I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally tried it
this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven to crisp and
served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with a beet salad and a
Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most of us cannot eat as much
fat as we might want, I think it's wise to make that fat as tasty as
possible!

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Peter Aitken wrote:

> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally tried it
> this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven to crisp and
> served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with a beet salad and a
> Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most of us cannot eat as much
> fat as we might want, I think it's wise to make that fat as tasty as
> possible!

I am tempted to try it. I swore off cooking duck many years ago because it was
one thing that just never turned out for me, and the last time I did it was the
worst. I have had duck confit a few times and it is really good. If only I could
be assured that it would work better than my other attempts with duck.

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:59:03 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:

>"Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
>news >
>> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally
>> tried it this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven
>> to crisp and served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with
>> a beet salad and a Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most
>> of us cannot eat as much fat as we might want, I think it's wise to
>> make that fat as tasty as possible!
>>
>
>I've been waiting for you to report back I am so happy it turned out
>well. I have never attempted to make duck confit. Not because I don't
>like it, but because I think it takes someone with a lot more knowledge
>than I have, to make the confit a success. I am in awe!!!
>
>Michael

If I'm not mistaken, Peter is working from a new cookbook by Michael
Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn called Charcuterie:
http://ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html

I've not bought it yet, but I plan to. On his Web site, Ruhlman
states: "I conceived this book, and asked my friend, chef Brian
Polcyn, to join me, in order to explore a great culinary specialty,
one devoted to preservation but which remains meaningful in this age
of refrigeration and freezing because food made using its
techniques--fresh, smoked, and dried sausages, hams, cured salmon,
pork rilletes, duck confit--tastes so good. I didn't know enough about
it and there weren't many good books on the subject and almost none
written for the home cook. I wanted more home cooks to feel
comfortable making a pate, I wanted to write about how one perfects
the sausage, I wanted to expand the reaches of the confit."

So it's entirely possible that you could do it too.


modom

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:27:02 -0600, modom > wrote:

>On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:59:03 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:
>
>>"Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
>>news >>
>>> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally
>>> tried it this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven
>>> to crisp and served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with
>>> a beet salad and a Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most
>>> of us cannot eat as much fat as we might want, I think it's wise to
>>> make that fat as tasty as possible!
>>>
>>
>>I've been waiting for you to report back I am so happy it turned out
>>well. I have never attempted to make duck confit. Not because I don't
>>like it, but because I think it takes someone with a lot more knowledge
>>than I have, to make the confit a success. I am in awe!!!
>>
>>Michael
>
>If I'm not mistaken, Peter is working from a new cookbook by Michael
>Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn called Charcuterie:
>http://ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html
>
>I've not bought it yet, but I plan to. On his Web site, Ruhlman
>states: "I conceived this book, and asked my friend, chef Brian
>Polcyn, to join me, in order to explore a great culinary specialty,
>one devoted to preservation but which remains meaningful in this age
>of refrigeration and freezing because food made using its
>techniques--fresh, smoked, and dried sausages, hams, cured salmon,
>pork rilletes, duck confit--tastes so good. I didn't know enough about
>it and there weren't many good books on the subject and almost none
>written for the home cook. I wanted more home cooks to feel
>comfortable making a pate, I wanted to write about how one perfects
>the sausage, I wanted to expand the reaches of the confit."
>
>So it's entirely possible that you could do it too.
>
>
>modom

There is a thread on eGullet about cooking from this book. Ruhlman
himself often contributes to the thread.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=79195

Christine

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:27:02 -0600, modom > wrote:

>On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:59:03 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:
>
>>"Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
>>news >>
>>> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally
>>> tried it this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven
>>> to crisp and served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with
>>> a beet salad and a Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most
>>> of us cannot eat as much fat as we might want, I think it's wise to
>>> make that fat as tasty as possible!
>>>
>>
>>I've been waiting for you to report back I am so happy it turned out
>>well. I have never attempted to make duck confit. Not because I don't
>>like it, but because I think it takes someone with a lot more knowledge
>>than I have, to make the confit a success. I am in awe!!!
>>
>>Michael
>
>If I'm not mistaken, Peter is working from a new cookbook by Michael
>Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn called Charcuterie:
>http://ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html

>
>modom

Another great book that has extensive discussion, (plus has been
recently updated) about confit, and duck confit in particular, is
Paula Wolfert's reissue of her classic book, The Cooking of Southwest
France.

She has a few new methods of making confit in there.

Christine

In article >, says...
>
> I am tempted to try it. I swore off cooking duck many years ago because it was
> one thing that just never turned out for me, and the last time I did it was the
> worst. I have had duck confit a few times and it is really good. If only I could
> be assured that it would work better than my other attempts with duck.
>

I've had bad luck with ducks. I used to have 3 ducks and 2 drakes. Put one
drake in the pot, and the other one promptly fled the farm! One duck got run
over, one got bit by a rat ... that was years ago. (and those ducks were
*delicious*). No more ducks.

Inspired by the talk here I weakened and bought a duck at the supermarket the
other day. What disappointment. It was so bland and tasteless, I'd've done
better buying a chicken at 1/3 of the price. Major disappointment.

<sigh>

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
...
> "Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
> news >
>> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally
>> tried it this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven
>> to crisp and served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with
>> a beet salad and a Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most
>> of us cannot eat as much fat as we might want, I think it's wise to
>> make that fat as tasty as possible!
>>
>
> I've been waiting for you to report back I am so happy it turned out
> well. I have never attempted to make duck confit. Not because I don't
> like it, but because I think it takes someone with a lot more knowledge
> than I have, to make the confit a success. I am in awe!!!
>
> Michael
>

It's really not that difficult. The only part that might give people pause
is dissecting the duck. Rendering the fat is easy, and if you don't get
enough duck fat you make up the difference with lard. I'll be glad to post
the recipe if anyone likes.


--
Peter Aitken

"modom" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:59:03 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> > wrote:
>
>>"Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
>>news >>
>>> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally
>>> tried it this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot oven
>>> to crisp and served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat, along with
>>> a beet salad and a Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good! Since most
>>> of us cannot eat as much fat as we might want, I think it's wise to
>>> make that fat as tasty as possible!
>>>
>>
>>I've been waiting for you to report back I am so happy it turned out
>>well. I have never attempted to make duck confit. Not because I don't
>>like it, but because I think it takes someone with a lot more knowledge
>>than I have, to make the confit a success. I am in awe!!!
>>
>>Michael
>
> If I'm not mistaken, Peter is working from a new cookbook by Michael
> Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn called Charcuterie:
> http://ruhlman.com/books/charcuterie.html
>

Correct, it's an excellent book!


--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

"Christine Dabney" > wrote in message
...
>
> Another great book that has extensive discussion, (plus has been
> recently updated) about confit, and duck confit in particular, is
> Paula Wolfert's reissue of her classic book, The Cooking of Southwest
> France.
>
> She has a few new methods of making confit in there.
>
> Christine

Can you give a brief rundown of that these "new" methods involve? I confess
that I am suspicious about a new way of doing something that has been done a
certain way for centuries.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
...
> "Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
> :
>
>> "Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> "Peter Aitken" > looking for trouble wrote in
>>> news >>>
>>>> I think I mentioned that I made duck confit last week. We finally
>>>> tried it this weekend. I did the classic - put the legs in a hot
>>>> oven to crisp and served them with potatoes sauteed in duck fat,
>>>> along with a beet salad and a Spanish rose wine. Man, that was good!
>>>> Since most of us cannot eat as much fat as we might want, I think
>>>> it's wise to make that fat as tasty as possible!
>>>>
>>>
>>> I've been waiting for you to report back I am so happy it turned
>>> out well. I have never attempted to make duck confit. Not because I
>>> don't like it, but because I think it takes someone with a lot more
>>> knowledge than I have, to make the confit a success. I am in awe!!!
>>>
>>> Michael
>>>
>>
>> It's really not that difficult. The only part that might give people
>> pause is dissecting the duck. Rendering the fat is easy, and if you
>> don't get enough duck fat you make up the difference with lard. I'll
>> be glad to post the recipe if anyone likes.
>>
>>
>
> I think I'm going to buy the book but until I do will you either post the
> recipe or email it to me, please? I'm at dog30 at charter dot net. I'll
> most likely need to buy a decent crock or pot for it. Maybe that's just
> an
> excuse to go shopping for kitchen stuff Anyway, I'd appreciate it
> Peter.
>
> Michael
>

Sure, here it is. I will say that the book gives a lot of background info
that is valuable, but I think the steps are pretty easy to follow.

Remove the legs, whole, from 3 ducks. Sprinkle with 3 TB kosher salt, 4
whole cloves, crushed, and 6 peppercorns, crushed. Press 3 bay leaves,
broken into pivces, and 3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced, onto the skin.
Cover and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.

To render the fat, remove as much fat and skin as possible from the ducks
and cut into 1" pieces. Put in a heavy saucepan with 1/4c water and set over
low heat, uncovered, for several hours. Strain the fat thru cheesecloth.

Rinse the legs and remove all spices. Pat dry and place in the smallest
overproof container that will hold them in two layers (to minimize fat
needed). Pout the fat over and add enough melted lard to completely cover
the duck (I got about 2/3 of the fat needed from the ducks). Bring to a
simmer over medum heat and then cook uncovered in a 180-200 degree oven for
6 to 10 hours. Note: a "simmer" in this case seems to be when occassional
small bubbles - one or two per second - rise thru the fat to the surface.

Doneness is when the fat is clear and the legs have settled to the bottom. I
cooked for 6.5 hours and I cannot imagine them needing more - maybe for
tough "barnyard" ducks it is needed!

Cool to room temp and then refrigerate, making sure the meat is completely
covered by the fat.

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 13:47:37 GMT, "Peter Aitken"
> wrote:

>"Christine Dabney" > wrote in message
.. .
>>
>> Another great book that has extensive discussion, (plus has been
>> recently updated) about confit, and duck confit in particular, is
>> Paula Wolfert's reissue of her classic book, The Cooking of Southwest
>> France.
>>
>> She has a few new methods of making confit in there.
>>
>> Christine
>
>Can you give a brief rundown of that these "new" methods involve? I confess
>that I am suspicious about a new way of doing something that has been done a
>certain way for centuries.

No, I can't give much of a brief rundown, but I think you can say that
since it is Paula Wolfert, she is not going to sacrifice flavor or any
of the wonderful characteristics of confit in the name of modernitity.
I think one of the newer methods involves cooking it in a smaller
amount of fat (in a vacumn sealed bag) and then cooking it for a
shorter time in simmering water.

Go to a bookstore and find a copy of her book, and read her material
on confit. She is still considered one of the authorities on it, at
least here in this country.

And the book is well worth it, for the recipes using confit, plus some
other wonderful recipes in there.

Christine

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:16:21 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:

>Christine Dabney > looking for trouble wrote in
:
>
>>
>> No, I can't give much of a brief rundown, but I think you can say that
>> since it is Paula Wolfert, she is not going to sacrifice flavor or any
>> of the wonderful characteristics of confit in the name of modernitity.
>> I think one of the newer methods involves cooking it in a smaller
>> amount of fat (in a vacumn sealed bag) and then cooking it for a
>> shorter time in simmering water.
>>
>> Go to a bookstore and find a copy of her book, and read her material
>> on confit. She is still considered one of the authorities on it, at
>> least here in this country.
>>
>> And the book is well worth it, for the recipes using confit, plus some
>> other wonderful recipes in there.
>>
>> Christine
>
>I found a used copy on Amazon for under $4.
>
>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer-
>listing/0385274637/qid=1138054371/sr=1-2/ref=sr_pb_a//103-3599641-
>6533462?condition=all
>
>Or
>
>http://tinylink.com/?4CcP1shRvN
>
>There were a few very nicely priced so I bought one. If I like the book,
>I'll spring for the new on which is running at about $25.
>
>Thanks Christine,
>
>Michael


Make sure it is the revised version. She has her older version that
was published more than 20 years ago, and her revised version that was
just released last year.

You might be ordering the earlier version, if you get the $4 one.

Christine

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
...
>
> That's okay and thanks for the heads up. If I like it, I'll be sure to
> buy
> the revised one. Seems like every cookbook I give away I buy 3 or 4 more.
>
> Michael
>

Are you a cookbook addict like I am? It would take me 10,000 years to cook
all the recipes in all my cookbooks!


--
Peter Aitken

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=40048On Mon, 23 Jan 2006
23:18:27 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan" > wrote:

>>
>> Make sure it is the revised version. She has her older version that
>> was published more than 20 years ago, and her revised version that was
>> just released last year.
>>
>> You might be ordering the earlier version, if you get the $4 one.
>>
>> Christine
>
>That's okay and thanks for the heads up. If I like it, I'll be sure to buy
>the revised one. Seems like every cookbook I give away I buy 3 or 4 more.
>
>Michael

Well..the old version doesn't have some of the recipes in it, that are
getting rave reviews. And the new techniques (like with duck confit,
and a few other things) are not in that older version.

Plus Paula Wolfert states (in the newer version) that some of the
dishes she had in the older version "didn't wear well" and "are no
longer served"... This was in the days of nouvelle cuisine which she
says was all the rage then. The recipes in the newer book are the
recipes that reflect the classic Southwest cooking, the mainstays, but
with some new approaches to it.

I have the older version in my collection (in storage) as well, and I
think I will tend to use this version too.

If you decide to get the older version, go take a look at the newer
version in a bookstore, and compare the two.

Just my two cents.


Christine

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 23:26:26 GMT, "Peter Aitken"
> wrote:

>"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
.. .
>>
>> That's okay and thanks for the heads up. If I like it, I'll be sure to
>> buy
>> the revised one. Seems like every cookbook I give away I buy 3 or 4 more.
>>
>> Michael
>>
>
>Are you a cookbook addict like I am? It would take me 10,000 years to cook
>all the recipes in all my cookbooks!

I am not Michael, but I am a cookbook addict. I have over 1000 in
storage right now, and carry about 200 or 250 (depending on my mood)
on the road with me when I am on assignment as a traveling nurse.

Christine