Duck Confit

One of Aki's favorite things is duck confit. Go figure that I would feel the need to tinker with it. The bone, the uneven crisping of the skin, the sinew, and the cartilage all take away from my enjoyment of duck confit. These quirky attributes, which I find troublesome, are some of the reasons Aki loves traditional confit. She likes picking her pieces and searching for the hidden gems, excavating the perfect bite. Crispy bits of meltingly tender meat cooked and served on the bone make her happy.  I would rather go through the necessary steps early on to allow for all the bites to be close to perfect (and easy to eat). This time I set about boning the duck legs and then seasoning and curing them with semi-traditional flavors. In order to assure that the skin would be evenly crisped, I blanched it before bonding it to the boned meat. I set the duck into a rectangular mold and then cooked it for 22.5 hours at 57 degrees C. The meat is rich, toothsome, and still slice-able. The duck also retains a nice rosy hue. And the skin is easily crisped in a pan allowing for each bite to be almost perfect, at least for me. As for Aki, well we can't agree on everything...