks (legs generally but you can also find wings and neck) slow cooked in a low/medium oven in its own fat until the meat falls of the bone. Then the meat is put in a jar or a tin with all the fat and left to set like that. The fat preserves the meat and keeps it moist and lush.
Duck confit with pommes de terre sautées and whole roasted garlic
Open the jar/tin!
scoop the legs out of the fat and remove most of the cold fat from it
KEEP THE FAT!!! in a jam jar in the fridge, it makes the best roast potatoes you can dream of
put the legs in a roasting pan and heat them in a medium hot oven for about 20 minutes covered with foil,
then finish them under the grill so the skin goes all crispy
in the meantime, peel and diced potaotes into small cubes
put a couple of tablespoon of duck fat in a roasting tray and melt in a hot oven for a few minutes
remove the tray from the oven, mix your potatoes with the hot fat (carefully)
give them a good shake to make sure they are all well coated in the fat
now take a whole garlic bulb
cut it in 2 in the middle, leaving all the skins
put the 2 halves of garlic in the tray with the potatoes, cut side down
cook in a medium hot oven (180 /190) for 25 to 30 minutes, giving it a shake every now and then, til the potatoes are nice and crispy
you can serve this with a side portion of vegs like celeri and tomato gratin or haricots a la provencale
it's a great alternative to turkey for Christmas if you don't want to roast a whole bird too!
