Garlic Duck Confit with Tri-Licorice Soy

What you need:

2 duck legs, skin pricked with sharp knife or needle repeatedly to help the fat render out during cooking and make it crispy!

1 tub of duck fat (300 g)

1 clove of garlic

1-2 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp caraway

1tsp anis seeds

1 tsp fennel

1 tsp of soy sauce

1 pot,  no lid

oven preheated to 225 F

So I thought I would try adding a little soy sauce to the traditional duck confit, I added about 2 tsp or so and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge, then I wiped it off and went about business as usual.

Toast the spices in a pan until you smell the licorice aroma, then coarsely crush Anis, Fennel, Caraway. I chose these three spices because they are all like slightly differently licorice flavours, and the combination with the garlic and duck is just wonderful.

So, after patting the duck legs dry rub with crushed spices and pressed garlic, 3-4 cloves should do it. Then apply some salt to the skin, this will help dry it out over the next day or so, while it rests in the fridge, don’t worry about putting too much because you wipe the majority of it off right before cooking it!

Leave to absorb flavours overnight in the fridge, take out of fridge a half hour before cooking to let come up to room temperature. Wipe of the salty garlic spice paste off the duck legs and put them in a small pot with the tub of duck fat, the duck should be covered by fat, however, mine was almost covered with fat and came out just fine. Peel a few garlic cloves (maybe 3-4 big ones, or even a whole clove if you’re a garlic head!), these wil slowly cook with the duck and give off wonderful flavour and aroma.

Put the pot with the duck fat and legs into a preheated over at 225 F, for 3-4 hours ! When a knife slides right through the meat, you know you’re good to go. Take pot out of the oven and let sit to cool for a half hour, then throw the whole thing in the fridge, and let the duck fat firm up. You can keep these duck legs in the fat like this for over a week without going off. When you want to use one, take it out of the fat, scrape off the majority of the fat, and pan fry it until crispy on the outside and warmed through.

Also, you don’t have to stop there, you can incorporate the duck meat into lots of different pastas, or I was thinking that it would be really tasty in a homemade poutine with some onion and duck fat gravy, possibilities are endless!