The Jersey Report: Confit de Canard

The good stuff's in there.

[Dear MAC]

I finally got a whole duck from the Chinese grocery store recently($8). Once it had thawed, I cut off the leg/thighs, breasts, and wings (minus the tip) for confit. I roasted the carcass and bits at 350 for an hour or more to brown them. The skin and fat I rendered down to a couple cups of pure, white, snowy fat. I felt bad throwing away the giblets but I'm not THAT rustic or poor. I salted and seasoned the parts for confit and let them sit overnight. The next day I made the confit in the oven at 180 for 7.5 hours. I threw the roasted bits into a Dutch oven with about 4 quarts of water and left them in the oven for 4-5 hours too. I finished the stock with onion,etc for the last hour. At then end of all that cooking, I had nothing to eat for dinner but I had a pot of confit and a few quarts of duck stock in the fridge. I can't wait to try the confit in a couple weeks. I may try the wings earlier than that if I can't wait.

Brian.

Dear Brian:

Thanks for writing, you inspire me. In cooking class a few weeks back we boned ducks. We also roasted the bones and bits to make stock. Chef had us put the fat into a pot. We used the first and second joints of the wing for stock, with the third joint we worked the meat loose from the bone then pulled it over the end to make lollipops. The next day Chef made a confit of the
lollipops and the gizzards (confit de foie, cœur et mou est très bien) we ate them on the spot.

When were in Des Moines last weekend Bonne Femme and I dined at Sage . Our favorite dish was the duck. I'm not much for fancy pants descriptions but the menu said: "Pan roasted marinated breast over a duck leg confit, roasted shitake & tart cherry risotto & a duck stock reduction." Yahoo.

Anyway I'm all jammed up with the end of the quarter and a certain someone's b-day next week, but duck (and confit thereof) is on my horizon. They have ducks over at Walt's, I just have to walk over and get one.

Cheers.