duck. duck. duck. earl grey?

Click on the picture for my recipe.

When I started to develop this recipe I planned to make an alternative to the traditional ‘confit duck’ method. I wanted a cleaner, easier and less fatty version: partly because duck fat is expensive but also because the pandemic has meant that I’m more sedentary these days.

What actually transpired was not a ‘healthy’ version of confit duck or a ‘quick’ version of confit duck but a dish in it's own right. It happens to be healthier and cheaper but I don’t think you can accuse it of being ‘quicker’, since it takes 36 hours - not exactly speedy.

After a few trials of dry brines and wet brines I found that a tea brine was perfect. It stops the duck from shrinking (I’m not totally sure why if I’m being honest!). You don’t need to pre-brine the duck as this makes no discernible difference to the end product -again differentiating it from the traditional confit recipe.

I then wanted to find a veggie that could go into the bag with the duck but not turn to mulch after 36 hours. The fennel holds its shape beautifully, gets nicely sweet and absorbs some of the rich ducky-ness.