Peking style confit duck legs
This recipe takes roughly a day and a half and doesn't require the traditional air drying and trying to separate the skin from the duck. Instead this uses the confit method which still gives you bags of flavour, followed by finishing it in the oven which gives the crisp skin that we all love.
20g Five spice (I made mine using 5g fennel, 2 star anise, 10 cloves, 5cm piece cinnamon and 5g Szechuan pepper, roasted and ground, you can also use ready made shop bought)
10g Salt
15ml Soy sauce
5g Palm sugar
30ml Rice wine
15g Ginger
5 Scallions
200g duck fat for sous vide method (500g for the old school method)
4 duck legs
You need to start this the night before
Take each duck leg and salt them all over, you may not need to use all the salt stated in the recipe, just enough to cover both sides of the duck leg
Mix the rice wine, palm sugar, five spice and soy sauce together and pour over the legs
Sprinkle the sliced ginger and scallions over the legs
Mix the rice wine, palm sugar, five spice and soy sauce together and pour over the legs
Sprinkle the sliced ginger and scallions over the legs
Place the duck in a bowl in the fridge overnight, salting helps draw the moisture out and helps preserve the leg
Next day - sous vide method
Clean off the excess salt and dry the duck legs
Remove the scallions and ginger to one side
Place two of the duck legs with 100g of the fat, scallions and ginger in a plastic pouch and seal with a vacuum packer
Repeat for the other legs
Repeat for the other legs
Set your sous vide to 82 Celsius temp and cook for 8 hours
Once cooked, the duck legs can then be allowed to cool and will keep for about a month in the fridge
Next day - Old school method
Melt the duck fat in a deep cast iron pot or heavy bottomed sauce pan and add the cleaned duck legs, scallions and ginger to the pan
Place in an oven 130c fan, 140c normal and cook for 3-4 hours.
Take the dish out of the oven and then allow the fat to cool and set
The duck legs can be placed in a sealed jar in the fat in the fridge until you want to use them at a later date and will keep for up to a month
Reheating
Pre heat your oven to 200c or set your BBQ up for indirect cooking at 200c
Take the duck legs out of the fat, remove any scallion or ginger pieces and any excess fat
Place some of the duck fat in a heavy cast iron pan, allow the fat to melt over a gentle heat on the stove
Turn up the heat and place the duck legs in skin side down, crisp the skin quickly
Place the pan on the oven/BBQ and cook for 25 - 30 minutes
Serve with pancakes, spring onions, hoi sin sauce and sliced cucumber
Reheating
Pre heat your oven to 200c or set your BBQ up for indirect cooking at 200c
Take the duck legs out of the fat, remove any scallion or ginger pieces and any excess fat
Place some of the duck fat in a heavy cast iron pan, allow the fat to melt over a gentle heat on the stove
Turn up the heat and place the duck legs in skin side down, crisp the skin quickly
Place the pan on the oven/BBQ and cook for 25 - 30 minutes
Serve with pancakes, spring onions, hoi sin sauce and sliced cucumber
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