Confit de Canard

We’ve all encountered aphorisms in our lives, imparted by parents, teachers, friends, authors, historians, prophets, preachers, politicians, wise men, wise women. Almost all of which it’s possible to take some sort of meaning and apply it to your own circumstances, to learn, to improve yourself.

Shakespeare wrote that “Discretion is the better part of valour”, amongst many, many other things.

Charles Darwin said “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life”. Echoed by Ralph Waldo Emerson who mused that “it’s not length of life, but depth of life”. I agree, which is why I’m seriously pissed off that I sat through ‘Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ today.

“You wouldn’t do it at home so don’t do it at school”. My teacher referring to me leaning back on my chair, a generic comment that all of us have heard at one time or another that is rarely correct. There are plenty of things that I would do at home that I wouldn’t have done at school; and very little I would confine to the classroom, save Chemistry perhaps. This particular maxim I would discard.

Two of the most overused sayings we all would have heard, and as children resented hugely, are the classics - “Good things come to those who wait” and “Patience is a virtue”.

These really used to grind my gears, no child wants to wait for something, when they see it they want it and their pea sized brains can’t focus on anything else. Mine certainly couldn’t.

However now I get it, with time I have come to learn and appreciate the message that my parents were trying to engrain on my psyche. I understand what my teachers were trying to drill into me and why. But I’m afraid the credit for this new found virtuosity cannot fall with either of the above parties, no. Because the time it took for me to learn this has not been the last 25 years in the bosom of my family, or the 20 years of education as my tutors tried to make a man of me. It was the 3 days and 18 hours it took to marinate and slow cook two duck legs in a kilo of goose fat that really drove the message home.

When William Wallace stood on the battle field and said – “Every man dies, not every man can say he’s lived”, it was not the emancipation of Scotland he was referring to, oh no, it was the Duck Confit he’d had whilst traveling through France.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

2 duck legs

Enough goose fat to cover them in an oven proof dish

(For the marinade)

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of lemon thyme

1 white onion, roughly chopped

6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon rock salt

15 whole black peppercorns

1 tablespoon of oregano

4 large potatoes

2 large parsnips

1 tablespoon Manuka honey

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

A healthy knob of butter

A slug of double cream

1 egg

Ground black pepper

Sprouting broccoli

Asparagus

Cherry tomatoes, for roasting

Method

1. Rub the duck legs thoroughly in salt and place in a bowl, pour in the oil and the remaining ingredients for the marinade, toss to coat thoroughly, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for 3 days.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 75°C. When the legs are ready remove from the fridge and take out the duck legs from the bowl and transfer to a oven proof dish, deep enough to put the duck legs in a cover with at least 2cm of goose fat on top. Spoon out the goose fat and submerge the duck legs, whack them in the oven 18 hours before you intend to eat them, (7pm if you want lunch at 1 the following day).

3. Half an hour before you take the duck out boil the parsnips and potatoes, mash them with a knob of butter, a slug of double cream, the egg and a few turns of black pepper. Mix in the mustard and Manuka honey and stir through, set aside and keep warm.

4. In the last ten minutes boil the broccoli and asparagus then toss in butter.

5. Take the duck legs out of the oven and dispose of the goose fat, NOT DOWN THE SINK, into a flower bed if you have one. Put the legs on a roasting tray with some vine tomatoes and grill under a high heat for 5/6 minutes until the skin crisps up.

6. Serve the duck on the mash with the vegetables and tomatoes. This is the best way to eat duck in the world, EVER. It is also very nice with a port or Madeira reduction and if you want to go even richer, finely sliced sprouts in a Mornay sauce with lardons fried in clarified butter. I made this for Xmas day nearly died from enjoyment.