Confit of duck with a citrus fennel salad and green beans. The acidic salad really helps to cut the richness of the duck and green beans clean the palate.
With the prep all done and 24 hours later the duck was ready to cook. I'm cooking it in the slow cooker on warm mode. I spent most of saturday checking the temperatures of a slow cooker filled with water every 30 minutes. On low the water started getting up to 80°C and it looked like it was levelling out, but no it started going up to 100°C. So I tried the keep warm setting next, this thankfully levelled out at 80°C.
I vacuum sealed in a separate compartment some spoons to weigh down the duck.
The duck leg out of the cure and rinsed, ready to dry. Once patted dry it gets placed in the bag and vacuum sealed.
Almost midnight, the duck gets put in to the slow cooker.
9am, the duck is pulled from the slow cooker and allowed to cool before refrigerating.
Out of the fridge at dinner time and ready to get cooked.
Scrape all the fat and jellied cooking liquids of the duck legs.
In a very hot dry pan place the legs skin side down to crisp up it. When the skin is golden and crisp place it in to a hot oven.
Cook until the leg is warmed through.
The skin is crisp but at the same time melts on the tongue. The meat is moist, and falling off the bone tender.
Fennel Salad
The main players: Orange, Lemon, Fennel and Sorrel. I wanted to make something sharp and acidic to cut through the rich fat of the duck.
I toasted some fennel seeds to add another layer of the fennel flavour.
Thin slices of fennel with orange supreme, dusted with the ground toasted fennel seed.
Dressed with some Dijon mustard, orange and lemon juice, herb oil and sliced sorrel. Let this sit for a few minutes so the acid starts to wilt the fennel.
