I happened to have 5 large duck thighs and what’s better than making Duck Confit

Here is how I make prepare it.  Please take note that you will need to start the preparation 24 hours in advance.

Ingredients

5 large duck thighs

3 tbsp of salt

1 tsp of peppercorns

3 bay leaves

5 cloves of garlic  – peel

5 pcs of shallots – peel

2 or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Cooking Method:

• Crush salt, peppercorns, and bay leaves using pestle and mortar
• massage each thigh with the above mixture, cover well and leave overnight in the fridge.

The next day

• preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcius.
• Heat enough duck fat that would cover the entire thighs in the pot
• Using kitchen rolls, pad and try to get the salt out of the duck as much as possible.
• Once the fat has melted, place all ducks in the pot, try to make sure all the ducks are submerged in the fat, add garlics, shallots ,and thyme.
• Place the pot in the oven for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours, check the meat tenderness using skewers or a toothpick.  your meat is ready once there is no resistence.  I did a big mistake by cooking it a little bit too  (2.5 hours in total)long so some of my meat was falling apart, so don’t make the same mistake.
• Once you took the meat out of the oven, take the meat out of the fat and drain the fat.  You can keep the duck fat in airtight  container in the fridge for future use.  The duck fat can last for months.

Serving the duck 

Heat a non-stick pan on medium to high heat, once the pan is hot place the duck skin side down one at a time and press down a little to create a flat surface on the skin side, I used one of my pot lids. You can plate it once the skin is golden brown, remember the meat has been fully cooked during the oven process.  Serve the duck with saute spinach, potstoes, couscous or whatever you fancy.