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Project Cassoulet: Duck Confit




I bought this great container. My big stock pot works good, but sometimes it was a little crowded











Step 1 for Project Cassoulet is duck confit. There were a few different temperature suggestions. I decided to middle of the road at 158. There were also a variety of ingredients. i decided to stay true to the BA recipe (shocking I know).

The night before, I bagged up the legs. Three were popped into each packet with a few sprigs of thyme, peppercorns, smashed garlic cloves, some peppercorns, juniper berries, and a good dose of salt. (I went with 1% of the overall weight). So I set the temperature and the time for 16 hours (bright in early in the AM was the start so it would be ready by bedtime). And Sous Vide away. This was based on the recommendations over at Chef Steps.





Duck...Duck...


Once they were done, I put them in the refrigerator all sealed up. Ready to be unsealed, meat removed from bone, duck fat scraped/reserved, and skin crisped for Project Cassoulet.

Two things I learned: prick the skin before sealing them up and remove them when they're still warm. When making duck the traditional way, you prick the skin.  The recipe said nothing about doing this, so I didn't. While the duck was perfectly cooked, there was still some fat that did not render. I would definitely drain the liquid after cooking. It was a little difficult to remove the skin from the chilled duck. As you scraped away the fat, some of the skin came away. There was also some gelatin from the duck juices. I added this to the main dish because to me this spelled more flavor. I think if this was poured into a container and chilled it would have been much easier - the separation would happen naturally.



The temperature was a good choice. The meat was tender and juicy. Perhaps if we were going to just sear and eat the duck legs, the higher temperature (178 degrees) would work. Since this was going to be cooked additionally (2 hours), the 158 was a good choice.

One recipe suggested "frenching" the legs (cutting the meat and the base of the leg and basically pushing up) before cooking. I might try this next time. It said that this aids in removing the meat.
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