Confit of Duck

Sainsbury's had half price duck legs for sale this week. So I had two packs to turn into Confit de Canard.

The first step is to rub the legs in salt, pepper, thyme, oregano and garlic so they are nicely covered. They will sit like this in the fridge for no more than a day. If you leave them over 24 hours the salt gets too deep into the meat. 18-24 hours is about right to allow some of the flavour in and get some of the moisture out. Tomorrow I'll wipe them down with kitchen roll and cook them for about 2 hours at 200c covered in fat. And by covered I mean fully submerged. I don't want them to roast or fry just sort of stew. By that time they will be falling off the bone.

Before doing anything else with them they stand in the hot fat for at least an hour. More moisture comes out of the meat and is replaced with the cooking juices.

I'm not planning to eat them for a bit so I'm going to be putting them in a large Kilner jar submerged in fat until I'm ready for them. As long as no part of the duck is exposed to the air the fat will preserve them. I've kept them for several months in the fridge, although I'm sure they would be fine in a cool larder or the garage. That is one of the reasons for treating them like this. The ducks would have gone through gavage and killed for the foie gras and this was a good way of keeping the meat. Foie gras ducks are much bigger and fattier than the Gressingham ducks we get over here.

When I am ready to eat them I'll take them out of the fat (keeping it for next time) shake off as much as I can and put them in a frying pan and brown and crisp up both sides. They will be served with potatoes steamed and then browned in the same fat or some garlic mash. The meat is quite rich and a little goes a long way.

I also like to shred the meat of the bones with forks, stir fry it and add the warm meat to crispy salad with a mint and honey dressing. Nothing else needed except warm crusty bread.

Starting to wish I had emptied the shelves. At £2.49 for two legs it's a bit of a bargain...

A bit of campfire cookery.

I've just got back from fine couple of days at Amberley working museum where . Wayne from Forest Knights and I were getting the bowmaking hovel ready for the half term opening. Naturally we had to eat and although the Bridge pub was tempting we cooked over the fire in the shelter.



Wayne usually provides the food but this time I shopped as well. We had been snacking all day on rubbish food (pasties and crisps) and when we came to prepare Wednesday night dinner we had a great choice of things to eat. I decided to go for a lamb gumbo for the main course. I cubed up a few pieces of stewing lamb and fried it off with some onions, green pepper, onions, carrot and a parsnip. When it was nicely browned in went enough water to cover it and a bit more with a vegetable stock cube.

After a few minutes of vigourous boiling it became obvious that the lamb was going to take a little while to get tender enough to be edible and as we were both hungry I fried a couple of mackrel fillets with some spicy chutney and we snacked on them wrapped in flour tortillas while we waited for the stew to cook.

When the lamb was just about cooked I threw in a handful of rice (not quick cook, that is just an insult to rice) and when the stew had thickened around the rice Wayne was worried that we had cooked too much (wouldn't be the first time) but it all went and we rounded off the meal with a desert of Lindt chocolate.

Rice a pasta are great things to take when you are planning to cook outside. They don't take up a lot of room but are satisfying as long as you have something to give them a bit of flavour. They keep pretty well for ever and are a good source of slow release energy.

The next day was also busy and we picked on junk food and endless brews during the day so we were ready for a good dinner by 7pm. A rummage in the food sack came up with a couple of pork chops which were cooked plainly on the griddle and a pork loin which was cut into bite sized medallions and stir fried with broccoli, onions and leeks and served with boiled new potatoes. The flavouring was a citrus and herb rub that Wayne had brought along. Very tasty.

The the leftover potatoes were even better refried with the breakfast bacon in another tortilla wrap with some chutney.

It's a hard life roughing it ;)

And the food fuelled us making the heaviest rustic cupboard door known to man, a quarter sized bow for the display, a bit of primitive blacksmithing with some home made charcoal and shifting soaking wet chipboard panels.

Oh and good luck to whatever animal sneaked to within 4 feet of me during the night and stole the mini scotch eggs. They were truly nasty.

Mr Sinfuls Food Blog

I'll eat pretty well anything. The one thing I have tried that I didn't like to the point it made me retch was Florence Fennel. Maybe it was the way it was prepared but the braised celery texture combined with an overpowering aniseed flavour that numbed my tongue was just too hard to get down. Perhaps I'll give it another try when I get the opportunity.

I tell you this to set the scene for what you might come across on this blog. Anything vaguely edible.

I'm going to kick off with a recipe for what I am planning to prepare this evening. Noodle soup.

Preparing the stock
I cooked Molesey Fried Chicken on Saturday and, as I usually do, I started with a whole chicken and jointed it out. I don't know whether it is my imagination but the collection of joints I manage to get from a small chicken seem much better value than packs of ready jointed chicken and I can make sure the skin is not ripped to pieces. After removing drumsticks, thighs, wings and breast I am left with a carcass which still has a little meat, some skin and all the body bones. I chop this up into managable bits to make my soup stock.

Put it in a heavy pan. No water at this stage. Cover it and put it on a very low heat. The fat will start to come out of it and juices that hit the bottom of the pan will brown. Don't panic. The aim is to get a moderately brown crust on the bottom of the pan. Give it a stir and leave it for a bit longer. It looks like the pan will never be the same again but when you get the water in the browned juices will lift off. The nature of the juices will be changed and the flavour of your finished stock will be more roast chicken than boiled.


Throw in a onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. You could peel and chop them. I don't bother. If there is celery or other veg in the bottom of the fridge that need using they can go in too. Cover again and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and leave for an hour or until the onion colapses when squashed.

While it is still hot drain off the juice. Leave the fat (schmaltz) on the top. If you have more than about a pint of stock put it back in the pan and boilt it uncovered until it reduces. You can take it down to half a pint if you want to save space in the freezer. Pop it in the fridge or freezer until you are ready for it. The broth is a great culture medium but the fat will harden and seal it off so it can wait for a few days without going mouldy.


When it is cold it will be a jelly. That how it is supposed to be. I leave the seasoning until I come to use it.


Assembling the soup
For my soup I have onions, a piece of savoy cabbage, dried cep, a carrot, and rice stick noodles. The thing to remember is that this is an assembly. If you chuck everything in the stock and boil it up you will end up with something less exciting and homogenous. While the stock is warming up deal with the veg.

Heat a frying pan with some oil. Groundnut is my favourite. Put the thinly shredded cabbage and fried onions in and stir fry them. I'm going to use a few toasted sesame seeds, fish sauce and chilli oil to season them. 

When everything else is ready throw the noodles into some boiling water. Do not over cook them. Do not cook them in the stock. 

Season the stock. I use a shake of mushroom soy and some coconut cream. If you get the solid blocks it lasts for ever and you can chip off as much as you need.

Warm a big bowl. Put the noodles in the bottom and put on a shake of light soy and some sesame oil. Lay the greens alongside. They probably don't need so much seasoning. Pour over the stock.

This is where you can get creative. I like a few grilled tiger prawns and some thinly sliced roast pork on the top. Today I have the cep.

When it is all assembled a drizzle of home made roast chilli oil and a drop of roasted sesame oil on top. A sprinkle of fresh green coriander or parsley is also good.

Chopsticks and a spoon are the best thing to eat with. Forget what you were taught about table manners. Bring the bowl to your mouth and don't be shy about drinking the juice. A delicate slurp when eating the noodles is considered polite in some places.

When you have eaten it reflect on all the carcasses that you have thrown in the bin that could have given you a meal.