Sous Vide Duck Confit

[Chris Hennes]

51 minutes ago, Groentehart said:

Ps. I saw a comment somewhere about rinsing after the dry rub, is that so none of the salt can get in the fat and dry the duck instead of moisturising it? Or will wiping off be enough?

I also rinse, pretty thoroughly. My understanding is that once the curing stage is done you've hit the amount of salt you want, so you want to remove the extra so it doesn't become too salty.

[Groentehart]

Thank you @weinoo and @Chris Hennes I'll give it another go and will report in a few days.

[Groentehart]

Thank you all for the commentaar and guidance. This batch worked out fine. I rinser and dried the legs an put them in the oven (overnight 8hrs 85 degrees Celsius). Do you drain and strain the fat before staving it in a container in the fridge? Or just pop it in?

 

Kind regards, Debbie 

[weinoo]

Hudson Valley Duck at Union Square today. While they're not 2 for $5 any more, they're available, and we needed confit in the freezer, as well as to eat soon, I believe.

 

 

Six big-ass legs curing...they're a pound each, before trimming.  Salt, pepper, shallots, garlic, thyme.

Also have 2 cups of beautifully rendered fat, from the trimming of the legs. Legs will be individually vacuum packed, and cooked sous vide...till done; though a pair will likely be cooked together to have a nice dinner this weekend.

[TdeV]

@weinoo, do you use any of the fat when you make the confit? How long and what temp, please?

 

 

Edited to add that I just discovered this thread and haven't yet read it.

Edited February 3, 2022 by TdeV (log)

[weinoo]

27 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@weinoo, do you use any of the fat when you make the confit? How long and what temp, please?

 

Edited to add that I just discovered this thread and haven't yet read it.

 

At most, a tablespoon in each bag, but these legs are quite fatty, so I don't think that'll be necessary.

 

I'll probably go 82C for 7 or 8 hours. The long method, as advocated by Serious Eats, is 68C for something like 36 hours, allegedly for the best texture.

[weinoo]

Here's the Doug Baldwin info, which I tend to follow:

 

Turkey, Duck or Goose Leg Confit

• Duck, Goose or Turkey Legs
• Rendered Duck or Goose Fat (or Lard)
• Salt and Pepper

Place legs in a 5–10% brine (50–100 grams salt per 1 liter) for three to six hours. The brine may be flavored with sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, garlic, and orange/ lemon slices.

After brining, rinse legs and pat dry with paper towels. Season with Kosher/sea salt and coarse ground pepper. Individually vacuum seal the legs with 2–4 tablespoons of rendered fat.

Place the vacuum sealed legs in a 176°F (80°C) water bath for 8 to 12 hours. Since some of the liquid in the bag will change phase (to gas), the bag will puff and may float to the surface. To prevent uneven cooking, the bags should be held under water using a wire rack or some other restraint. [After cooking, the legs may be rapidly cooled in ice water (see Table 1.1) and frozen or refrigerated at below 39°F (4°C) indefinitely.]

To serve, (reheat and) sear until skin is crispy. May also be served without skin and torn into pieces.

[Duvel]

I used 68 oC for 24h with great effect, but for the ease of timing I use 70 oC for 18h now … 

 

 

[paulraphael]

One of the tricks to getting traditional confit flavor is to do cook / chill, and open the bags before chilling (you can reseal them). Apparently that signature confit flavor comes from the fats oxidizing a bit, which you won't get much of in a sealed bag. 

[TdeV]

Am sure I've read about this question before, but my searches aren't working.

 

Just purchased a dozen duck legs from d'Artagnan which I want to sous vide. Each package has two legs, so a perfect division.

 

The legs will go in a 3.5 mil vacuum sealer bag for later freezing. They'll be cooked 160ºF for 28 hours.

 

What I don't know is whether to remove the original packaging first?

 

 

Edited to add: 

I should add that the reason I want to keep the original packaging is that the text describing package contents is legible. I write a lot of stuff on the outside of the s.v. bag in a fat black marker (including the date purchased, weight, the temp/time/date cooked). After vacuum sealing, the bag is usually badly wrinkled, so almost illegible. And I don't want to defrost it just to read it.

 

Edited May 1 by TdeV (log)

[KennethT]

16 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Am sure I've read about this question before, but my searches aren't working.

 

Just purchased a dozen duck legs from d'Artagnan which I want to sous vide. Each package has two legs, so a perfect division.

 

The legs will go in a 3.5 mil vacuum sealer bag for later freezing. They'll be cooked 160ºF for 28 hours.

 

What I don't know is whether to remove the original packaging first?

 

I would.  Not all plastics used in refrigerated packaging are heat safe.

[rotuts]

Ditto

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, TdeV said:

They'll be cooked 160ºF for 28 hours.

 

That's a rather interesting time and temp for duck legs.  What is helping you make this decision?

[Bernie]

Sometimes there is absorbent materials added to retail packaging, to mop up any loose liquid that may weep from the meat over time and makes the packet unsightly.

I would be wary of SV this material along with the meat.

Since you are going to repackage for freezing, do the repackaging before SV.

If the original packaging "cryovac", which is much thicker than normal packaging it may well survive in the SV, but if it is it will usually have an absorbent pad or packet as well.

(an indication of whether it is "cryovac"is that the used by (or best by) date is several weeks rather than days.)

[TdeV]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

That's a rather interesting time and temp for duck legs.  What is helping you make this decision?

 

Well, it came from somewhere on eGullet. Not sure whether I could find original reference.

 

What temp/time would you suggest I try next?

[TdeV]

Original post edited to add: 

 

I should add that the reason I want to keep the original packaging is that the text describing package contents is legible. I write a lot of stuff on the outside of the s.v. bag in a fat black marker (including the date purchased, weight, the temp/time/date cooked). After vacuum sealing, the bag is usually badly wrinkled, so almost illegible. And I don't want to defrost it just to read it.

 

 

Edited May 1 by TdeV
Clarity (log)

[weinoo]

17 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Well, it came from somewhere on eGullet. Not sure whether I could find original reference.

 

What temp/time would you suggest I try next?

 

Definitely in the thread on duck confit topic somewhere or other, and I believe via a Paula Wolfert book.  If memory serves me, I do 185℉, for around 6 - 8 hours, depending on the size of the legs.

 

But that involves first salting and curing the legs overnight before cooking.

 

[rotuts]

My friend , down @ WHPS has done this , many times:

 

https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-duck-confit-recipe

 

"""   not as tender and delicious as the duck cooked using the settings that I ended up pegging as the ideal combination of temperature and time: 155°F (68°C) for 36 hours.  ""

 

he swears by this , and Ill be trying it soon.

 

A P.S.:  one thing ive learned about SV  : its very forgiving , once you are in the Ball Park

 

of the results you are looking for.

Edited May 1 by rotuts (log)

[TdeV]

I was not actually trying for confit.

Should I be?

[Duvel]

Many questions raised here, maybe I can weigh in:

 

14 hours ago, TdeV said:

What I don't know is whether to remove the original packaging first?

Both „freezer packaging“ and your SV bag will likely be made out of the same material, polyethylene. Both are food contact grade, so no need to worry about plasticizers or other issues. I would still recommend changing the packaging for two reasons: Primarily, a SV bag is far more sturdy and will give you more security to keep its integrity during the long cook - if you want to add an extra bag to compensate you‘ll be basically willing to add the outside of the original packaging to your cook as well (in case of rupture of the inner bag - not so advisable).
Secondly, you will have a chance to flavor the content (dried garlic, rosemary, butter, salt, …) before the cook, benefitting the protein itself and your sauce made from the liquid gold left in the bag after the long cook …

 

14 hours ago, TdeV said:

They'll be cooked 160ºF for 28 hours.

For a tender yet still juicy texture I use 155 oF for anything between 30-36h. @weinoos temps work as well and give you are more traditional confit texture, a bit more fall apart, slightly more stringy - but especially with a heavily cured leg pretty much the expected taste & texture for confit. These days I mostly skip the curing step and be happy with this …

 

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

was not actually trying for confit.

Should I be?

I think that if you are happy with a tender leg with a tasty sauce from the bag juices, served with sides, you are good as it is. For some applications (cassoulet, or when you really want that traditional French vibe) confit it fantastic. But with „everyday“ duck leg SV I feel the non-traditional texture sits better with me. 

[weinoo]

Great explanation, and actually these days when I want an almost traditional confit, but don't want it to take forever, I make a faux confit (via David Lebovitz):

 

[weinoo]

So, I have two duck legs, cured overnight, and I'm probably gonna do sous vide for, I dunno, 6 or 7 hours.  Just read this piece, wherein the author does mention...

 

Quote

 

I was recently corresponding with Emily Kaiser Thelin and Andrea Nguyen, author and editor, respectively, of the biography and cookbook Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert's Renegade Life, and they pointed me toward the original, 1983 edition of Wolfert's The Cooking of South-West France, in which she describes the implications of sous vide cooking on page 349. Nineteen eighty-three!

 

More than two decades later, Wolfert had an exchange with Nathan Myhrvold on an eGullet forum, in which she suggested the sous vide method for confit in particular. Shortly thereafter, she published a recipe for the technique in the 2005 revised edition of The Cooking of South-West France.

 

Wolfert, I've been told by Thelin, ranks sous vide duck confit as a great time-saver, but one that lacks a certain something compared with the real deal. That's how I tend to feel about most sous vide cooking, though, in this case, I think the ease and rewards make up for whatever shortcomings there may be compared with a true, aged duck confit.

I've also settled on a temperature and time in my own recipe that are considerably different from Wolfert's—mine is not a time-saver—and I think the textural results are superior enough to make an even more compelling argument in favor of sous vide in this application.

 

 

I have both Wolfert books mentioned above (I'm sure I'm not the only one, and both are well tattered) and have often used Paula's method for sous vide confit, from the revised edition.

 

But based on the Serious Eats piece, I think I'm gonna go for a temp in the 170 range, for 7 hours or so, and see what happens.

[rotuts]

@weinoo

 

what are the suggested times from each reference ?

 

I have two DL's awaiting their fait .  and I have not SV'd duck just yet.

 

thanks

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

@weinoo

 

what are the suggested times from each reference ?

 

According to the revised edition of Paula's book, she suggests:  180℉ for the following times, depending on what kind of duck one might be cooking...

 

At least 8 hours for Moulard, 9 for Muscovy, and 5 - 6 for Pekin.

 

In general:  Muscovy ducks are larger, and the meat is more gamey with less fat. A Moulard duck is a cross between a Muscovy drake and a Pekin hen, and has a hefty breast.

 

And from Serious Eats:

 

Cooking Temperatures for Sous Vide Duck Confit
140°F (60°C) for 20 to 40 hours	Firm texture across the time spectrum, more like roast duck. Good, but not like confit.
155°F (68°C) for 20 to 40 hours	Incredibly silky and moist; completely fork-tender. The best were the 36- and 40-hour samples, which were difficult to distinguish.
170°F (77°C) for 8 to 40 hours	The meat falls from the bone the most easily, but there's a noticeable chalky dryness in the 20- to 40-hour samples. Shorter cooking times produced duck that was slightly drier and less tender than the 155°F samples. A decent option if time-saving is critical; otherwise, not the best.

 

[weinoo]

I think the strangest and most glaring omission from the Serious Eats article is that he takes no time distinguishing amongst the various types of duck available to us.

 

D'Artagnan alone sells at least 4 breeds...

 

Rohan

Moulard

Muscovy

Pekin