I must say that I generally cook my confit in the oven, but I have done sous vide. Overall, I prefer the fat covered oven way, which I find very easy, but in fact, the taste difference is minimal, and sous vide is less messy (but you don’t get the great residual fat). I have a small oval covered pan, which is perfect for confit. I cook 5-7 hours at 210 Deg F. For two legs and thighs, I use a cure of :•
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 large shallots (12 ounces; 340g), diced fine
• 1 medium cloves garlic (30g) (depending on taste)
• 1 tbsp cup fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, you do not need to strip the leaves
• 2 teaspoons (6g) whole black peppercorns
• 2 star anise
• 1/2 tbsp. juniper berries
• 1/3 cup sage leaves
Chop it up in the spice blender, rub the legs all over, and vacuum seal and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
Wash off cure before immersing in fat, and cook. For sous vide, I wash off the cure and re seal. I have never added fat back, but that makes sense to me
Now to the point of this reply. I used to crisp in a pan, but now I find that crisping in the broiler gives a prettier and crispier skin. I takes very little time, so secondary dry out is not a problem.
Fat can cleaned and saved, great for potatoes.
I do think the ducks in France has a higher meat to fat ratio, which I suppose makes a difference. I have never done one there sous vide, so I try and will report later this summer.
1 Like
