Confit de canard - days 3 and 4

Thirty six hours. That's how long I let my duck cure. It was haaaard. So very very hard to sit at my computer for an entire day knowing that there was poultry in my fridge waiting to be boiled in oil... Bwaahhahh (mad scientist laugh). Well not so much boiled as gently simmered for many many hours.

The morning of day three dawned to revel a serious fat deficiency. My duck rendering had only yielded about 3/4 of a cup of fat and I knew, from the recipe, that it would not be enough... I have no idea were MR (that's Michael Rulhman for those of you not up on otks abbreviations) gets enough fat from one duck to confit 2 legs. I guess if I had had 3 ducks, yielding  6 legs, (the quantity of legs in the recipe) there would have been enough fat to render the required 2-4 cups. As it stands I had to go to the store to buy this...

I could have used vegetable shortening but it wouldn't have provided any additional flavor.
Once I had procured enough fat to actually cover the duck in a vessel of appropriate size, I had to give the duck a bath. At this point in the process the duck was still covered in salt, spices, and garlic.

A quick rinse under cold water washed away the residual salt and spices. I am fully aware of the science behind curing meat but seeing the results first hand is damn cool.
The meat was firm to the touch and the parts that had been directly exposed to the cure had taken on a deeper color. I don't know if pink salt would have added anything to this but MR swears by it for curing. However, it was not part of this recipe.

Now all squeaky clean, the bird is ready for a pot. I used my 6 qt enabled dutch oven.

Let me rant for a moment - If you cook a lot, especially French, then you probably know about Le Creuset. Le Creuset makes very nice cookware but it is very pricey, as you might imagine imported heavy French metal cookware might be, but it is not the end all, be all of cast iron cookware. Lodge makes some great and relatively cost effective cast iron cookware. Little comparison: Lodge 6 qt Enamel Dutch Oven $61.95, $12 bucks cheaper at Wally World versus Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 7-1/4-Quart Round French Oven with 33% Amazon discount is $235.99. DAMN! The 6 - 7/25 qt was the closest comparison possible. Even the premium Lodge Enamel cookware is much less expensive. </rant> That's a little html joke for the geeks.

So into my cost conscious dutch oven goes a single layer of duck parts with the 3/4 cups duck fat that I was able to render and enough pork fat (lard carries a sorta bad connotation but that's what it is) to cover the parts.

As you might be able to tell I used a large disher to portion out the lard. This one is a # 12 it holds 100 ml of water or a little less than a 3rd of a cup.

Looks like a big bucket of ice cream doesn't it?

I melted the fat over low heat on the stove top until it was all liquid. I then placed my grill press on it to make sure it was completely submerged and would remain that way for the entire cooking time.

Pop that bad boy into a 180-200 degree oven for the rest of the day. Six to ten hours per the recipe. "Until the fat is clear". It looked pretty clear to me.

I let this cool for an hour or so before transferring it to an ancient but serviceable Tupperware bowl for storage.

Over night in the fridge puts us at day 4. The fat solidified, hiding the ducky goodness in a fluffy white wheel of fat.

MR says to letting it age or ripen for a week or more will improve the flavor and texture.
Now I gotta confess; I had a little nibble right out of the oven, and I find it hard to believe that you could improve on the meth/crack/heron like addictiveness of duck confit but I will trust that MR knows what he is talking about and leave it until... Oh this will kill you, until after the 10th. I will be on vacation all next week and the confit will have plenty of time to "ripen".

I am taking applications for a recipe Guinea Pig.
I would share the confit with my mom for Mothers Day but that would be unfair to the rest of the clan cause there wouldn't be enough for everyone so best to find a friend or 3 willing to tuck in with me. (hint hint Claudia)

I will detail a final prep post once it has been finished, so until then...

Cheers

Chris