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...
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