Duck confit question

I have a vacuum pack of 18 duck legs/thighs and want to know if it's okay to confit, freeze and use in month or two.

I'll confit half now for New Year's Eve. But the other half won't be used until late February. Should I just freeze the raw duck and confit later? My inclination is confit now and freeze with the fat. Isn't it an old-time way of preservation anyway?

Mano, why freeze after sous vide, why not just store them in the bottom of the refrigerator and use when needed? Not sure if that's against code or not but it will certainly keep, especially after being pasteurized and sealed in its own lipid in an anaerobic environment, quackers are high omega acid too.

I don't do a lot of duck but this technique works great with Chicken too. The skin Browns better is better with duck though.

doesn't confit originate from the times when they had no refrigeration?

Yep.

I say confit now, then store/freeze what you want.
My question is how do you manage to save duck confit? Color me crazy but I could never save it, I'd eat it all! It would drive me mad trying to actually save confit anything!

Marc, New Year's Eve duck ragu with hand cut pappardelle for nine. In February, cassoulet for 12 at wine group dinner. Also, I'm fat enough as it is and don't need to eat more confit.

Also, I want to make some duck stock from the bones and keep the fat (render the skin) for future use. Should I cut the skin/fat off before confit, or after? When should I remove the bones?

keep it frozen in raw state. if you need to remove skin and debone, do that after cooking.

mano said:

I'm fat enough as it is and don't need to eat more confit.

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I am sorry, but you are doing a disservice to people like me by posting this type of nonsense on a public forum. What if my wife were to read your post, and then tell me she heard that fat people like me should not eat confit???? Please go back and edit your post...

:biggrin:

lus1: You gotta work "no carbs" into any description of confit.


I just went through a confit drill and found a few time/temp "recipes". Ended up with a variation of Keller. I would do them as two seperate batches. If you like the New Year version enough, do it again for wine club. If you're feeling sporty try two different preps and post your preference.

both dishes sound perfect. Why? Because there's Duck leg Confit in 'em! (Also because you ain't messing it up by adding something silly like goat's or bleu cheeses to it)
As far as trimming it up, sometimes it's best to just leave it intact while cooking it. The Fat will render into your confit as it cooks, and the skin does shrink a bit. If you find there's too much skin on the finished product, which is again just crazy talk to me, trim it up then.

And I'm still impressed with this will power thing you got going on up there. Heh, "saving" duck confit. That's crazy. 25 years later and I still can't get enough duck leg in my life (when it's around).
My favorite breakfast? Duck Leg Confit, potato hash, poached eggs, lots of Hollandaise and a little demi. Got truffle? Throw it on there. Obviously I don't eat this a lot, at least not as much as I'd like.
And by "favorite breakfast" dish I meant one of them. I got a lot of Brunch Favorites.

I almost always confit everything (whole batch), freeze unused product, in fat. Have used after six months with good results. Please note: product that is confit and consumed immediately is FAR more desirable, if at all possible. Some times cost, time, resources will not allow multiple batches, hence the whole batch theory.

As long as you cured the legs before hand, and store the confited legs fully submerged in fat(no duck peeking thorough the fat), they'll keep under refrigeration for months. No freezing needed. I have an excellent cure/confit recipe if needed.

mano said:

Marc, New Year's Eve duck ragu with hand cut pappardelle for nine. In February, cassoulet for 12 at wine group dinner. Also, I'm fat enough as it is and don't need to eat more confit.

Also, I want to make some duck stock from the bones and keep the fat (render the skin) for future use. Should I cut the skin/fat off before confit, or after? When should I remove the bones?

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Don't pull the fat off! It's half the joy, after searing!. If you're confiting properly, than you're using excess fat to begin with. It's always best to let the confit settle in the fat for a day before use, helps marry the flavors. I'd give the legs a quick sear, the day after, pull while still warm, and set aside the bones, and skin.

Freezing confit is no issue for about 4-6 months. Spoiling in this case is a quality issue of fat rancidity so it really depends on how good your vac bags are and the freezers frost free configuration. I've dug out confits after 12 months and they are fine but your milage may vary.

My recipe is 20g of salt per 1000g left overnight with peppercorns and thyme. Rinse, then bag with 1 tablespoon of duck fat or lard. Cook @ 82.5c for 10 hours. Let rest for 30min then progress to 20C water bath for 20 min and then chill at less than 5c for an hour if your immersion circulator can run without heating.

Thanks for all the input. I've done confit many times before (in the oven, not sous vide) but always used it right away. This time I might try Keller's "green salt" concoction just to see if it makes a difference.

+1

JCHine said:

Freezing confit is no issue for about 4-6 months. Spoiling in this case is a quality issue of fat rancidity so it really depends on how good your vac bags are and the freezers frost free configuration. I've dug out confits after 12 months and they are fine but your milage may vary.

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Done this many times and really 4-6 months is easy time for the Confit properly vac'd in a good freezer ... but since you are only doing this +2 months leaving it in the fat, as suggested, is easier depending up on your fridge size.

The big issue will be having those very yummy legs sitting there all ready to go ... you may not have one left by the end of Jan let alone Feb ... :hungry: