I was preparing to do a duck confit dinner this week, and I was a bit low on duck fat. I went to the market and bought 7 pounds, and am rendering it down. I have always put it at the oven at low temp, and periodically taken the rendered clear fat off. I have also been told that rendering the fat in boiling water, then cooling it, gives a higher yield of good fat. Anyone have thoughts on this who has done it multiple ways?
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I usually just do it on the stove top in a deep skillet or Dutch oven. I cut all the fat/skin into small pieces and add a little bit of water to get it started, and cook on low heat until everything is rendered and the skin has turned into delicious little cracklings. I don’t really keep track of yield, but one duck will usually give me at least a couple of cups of rendered fat - more than I can use up quickly, at any rate!
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I have never did it with duck, but I have render lard from pig fat a few times. Yeah, my approach is the stovetop, add water, and boil and melt the fat approach and then gradually boil off the water.
I think the water approach should have higher yield. However, maybe your oven approach is simpler. I have only did it one way.
To get the most final product, you need to cut the fat into very small pieces. I use a meat grinder for the job, then cover the bottom of a pot with water to about 1 cm, throw the fat on top, then let it slowly cook until the fat is rendered out. It takes a few hours. The water will cook off, so to finish, you just need to pour it through a fine strainer.
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Water approach, low and slow especially if clarity/non toasted flavor is important to you. +1 for the tiny pieces/grinding approach, though I almost always save some larger pieces to render into snacks.
