Sous Vide Duck Leg Confit

We love duck leg confit but don't want to scavenge for a bucket of duck fat. We can instead cook it sous vide in a minimal amount of fat, and add salt and seasonings directly to the cooking bag. This makes it a no-brainer, without losing quality and taste.

Traditionally, duck legs are dry brined with a lot of salt and some spice in order to draw out the blood and firm up the flesh; it's then rinsed, dried, then submerged in duck fat and cooked low and slow, and finally left to cool completely covered in an anaerobic layer fat. This is a technique borne out of the necessity to preserve the meat before refrigeration.

Since fridge-free preservation is not our concern, we don't need to draw off the blood that would spoil in the bucket o' fat. We'll just add a reduced amount of salt and spices to our vacuum bag with the legs directly. We can leave it that way in the fridge to let the seasoning penetrate a bit before cooking sous vide, but that my not be necessary -- the long cooking time should be enough. When cooked, we'll pour off the juices and fat, and separate, then save the jelled juice separate from the fat: both have plenty of uses.

We'll cook in the skin which should render some fat. If we're serving this directly, we'd then sear in a screaming hot pan, skin side down to crisp up. For cassoulet, we'd pull off the flesh and then crisp the skin separately to use as a crouton-like topping.

Various recipes suggest anywhere from 75-82C temperatures, for 8-24 hours. We'll go with 80C for 12 hours, since we're targeting meat for cassoulet; we'd probably do 8 hours for a leg we'd sear and serve by itself.

2 whole Duck Legs, skin on
1 Tbs Kosher Salt
2 tsp Pepper Corns
1 Bay Leaf
2 clove Garlic, minced
3 springs Thyme
2 Tbs Duck Fat (from previous adventures; pork, bacon, butter, or oil are OK in a pinch)

Sprinkle the legs with the salt.
Grind/chop the dry spices and dust the legs, sprinkle on the garlic.

Add the duck, spices, garlic and a couple tablespoons of duck fat to the vacuum bags and seal.
Let sit overnight in the fridge for flavors to penetrate.

Cook sous vide at 80C/176F for 8-12 hours.
If you're serving this soon, pour off the fat and liquid and separate, and save; then finish the duck as you like (e.g., sear the skin on ripping hot cast iron).
If you're saving this for later, drop the bags in an ice bath to chill, then store in the freezer until desired.