Duck Confit

There is nothing more pleasurable than duck confit. It is easily my most guilty pleasure when it comes to food. It is a food I have been dying to make ever since I had my first taste of it at Thomas Keller's Bouchon with my wife and a few close friends. I have had it at several restaurant but nothing will compare to that first experience. It's like your first kiss - there may be a lot, some good, even great, and some bad but you never forget your first one.

As many know, confit is the french preservation method of storing all manner of food items in fat - most notably: duck legs. After my first experience, I have searched for a good source of duck leg in the Dallas area. I came to find out that duck is not really an American food item. It's mostly available during the holiday season but you wont find it in the months between. When it is available at Central Market and Whole Foods it is stupidly expensive.

Enter the Asian markets. Not sure if it was my cultural ignorance or my blind allegiance to Central Market but it never crossed my mind to visit an Asian market. Never. Duck has been a staple in the Asian culture since the beginning of time. When I would go to Asian restaurants I invariably get a duck dish. So why the hell did I never put two and two together - shop at an Asian market, you moron! And that's what I did. Not only did I find legs but I found duck breast, whole ducks, half duck, duck feet, roasting duck and even duck tongue (still haven't figured that one out.)

I visited the two largest, newest stores in the metroplex: 99 Ranch Market and Asia World Market. Both in Plano. Both had a great variety of duck product but I found the legs to be better at Asia World Market. So this past Sunday I picked up two packages of duck leg (6 legs total). I finally got my legs!

Now that I have the legs, the other key ingredient is rendered duck fat; another item that is not readily available. In a search for alternatives I found a recipe by Micheal Ruhlman, pre-eminent food writer and cookbook author (Think French Laundry), which called for olive oil instead of duck fat.

In deciding out to cook these beautiful legs, I combined Bouchon's recipe with Ruhlman's. I used Bouchon's Green Salt for the marinade/cure and the olive oil technique from Ruhlman.

First Step: Preparation




The whole idea of Duck Confit sounds fancy and hard but in reality it's possibly the easiest recipe to make. It has three easy steps: cure, cook, and cool. That's it. The flavor variation comes from two sources: the curing marinade and the braising liquid.

The curing marinade can be a simple mixture of herbs and salt or one that includes coriander, juniper berries, oregano, and such. The possibilities are endless but the most important ingredient is salt.

The braising liquid is traditionally rendered duck fat which imparts the most flavor but substitutions can be made with olive oil (as in this case).



Duck Confit
6 Duck legs; trimmed of excess fat
Olive Oil, enough to fully emerge (I used most of a 2 quart jug)

Green Salt:
1/2 C kosher salt
2 bay Leaves, torn in pieces
1/4 C packed Italian parsley
2 Tbl chopped thyme

Extra:
4 thyme sprigs
4 oregano sprigs
4-9 garlic cloves, peeled

Cure: Combine Green Salt mixture into food processor and blend until mixture is fully combined. Rinse trimmed legs with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Pat with Green Salt mixture - typically 1 tablespoon per leg. Be careful not to over salt. Place salted legs in a glass baking dish skin side down. Toss extra thyme, oregano, and cloves on top. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate 24 hours.

Cook: Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Rinse each leg of Green Salt and dry thoroughly with a paper towel. Place legs skin side up in a single layer in an earthenware dish (may need to double layer, but no more than two legs deep). Pour olive oil evenly over legs with about 1 inch coverage. Cover and place in oven for 10-12 hours.


Cool: To test, stick a fork or tooth pick into a leg. The fork should penetrate the meat with no resistance. Once done, remove dish from oven and transfer legs to a large storage bowl. Strain the olive oil over the legs until the legs are fully submerged. The legs can be kept in this manner for 3-4 months. If you plan on storing the legs for awhile, I'd suggest storing them in pairs. That way you don't have to reheat all of them at the same time.

Note: I was expecting the olive oil to completely harden but it was still a liquid after two days. On the third day in the fridge it finally hardened.

Serve: Fill a large skillet with a few inches of water and heat on low. Place the bowl with the legs in the skillet. Let sit for 20-30 minutes while the olive oil fully melts. Remove legs carefully. Heat a grill pan on med-high heat. Once the pan is ready place the legs skin side down and cook until the skin is crispy. There is no need to use oil sense there is plenty already on the legs. Also, don't turn the legs over. The meat was already re-heated when the olive oil melted. Plate a crisped leg over a simple frisee salad.

This is probably the purest way to enjoy duck confit but there are endless posibilities. You can shred the meat and use it in ravioli, grilled cheese, or a taco. You can make rilletes for an appetizer. However, for my money, a whole leg and a simple salad are enough for me.

Poached Egg and Asparagus

To take the poached egg one step further, one can simply add some roasted asparagus. This is a classic pairing and one that doesn't require much fuss.

Roasted Asaparus with a Poached Egg
Serves 2

1 Tblspn Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1 lb Asparagus, trimmed
2 Eggs
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. After prep, place trimmed asparagus on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch or two of salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 12 - 14 minutes. Halfway through toss asparagus to ensure even cooking.

When there is about 5 minutes left for the asparagus, begin poaching the eggs. To plate, place roasted asparagus evenly on dish and set a poached egg on top. Sprinkle with grated parmigiano and salt and pepper (if desired).



For an even more savory dish, you can add a spoonful of hollandaise sauce as a final step.



You have endless uses with two basic ingredients. You could make an asparagus risotto, a warmed asparagus salad, a pureed asparagus soup, etc. Get creative!

Asparagus Risotto with a Poached Egg
Serves 4

1 lb Asparagus, trimmed, cleaned, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Tblspn Butter
1 Onion, diced
1 Garlic Clove, chopped
1 C Arborio Rice
1/2 C White Wine
2 C Chicken Broth
1/2 C Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
1 Tblspn Butter
Salt & Pepper, as desired
1 Splash Fresh Lemon Juice
4 Eggs

Poached Egg: Eggs Benedict

To put it simply, there is nothing better for Sunday brunch than a simple eggs benedict. The pairing of sweet brioche bread, runny yolk, salty ham, and a creamy hollandaise sauce send me straight to heaven.

I'll go over a few preparations here to help make a perfect eggs benedict. This is pulled from Elizabeth David's French Provencial Cooking, which I can't recommend enough. First, is the hollandaise sauce which is a combination of 3 egg yolks, 6-8 knobs (knob = 1 tablespoon) of room temperature butter, a splash of lemon juice, a white wine reduction, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

To begin, bring 3 tablespoons white wine and 2 tablespoons water to a boil and reduce to 1 tablespoon of mixture. To this add, 1/2 tablespoon water. You will then add the wine reduction to a mixting bowl which will have your 3 egg yolks and a splash of lemon juice - wisk well. It's best to use a double broiler here but you can improvise as I did.

Bring 1/2 - 1 inch of water to a boil in a sauce pan and place the mixing bowl over it. You don't want a rapid boil but just a simple steady boil to generate steam to cook the sauce. If you get it too hot you'll end up with scrambled eggs.

Begin introducing the knobs of butter one at a time. When one has melted add another and continue. The sauce should begin to thicken but if it is thickening too fast you can add 1/2 tablespoon of water to thin it out.

To finish, add the cayenne pepper to taste.




Julia's Eggs Benedict
Serves 1

2 Poached Eggs
2 Rounds of Brioche
2 Rounds of Country Ham
Hollandaise sauce
Salt and pepper

Bring oven to 350 degrees then add brioche rounds to lightly toast. Bring small saute pan to medium heat and sear the ham. Poach eggs as described prior. To plate, place brioche rounds on a plate topped with ham, a poached egg, a spoonfull of hollandaise. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

BASICS: Poached Egg

People think poached eggs are intimitating or even difficult and time comsuming. This line of thinking could not be further from the truth. Once you get the technique down, you can breeze through countless poached eggs for your Sunday brunch. Poached eggs not only taste great by themselves but even the simplest addition of toast makes a boring egg a wonderful breakfast.

There a few things needed to make a simple poached egg: Egg, vinegar, a small sauce pan, a large skillet, a small ramekin, and a slotted spoon.

To start, fill the small sauce pan with water and bring to a boil. Next, fill the large skillet with water and bring it to a low simmer. Becareful as you do not want a rolling boil since it will completely break apart your egg. Place the egg in the sauce pan for 30-45 seconds to lightly set the egg. Crack open the egg and place it in the ramekin. Take the slotted spoon and make a gentle whirlpool in the skillet. Slowly pour the egg in the middle of the skillet. The egg should form a small ball and begin to cook. Remove the skillet from the heat and cook the egg for 2-3 minutes, depending on heat and size of the egg.

Once the egg is cooked, remove it with the slotted spoon and pat dry with a paper towel. Serve the egg immediately with a dash of salt and pepper. It's that simple!



This took me several attempts to final get the technique right. I've found it easier to bring the water in the skillet to a small bowl and wait until it is dead still. I then place the egg in the middle and THEN make a gentle whirlpool. On several occasions, the whirlpool pulled the egg apart.

There are several ways to make multiple poached eggs. One is to cook multiple eggs depending on the size of your skillet at the same time. The other is to make the eggs individually. Once each egg is cooked, place it on a paper towel and cook your next. When you are ready to serve, simply place all eggs back in the low boling water to for 45-60 seconds to reheat. I've also read it's best to have an ice bath to place the cooked eggs in for 15 second to stop the cooking. If you're cooking for 4 or more people, I would use the reheating technique. You can simply find what way works best for the given circumstance.

Once you have mastered the poached egg, you have countless way to use a poached in your every day cooking. The most basic and my personal favorite is eggs benedict.