Wild duck breasts are lean, strongly flavoured, and easy to overcook. Duck confit solves all of these problems simultaneously.
What Is Confit
Confit is a French preservation method: meat is salted, then slow-cooked fully submerged in fat at low temperature. The result is astonishing — exceptionally tender, deeply flavoured, and (if you have enough fat) preserved for weeks without refrigeration. The original preparation was practical. The result happens to be delicious.
Wild duck is leaner than farmed duck, which means it benefits most from the confit method. The fat bath compensates for the absence of intramuscular fat and produces a result that makes wild duck comparable to — and in some ways better than — farmed duck.
Ingredients (4 duck legs or breasts)
- 4 wild duck legs (or breasts, bone-in if possible)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt per 500g of duck
- 6 cloves garlic, bruised
- 4 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves
- 500ml duck fat, lard, or neutral oil (duck fat is best, lard is a reasonable substitute, oil works)
- Black pepper, 4 juniper berries
Method
- Cure (day before): Rub the duck pieces thoroughly with salt, pepper, juniper, and chopped thyme. Cover and refrigerate overnight. This draws moisture from the surface and seasons the meat through.
- The following day: rinse the duck briefly and dry thoroughly. All surface moisture must be gone before submerging in fat.
- Place duck in a deep baking dish. Add garlic, herbs, and cover completely with the fat. The duck must be fully submerged.
- Place in a 120°C oven for 2.5–3 hours. The fat should barely quiver — not bubble. Overcooking dries the meat even in fat. It is ready when the meat pulls easily from the bone.
- To serve: Remove duck from fat, heat a cast iron pan to very high heat, and crisp the skin for 3–4 minutes. The fat is already rendered — you need heat and no additional oil.
Serve with Puy lentils, bitter greens, or simply with good bread and the braising fat for dipping.
