Crispy Duck Confit

This is a recipe for preparing crispy duck confit given a preserved confit de canard. If you have duck confit and want to reheat it, this post is for you. If you have raw duck legs that you wish to confit, see how to confit duck.

Crispy Duck Confit

Although there are many wonderful ways to cook duck confit—such as in cassoulet or garbure—my favorite is crispy duck confit, where the leg is sauteed in its own fat until the skin is crisp and golden. The leg is then plated bone-in, with a frisée salad and, if you are lucky, pommes sarladaise—potato rounds cooked in duck fat.

Crispy and Delicious

This recipe is so quick, so easy, and yet so delicious, it exemplifies why the confit process is worth the effort, demonstrating why everyone should have a couple legs of duck confit in their refrigerator.

Makes four crispy legs.

Ingredients:

4 legs of duck confit (howto)
1 tablespoon duck fat
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Let the duck confit rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Bring a large saucepan of water to a gentle simmer. Place the container containing the confit legs in the pan and gently reheat, until the fat begins to melt and the legs loosen. Remove from the pan. Open the container and gently dislodge the legs from the melted fat. Reserve one tablespoon of the fat and store the rest in an airtight container in the refrigerator for another use. Season the duck legs with black pepper.

Heat the tablespoon of duck fat in a large ovenproof saute pan over medium-high heat. Once very hot, add the duck legs skin side down. Sear for 5 minutes.

Pour off all but a thin coating of the rendered fat from the pan. Without turning the legs over, place in the oven. Roast for 4 minutes, until the duck is cooked through.

Out of the oven, flipped over, and resting

Remove the pan from the oven. Pour off all of the fat. Flip the legs over, so that the skin side is now facing up. Let rest in the pan for 2 minutes.

Crispy Duck Confit with Prosciutto-Wrapped Roasted White Asparagus and Sunny Side Up Eggs

Plate and serve. Pairs well with a Pinot noir from Oregon's Willamette Valley.