Confit duck legs with dauphinoise potatoes

With the stresses of getting ready to move and packing we've had a bit of a break from the blog and to come back we felt it would be quite fitting to come back with a post of a meal that we prepared to celebrate Jacob's birthday yesterday - and what a delight it was! This meal was derived from a French background and although we're sure there are many other documented ways to cook this, below is the way we have done it.

Confit (French, pronounced [kɔ̃fi] or in English "con-fee") is a generic term used to describe a way to cook and preserve various foods. To confit meat, it is salted and seasoned with herbs overnight and submerged, usually, in its own rendered fat. Fruit and other type of foods can also be cooked using this process, using sugar syrups and other cooking liquors. The preparation is time consuming, but the end product is so worth the mouth-wateringly tender and flaky duck; it is to die for.

We advise reading through the whole preparation before beginning so you can plan your time logically. 

Confit Duck Legs with Dauphinoise Potatoes

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

For the confit:

3-4 large duck legs

500 g duck fat 

2-3 tbsp salt
a few sprigs of thyme, optional

For the Dauphinoise Potatoes:

500 g Maris Piper potatoes

200 ml single cream

2 garlic cloves

30 g butter

salt and pepper

50 g Gruyère or cheddar

Method

For the confit duck

1.  To prepare the duck legs, dab them dry with kitchen paper and rub the salt all over them. Place in a dish, cover and leave in the fridge overnight (You can also add fresh herbs such as thyme for extra flavour).

2. The next day, wipe all the salt off the duck legs and place in a high sided oven proof dish. Melt the fat and pour over the duck legs and ensure they are covered completely, add more fat if necessary. Place the dish uncovered in a preheated oven (Gas Mark 2) for 3 hours, turning the legs halfway.

3. This is where you have a choice - you can leave the meat to cool in the fat and store in a sealed sterile container in a cool place for 3-6 months to intensify the flavour... OR you can remove them from the fat and quickly pan fry them to make the skin lovely and crispy.

For the dauphinoise potatoes

1. Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly with a mandolin or if you have one, a food processor, with the thinnest slicing attachment. Wash the slices with water to remove the excess starch and dry with a clean towel or alternatively use a salad spinner to remove excess water.

2. Finely grate the garlic into a medium non stick saucepan with the cream and butter, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the potato slices and bring the cream to the boil, simmer for 5-8 minutes.

3. Arrange your potato slices in a buttered oven proof dish and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake in a preheated oven (Gas Mark 2) for 1.5 hours until golden. 

Serve together with green beans dressed with a little butter and a sprinkling of pepper, or a light salad. A great garnish with the duck is cranberry sauce. We also made a simple creamy wholegrain mustard sauce, although for simplicity we have omitted this from the recipe. If you like the sound of this sauce, feel free to contact us for further details.