Cheaters Duck Confit Food

DUCK CONFIT, THE RIGHT WAY

Steps:

• Combine shallot, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme in a small bowl. Rub all over duck legs, thighs, and wings.
• Arrange duck parts skin side-up in a dish and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the seasoning is well absorbed, 24 to 48 hours.
• Rinse off the seasoning and pat the duck dry. Arrange duck in a single layer in a 9x13-inch baking pan. Let duck stand until it reaches room temperature, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C).
• Melt duck fat in a saucepan over medium heat until bubbles begin to form, 6 to 8 minutes. Pour duck fat over the room-temperature duck.
• Bake duck in the preheated oven until tender and the juices run clear, 2 to 3 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read 135 degrees F (57 degrees C). Pour off the duck fat.
• Brush a grill pan with some of the used duck fat and heat over medium-high heat until smoking. Add baked duck; cook in batches until skin is crispy, about 90 seconds per side.

"CHEATER'S" DUCK CONFIT

Steps:

• Season the duck legs with salt. Coat a large wide pot lightly with olive oil. Lay the duck legs skin side down, in a single layer, in the pan.
• Cook the duck legs low and slow over low heat to render the fat. This process will take a while, don't rush it. It is really important to render as much fat out of the duck legs as possible. Once the pan is full of fat, turn up the heat and brown the duck legs on both sides.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Once the legs have rendered and are nice and brown, remove them from the pan and reserve. Add the onions and season with salt. Stir to coat with the duck fat. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Once the onions are really nice and wilted, remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes or until the onions start to caramelize. Taste to make sure they are very well seasoned, add salt if needed. Return the duck legs to the pan, snuggle them in with all the onions and add the wine, thyme and bay leaves.
• Cover the pan and place in the preheated oven. Braise the duck in the oven for about 90 minutes. Stir the onion and duck every 30 minutes to be sure that the onions are not burning. When done, the duck should be incredibly flavorful, tender and falling off the bone.
• Remove the tough lower stems from the dandelion greens, wash and spin them dry. Cut them into 1 -inch lengths. Place the greens in a large bowl with red wine vinegar. Season with salt and some of the warm duck fat. Strain some the onions out of the duck fat and toss them in with the greens.
• Place a large mound of the dressed dandelion greens on each serving plate, lay a duck leg on the greens and top with a little more of the onions.
• It's just ducky!!!

CHEF ANNE'S CHEATER'S DUCK CONFIT & BITTER GREENS

Steps:

• Season the duck legs generously with salt. Coat a roasting pan lightly with olive oil and lay the duck legs skin side down in a single layer. Put the pan on the stove and bring to medium heat. Cook the legs until the fat slowly begins to melt. This will take 20 to 30 minutes and you don't want to rush it-this part of the process is worth the effort! When a decent amount of fat has been rendered, about 1/2 inch, raise the heat and brown the legs on both sides. Once browned, remove them from the pan and reserve. Yum! Doesn't this smell good?
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Add the onions to the fat in the pan, season generously with salt, and stir to coat; cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste to make sure they're well seasoned and add salt if needed.
• Return the duck legs to the pan and snuggle them in with all the onions. Add the wine, thyme bundle, and bay leaves and cover the pan with foil.
• Put the pan in the oven and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so to be sure the onions aren't burning. When the duck is done it should be incredibly flavorful, tender, and almost falling off the bone.
• In a large bowl, combine the greens with some red wine vinegar, a bit of salt, a nice drizzle of the warm duck fat from the pan, and some of the caramelized onions. To serve, place a large mound of the dressed dandelion greens on a plate, lay a duck leg on the greens, and top with a few more onions.
• Confit is a classic way of preserving food, most commonly used with duck. It's when you cook something in its own fat and then store it in the fat. Confit is SOOOOO good! It's luscious and rustic; think of it as fancy comfort food.
• To make traditional confit you cure the meat overnight with salt and shallots, cook it to render the fat, and then store it in its own fat.
• To make my "cheater's" confit, you render the duck fat low and slow-don't rush it! You want to melt as much fat off of the duck legs as possible. Then you caramelize lots of onions in the duck fat, toss in a bunch of white wine, thyme, and bay leaves, and braise the duck with the onions and the fat. It's hugely flavorful and a lot faster than classic confit.
• If you have any lovely duck fat left over, youil want to use it to make my killer crispy crunchy duck fat potatoes (page 219).