Slow-Cured Duck Confit with Sarladaise Potatoes

⏱ 900 min · Serves 4

The great Gascon classic done properly: duck legs cured overnight in salt, thyme and garlic, then poached for hours in their own fat until the meat surrenders at a touch, and finally crisped to a burnished, crackling skin. Alongside, potatoes fried in that same golden fat with garlic and parsley — sarladaise, the most persuasive potato dish in France.

Per serving: 842 kcal · 45.0g protein · 38.0g carbs · 58.0g fat

Ingredients

• 4 duck legs (about 250g each)
• 40g coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves, torn
• 1 tsp juniper berries, crushed (optional)
• 800g–1kg duck fat (enough to submerge the legs)
• 900g waxy potatoes (Charlotte or Desiree), peeled
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 20g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Flaky salt and black pepper, to serve
• Handful of watercress or frisée, to serve
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar and 1 tbsp walnut oil, for the salad

Method

1. The day before: mix the coarse salt, pepper, crushed garlic, thyme, bay and juniper. Rub all over the duck legs, pack into a dish skin-side up, cover and refrigerate 12–24 hours.
2. Next day, rinse the legs thoroughly under cold water to remove all the cure, then pat completely dry with kitchen paper. Any salt left behind makes for salty confit.
3. Heat oven to 140C/120C fan. Melt the duck fat in a pan, then lay the legs snugly in a deep ovenproof dish and pour over enough fat to submerge them completely.
4. Cook uncovered for 2.5–3 hours, until the meat pulls easily from the bone and a skewer slides in with no resistance. Let cool in the fat. (You can now refrigerate the legs under their fat for up to 2 weeks — the flavour only improves.)
5. Lift the legs out, scraping off excess fat, and set skin-side up on a rack. Reserve 5 tbsp of the duck fat for the potatoes and strain the rest to keep.
6. Slice the potatoes into 4mm rounds. Do not rinse — the surface starch helps them hold together. Pat dry.
7. Heat 4 tbsp duck fat in a large heavy frying pan over medium-high. Add the potatoes, season, and cook 12–15 minutes, turning with a spatula every few minutes, until deep gold and tender at the centre.
8. Meanwhile, roast the duck legs skin-side up at 200C/180C fan for 15–20 minutes until the skin is crisp and blistered. Alternatively, crisp them skin-down in a dry pan over medium heat for 6–8 minutes.
9. Add the chopped garlic and half the parsley to the potatoes, toss for 1 minute until fragrant, then off the heat stir through the rest of the parsley.
10. Dress the watercress with vinegar and walnut oil. Serve a duck leg per person on a pile of sarladaise potatoes, with the sharp salad alongside and flaky salt at the table.