Confit of Whole Duck Leg - The Imperial Hotel, Chestertown, MD - Chef Tom PIzzaca | Entrees | DONNE TEMPO
Confit of Whole Duck Leg - The Imperial Hotel, Chestertown, MD - Chef Tom PIzzaca
March/31/2009 06:32 PM Filed in: Entrees
Confit of Whole Duck Leg with Carmelized shaved Brussels sprouts and Grapefruit Marmalade by Tom Pizzaca; Exeucitve chef, The Imperial Hotel, Chestertown, Maryland
This recipe is time consuming but not very difficult but it does require some market research on your part, meaning you got to find a market that sells duck legs and rendered duck fat.
The best advice is to try an Asian market for the duck, they usually carry whole ducks so I would imagine they sell legs as well and substituting canola oil for the rendered duck fat is not a crime in any state except maybe in a state of satisfaction. If it’s something you want to try I would do it on one of those Sundays in late fall or early winter when there is nothing to do except watch football, drink and go to Asian markets, but maybe not necessarily in that order.
I catered the recipe to feed about three people depending on how hungry they are and how many cards are left in their Richard Simmons Deal a Meal folder.
Two legs equals is a good portion for one person.
Confit
6 ea duck leg and thigh
2 c kosher salt
½ tbl Fresh cracked black pepper
1 tbl dried thyme leaves
1 tbl dried tarragon leaves
1 tbl granulated garlic
½ tbl dried mustard
2 lbs rendered duck fat or use about a gallon of canola oil
Combine salt and the rest of the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
Place duck in large bowl. Coat duck legs with ALL of the salt mixture. Really rub the salt into the duck by massaging between both hands. Lay duck out on a sheet tray skin side up.
Place in fridge uncovered for at least six hours. One to four days is better, but who has that kind of time? What you are doing is curing the leg with the seasoned salt. It will dry the skin and penetrate it to the bone with flavor. If you left it to cure long enough it would dehydrate the leg completely thus in a sense “cooking” it and you could eat it right out of the fridge.
But we don’t want to do this. We need to cure it long enough shrink the skin and flavor it, about one to four days.
When legs are ready, lightly wipe off the residual salt or if they have been curing for more than a day lightly wash away salt in cold water and pat dry with an absorbent kitchen towel.
Place legs in a large deep baking dish. It’s ok if the legs overlap but you do not want it crowded in there! If you are using rendered duck fat you will need to melt this first in the baking dish and then place the legs in the warm oil.
Make sure legs are completely submerged in fat. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and then foil.
Place disk, wrapped in plastic and foil, in a 300 degree oven for four hours.
DO NOT COOK FOR LESS THAN 3 ½ OR MORE THAN FIVE HOURS.
You will know they are done if you try to pick one up with the leg bone and the thigh starts to tear away.
Place to the side and let cool. You can store them in the fridge forever, as long as they are submerged in the fat. But they are not done. See below for final cooking instructions!
GRAPEFRUIT MARMALADE
12 ea grapefruits, sectioned
2 ea grapefruits worth of peels thinly sliced
1 c granulated sugar
1 c white wine
I section my own grapefruits but you can buy just the sections.
Sectioning grapefruits can be difficult for someone who has never done it but it’s easy to get the hang of. Using a fillet knife cut off the north and south poles of the grapefruit making sure you cut off enough to show flesh all the way across the top and bottom.
Place flat on cutting board and carefully cut away the peel in sections all the way around. Make sure no white remains.
Now hold the grapefruit in palm of your hand and hold over a bowl. Using the knife cut out the sections in between the white lines so they fall into the bowl along with all the juice.
When all sections are cut out, squeeze all the juice out of the grapefruit carcass and then discard. Watch out for seeds! Try not to get them in the bowl.
I usually sift through the sections and find all the seeds before I put them into the pot to cook.
Once in pot add wine, sugar and peels. Cook on medium low heat for two hours. It should be sticky and amber in color when finished. It’ll still be loose but once it cools it thickens up.
The final step is the:
CARMELIZED SHAVED BRUSSEL SPROUTS
20 ea Brussel sprouts
1 tbl butter
½ tbl oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
You will need to find either a French or a Japanese mandolin for this part. I don’t mean the guitar looking instrument often confused with the ukulele but the medal plane with a blade through the center used for cutting vegetables and such cell membrane thin.
You can use a food processor and pulse the Brussels until fine but this isn’t as cool.
Once you have brussel sprouts shaved, heat oil and butter in a large sauté pan. When nice and hot throw in sprouts and spread out until they cover the entire bottom of pan. Add salt and pepper.
When you see the edges of sprouts start to brown flip over like a pancake to cook other side. If you don’t possess the skill to flip a pancake then stir sprouts with a spoon and then spread out again. Sprouts are done when they all have a nice crisp texture and deep caramel color.
To finish the Duck and serve:
In order to crisp the duck you will need to take legs out of fat.
If duck legs have been refrigerated you will need to place in low oven in order to melt duck fat enough to remove legs with ease. Add about two cups of fat to sauté pan and place burner on high.
When fat smokes carefully add two duck legs skin side down and put burner to medium low. Cook for three minutes and carefully remove with slotted spatula. If the oil is not hot enough the skin will stick to the bottom of the pan and tear when trying to remove.
Place crispy duck leg on paper towel to drain. Meanwhile place sprouts on bottom of plate, add duck leg and a spoonful of cold marmalade.
Enjoy
Photo/Carol Clayton Photography
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