Since discovering that we could buy fresh Aylesbury marylands (drumstick and thigh portion) at Haverick Meats, duck has become a staple food in our house. It’s surprisingly good value – the meat is so rich that just a couple of pieces are enough to feed my entire family!
Edit: Good news! I’ve just been told by the handsome Pave at Haverick’s that the duck marylands are coming from Thirlmere Poultry (whose ducks are all free-range).
I confitted ten marylands using this recipe by Maggie Beer…
- 10 duck marylands
- 200g fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons each fresh rosemary and thyme leaves
- 5 bay leaves
- enough rendered duck fat to cover – about a litre (or olive oil)
1. In a small food processor or blender, blitz the salt, herbs and bay leaves together. Rub this all over the duck pieces and refrigerate for 4 – 6 hours – the original recipe suggests overnight, but I find that makes the duck too salty for our liking. I prepped my duck at lunchtime, and then put them into the oven after dinner.
2. Rinse the duck pieces well and dry them with a paper towel. Preheat oven to 90C (not fan forced). Pack the duck pieces as closely together as possible in a baking dish or casserole – Maggie says you can layer them up to two deep.
3. Heat the duck fat very gently in a saucepan until just melted, and pour over the duck pieces until they’re completely covered. If you like, tuck a couple more bay leaves and sprigs of rosemary into the oil. I used a ceramic roasting pan, but next time I’ll use my large casserole pot, as it was impossible to get the roaster out of the oven without sloshing duck fat everywhere!
4. Cover the dish – I used foil – and bake for 10 hours (overnight), after which time the meat will be extremely tender and falling off the bone. If you wanted to serve the pieces whole, you might wish to reduce the cooking time substantially (Raymond Blanc suggests 3 hours).
5. Carefully ladle out the clear duck fat, taking care to avoid any coloured stock settled at the bottom of the pan. To store the marylands, scatter a little salt at the bottom of a large casserole dish (to stop the juices going rancid), then pack the pieces in as tightly as possible. Completely cover with the clear duck fat and store in the fridge. As an aside, I asked my food chemist friend Lee about storing confit duck – here is his reply.
6. Carefully pour the remaining fat and juices into a bowl and pop it into the fridge. After a few hours, the fat will set at the top and can be scooped off and stored, and a jellied stock will be left at the bottom of the bowl. This is gold. Unlike regular stocks which are made with water, these are the concentrated juices of the cooked duck. I store mine in small containers in the freezer (you’ll only need a little bit to flavour a whole dish) .
Duck Rillettes
I stored six of the marylands whole and used the remaining four to make Maggie’s Duck Rilletes. The skin and bones were discarded, and the meat finely shredded. An extra tablespoon of chopped rosemary fried in a little duck fat was stirred through the meat, which was then packed tightly into tea cups and topped with a bay leaf.
A thin layer of melted duck fat was poured over the top of each serve to seal it. The Rillettes were stored in the fridge, and the fat scraped off before serving. They were delicious served with a crusty sourdough and bread and butter pickles.
My friend and neighbour Maude created an amazing pasta dish using the Rillette that I gave her – she fried chopped Tuscan Kale and garlic in olive oil, then combined it with the shredded duck meat and stirred it through hot pasta.
I made a variation of this for dinner last night using chopped spinach from the garden and a couple of skinned and shredded marylands, as we’d eaten all the Rillettes. I also added a spoonful of the jellied duck stock, which intensified all the flavours. As we already had confit duck in the fridge, we were able to turn out a delicious meal in the time it took the pasta to boil!
That all sounds delicious, Celia, but particularly the pasta dish!
I often slow cook duck legs (look very similar to your marylands) for about three hours, on a bed of chopped vegetables and a little stock, then crisp them on a rack in a very hot oven for about 20 minutes, before serving with potatoes roasted or fried in the duck fat. The flesh is falling off the bone by the time they are served, and you can glaze them with plum sauce, sweet chilli sauce or marmalade for extra flavour before crisping them.
Suelle, I’m so impressed with how versatile the duck has been! We’ve also slow roasted them (rather than confit) and found the meat was perfect to then include in other dishes – pasta, paella etc. That’s if I can keep the boys away from them – they haunt the kitchen when they can smell duck roasting! :)
I’ve never made duck.
I don’t know why- maybe because it isn’t easily available in the supermarket.
I’m very tempted to try your recipes, however.
Just got to go find some duck. :)
Heidi, I’d never made duck either until I started this blog! Which is odd, as being Chinese, I’ve certainly eaten a lot of duck in my lifetime! The easiest thing is to simply roast it, as Suelle mentions above. Here’s my blog post on my first ever duck attempt.. :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/08/01/romertopf-roast-duck/
Thanks for posting this–and also for linking to Lee. I have been wondering about this as I just made chicken liver pate for the first time ever and have been wondering if I dare store it in the pantry (with a layer of clarified butter on top, of course!). I feel reassured but still not completely certain…
Nancy, Lee is a treasure – if you go onto his blog and leave a question, he’ll try to answer it for you. Pop in and ask him about the liver pate – I’m with you, I’d be nervous and keep it in the fridge! :)
Interesting! I save duck fat and have meant to make confit for years, but somehow never got round to it. Is the Aylesbury duck the big white one with very pale flesh and lots of fat?
I love your description of the jelly as gold! And you’ve made the process crystal clear. Lovely post!
Oh yes, Aylesbury is a true English-bred duck (according to Wiki)! I think it’s the big white one, although the pieces we got weren’t overly fatty. I think all types of duck are fine for confit, because all you’re doing is very gently cooking the meat in a fat bath, so it might not matter how fatty they are to start with. Actually, it’s interesting – we roast or confit all our duck to start with, and then use it in other dishes, and heaps of the fat comes off the meat. We then discard the skin and fat before use anyway. It’s not exactly a lean meat when we’re finished with it, but it’s really not overly fatty.. :)
The jelly is absolutely gold, truly. It didn’t click for a while that it’s really pure duck essence – no water added – so it’s like using a concentrate when it’s added to dishes!
Here’s the wiki article on Aylesbury ducks..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aylesbury_duck
xx
Duck fat is fairly low in saturated fats compared to fat from other meats, so I don’t think it’s something to worry about too much. Like everything else, it’s OK in moderation.
Suelle, that’s good to know, thank you!
Speaking of duck fat….As many know, there is a long-famous (almost historic) hot dog stand at New York’s Cony Island called “Nathan’s” (which now has branches in malls all over and sells their dogs in supermarkets, etc. etc.) It is the place you may have seen “fun news” stories on once a year when they hold a hot-dog eating competition in which, for many years, a tiny Japanese guy put away more of them than the biggest footballers who competed with him. They were famous in the 1930’s and 40’s for their unique hot dogs and live on the reputation today. But those in the know learned that the “secret” to their original taste wasn’t so much the blend of meats and spices in the frankfurters….it was the fact that the original Nathan used to get GOOSE grease from a Kosher poultry vendor he knew nearby and use THAT to grease his griddle on which the hot dogs were grilled! So….I wonder if duck fat as a cooking medium, in moderation, would apply similar good flavors to cooking other meats on a flattop or in a skillet. Worth a try when you’re wondering what to do with the duck fat you render out in the quest for a crispy roast duck.
Also, the secret, to my mind and experience, of a great duck is to balance the trend to sweet fruit flavors with a bit of spice or tartness or pepperyness. Too sweet is too much like dessert. There is a wonderful barbecue place in Buellton, California (in the Santa Ynez wine district about 2 hours north of L.A.) called The Hitching post that is famous for their oak-and-mesquite smokey cooked steaks and roasts (you may have seen it as the main location for the film “Sideways,” a romantic comedy in the wine country) but they do duck breasts on that smokey grill, then add a delicious sauce made from kumquats and green peppercorns in which the balance not only works in its own right but compliments the smokeyness from the grill. Worth experimentation, too.
Looks and sounds delicious. I ‘m sure it is..
God Bless You
paul
Paul, thank you! :)
OMG! My mouth was watering as I read this. I haven’t had good duck confit in sooo long. I bought a small jar of duck rillet out of desperation a couple years ago and it was horrible. It very hard to find duck here at a price thats affordable. I might have to get friendly with some hunters…
Cat, it’s something new here too – only recently have we had access to fresh (or even frozen) duck. I’ve never made duck rillette before, but was really pleased with the results. Hope you find some duck soon.. :)
Hmm.. ok.. learnt something today.. c
Thanks C! :)
My girlfriend lives in Aylesbury, I’ve never tried Aylesbury duck though… but I’m sure it’s nicer than the place.
Oh, it’s not a nice place? That’s a shame. I believe duck breeding started there in the 18th century!
It has beautiful countryside around it and a very small, very lovely, very old market centre… that is no longer the centre. Apart from that the actual place isn’t particularly nice.
I stayed away from cooking duck after a difficult experience a very long time away, but lately I have been buying duck breasts and using them to make the most delicious risotto. I’m drooling just thinking about it. Your recipes look so delicious, I’ll have to try. That jelly looks so good.
Deb, I’m yet to buy duck breasts – they’re quite a bit more expensive than the marylands. I might have to give them a go next time – as I’m sure the meat actually goes a very long way in a risotto. Do you cook the breast first before adding to the risotto, or add it in raw? Thanks.. x
I’ve never cooked duck before… actually just thinking, I think I’ve only eaten it a handful of times.
Your street eats well Celia!
Thanks Brydie, and I’d never cooked duck before last year either!
i was just thinking about making duck rillettes this week as an appetizery thing for a dinner i have coming up..but i’ve never made them before so i was feeling a bit of trepidation but your post is a great help..i just have to find the duck now..:)
Jane, it’s becoming far more widely available these days. I’m pretty sure you could track some down in Melbourne.. :)
That stock does look like it would be gold Celia. I must get on and confit some duck. I totally love it in cassoulet and I did not make it even once this winter. very remiss of me…must get onto it while the nights are still cool. Thanks for the inspiration!
Especially now that we know where to get the marylands, SG! :) I think if you were making it for cassoulet, you’d definitely shorten the cooking time – the meat on our confit pieces was falling off the bone!
What a fantastic step-by-step Celia! This looks so delicious and you really de mystified it. The dark meat is the tastiest by far, and this is a great way to prepare it and have it handy for future meals as well. You’re right about the jelly, a spoonful of it will make any dish richer and tastier.
I can only really see one downfall to all this… how are your sons ever going to move out and get married when no girl is ever going to feed them as well as their Mum? maybe you should buy the house next door for them as an investment? :-)
Ha! Now wouldn’t that be the dream solution, Becca? Maybe I’ll just have to be one of those mothers who delivers.. :)
Beautiful post, Celia, although I can feel my arteries hardening already! I especially like your rillete recipe and will be having a go at this, thanks.
Amanda, it’s not my recipe really, it’s your SA’s Maggie Beer’s! It’s a very fine recipe too, as almost all of hers are!
What a clever way to make stock! Do you think it would work with chicken as well (when they are very fatty)? Lovely post.
Manuela, when I roast a chicken in my Romertopf, I always pour off the liquid into a container and put it into the fridge. The fat sets hard and is then easy to skim off, leaving a very nice jellied stock that can then be stashed in the freezer. Sometimes you’ll only get a tiny bit, but it will be packed with flavour!
thanks for the hints and tips! Last night I did potatoes in duck fat. I will have to try the rillettes soon :)
Tandy, thanks, I know you’re a fellow duck fan as well! :)
I have never cooked with duck fat before – how sad! Will have to rectify ASAP.
Have a super week Celia.
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy, hope you have a great week too! Until recently, we’d never confitted anything either, but I’ve been quite chuffed with how well it’s been working!
i have only tried potatoes in duck fat – which are delicious – but I haven’t tried anything more adventurous! your cooking is always very inspiring Celia!
Thanks Anne! Potatoes in duck fat are seriously wicked – my boys love them!
I’ve never cooked duck before, I’ve always been a little scared. I quite often order it when I’m out though. You recipes as always look delicious.
Claire, I only cooked my first duck a year ago, before then it was this slightly daunting meat that we only ever ate at Chinese restaurants! :)
I love duck and unfortunately I am theonly one at home that likes it…duck fat…heaven!
Norma, luckily we have a full house of duck fans here! :)
That looks absolutely fantastic and what a great set of instructions. I’ve been circling duck for a while but this gives me a little more of a push along.
Jan, I think duck is one of those meats that we don’t grow up cooking, so it can be daunting to begin with. I don’t like it particularly fatty (a bizarre thing to say, I know, when I’ve just posted a recipe of duck cooked in its own fat! :)), so I’ll always cook it first to render the fat, and then use the lean(er) meat in a dish. Confit is unusual for us, most of the time I’ll just roast the duck pieces for a couple of hours, then strip the meat off and use it in a ragu or paella. Doing it that way still produces beautiful jellied stock and a small container of duck fat for later use.
Many years ago as a Thanksgiving alternative to turkey, I made duck from a recipe I found for an “Andalousian” variation. I’m sorry I do not have the recipe today, but the basic concept was that you put various dried fruits–apricots, raisins, etc. etc. in the roasting pan with the duck and red wine and basted constantly so they soaked up the flavors and vice-versa. Then you made a saffron rice and mixed the fruits, chopped slightly, into it and served as a side dish with the duck. It was amazingly good. Worth experimenting, I think.
Dan, thank you, that sounds very appealing, as I’m sure the sweetness of the fruit helps to cut the fattiness of the duck!
Stop taunting me! Would eat any/all of this every day.
Sorry, love. :) Is it easy to buy duck in Dubai?
I am super jealous of you right now to be able to have access of such delicious thing. I love duck so much and I’ve just talked to my dad today that I missed so much that I wanted to go back to Thailand just to eat it.
Tes, I’m sorry you can’t get duck easily where you are! Hopefully you’ll be home soon and can enjoy it again..
Hello Celia – nice to meet you :)
What an amazing post – so much detail. I’ve never cooked duck as we seldom find it in our shops, but if I see it on a restaurant menu I always order it!
I’ll try harder to lay my hands on some…I’d love to try that slow cooking method of yours.
Linda, thanks for stopping by! Hope you find some duck to play with soon.. :)
Hi Celia, how inspiring! I’ve tried roasting a whole duck, it turned out fine, but decided that the amount of meat one reaped didn’t justify all the effort. I’d love to try your confit. I don’t want to rain on this delightful foody parade, but…one of my hesitations about buying duck is the animal welfare issues. I’ve heard different things about intensive duck farming, don’t know if it happens in Australia. Also I don’t think duck farmers are good at marketing the ‘free range’ practices they use. Do you know much about Haverick Meats? I haven’t checked their link yet, should have done that before I posted!
Hi Irith! Hope the move has gone well!
I tried to look into the free range duck issue in the past, but have been told that there were rules relating to biosecurity where ducks are concerned. In the past, ducks have been associated with widespread pandemics – unlike chickens, ducks fly and migrate, therefore moving the disease from one place to another – so the rules are much stricter on what they are and aren’t allowed to do with ducks (I believe).
I believe the ducks at Havericks (according to their website) come from Thirlmere Poultry – I also saw some Luv-a-Duck birds last time I was there. Google turned up some info about them here:
I’ll make sure I ask more next time I’m in! Say hi to Steve and Domi for us! :)
I’m afraid Mrs K will not permit duck in the Kennedy house. Nor rabbit, venison or any other creature that Walt Disney may have domesticated and given personalities.
Lee, I told Pete Mrs K won’t eat any cute animals, and he replied, “chickens are cute! lambs are cute!”.. :)
Never let logic interfere with an emotional argument!
I guess that rules out crickets and flying elephants too.
Yum, duck, duck, duck! I love duck… we often go into Chinatown (the whole one street of it here!) and buy one of those ducks hanging up in the windows… actually, I might have to do that this weekend.
Quack, quack!
Your rillettes look fabulously delicious… I am so going to have to wangle an invite to yours for dinner… and not a cyber dinner either :D
Oooh, that would be fun, Ali! :)
This post is really making me salivate. Must get to those duck breasts I stashed from the trip to the Asian super-grocery now.
I am so delighted to have been introduced to your gorgeous site by the equally fabulous blog by our mutual blogging friend Cecilia at thekitchensgarden. I will enjoy exploring your archives for some time to come, I suspect, as well as seeing what’s new! Beautiful work.
Kathryn
Kathryn, thanks for stopping by! I’ve never cooked duck breasts, that might have to be my next foray.. :)