You'll need a bit of patience.
Ingredients
- 120g smoked bacon
- 300g dried sausage (like sausison sec)
- 450g dried haricot beans (soaked overnight)
- 1 celery stick
- 1 onion
- 1 large carrot
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tblsp Irish rapeseed oil
- 1 tblsp duck fat
- 2 ripe plum tomatoes (or whole tinned)
- Thyme, bay leaf
- 1 tsp Irish sea salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 litre of chicken stock or duck stock (if you started off with a whole duck)
- To Finish:
- 4 confit skeaghanore duck legs or other local free range duck
- 50g dried breadcrumbs
- Handful of fresh parsley
- 250g duck fat
- 1 tblsp salt
Method
- To confit your own duck legs, you need the 4 duck legs, 250g duck fat and 1 tablespoon of salt.
- Rub the salt all over the duck legs.
- Prick the skin with a needle, but not into the meat - this will allow the fat to come out from just under the skin.
- Place in an ovenproof dish and put all the duck fat over.
- Cook at a low temperature, depending on your patience: 140C (90 minutes), 120C (2 hours), 100C (3½ hours).
- The slower you do it the better, as it will keep its weight, shape and colour. Just make sure the centre comes up to 75C.
- If you want to keep it in the fridge for a few days cool it in the duck fat.
- Keep the duck fat for doing roast potatoes or frying chicken - it adds fantastic flavour to everything.
- Now, get your pan on medium heat with the oil and the 1 tablespoon of duck fat. Add the smoked bacon, then the onion, then the carrot, then the celery. Just leave about half a minute in between each addition until they just start to caramelise.
- Add the garlic, the beans, the dried sausage, the herbs, the stock and the seasoning.
- Cook it out until the beans are nice and soft.
- You can put them in individual ovenproof dishes or in one large dish.
- Sprinkle all the breadcrumbs on top, then place the confit duck legs on top.
- Place in the oven at 170C until the duck is heated through and the skin is nice and crispy - the breadcrumbs will be golden brown.
- Sprinkle with plenty of parsley and serve some crusty sourdough bread.
