Duck Confit Rillette Appetizer served with lentil salad
For the Duck Confit:
20 lbs. duck legs
6 lbs. kosher salt
3 lbs. light brown sugar
3 orange peels
10 star anise
1 cinnamon
20 pepper corn
8 bay leaves
3 ozs. parsley stems
1 oz. thyme, fresh
1 oz. coriander seeds
1 oz. fennel seeds
pepper flakes
1 gal. duck fat
Procedure:
- Rinse duck legs in water and clean well, then pat them to dry.
- In a large container, mix the duck legs in a layer of salt and let them cure for about three hours.
- Rinse duck legs in water and clean well, then pat them to dry, again.
- Put duck legs in a six-inch-deep hotel pan with duck fat.
- Put into 200-degree (F) oven for overnight, covered with plastic and foil.
- Next day, pull out of oven and refrigerate until needed.
- Put all other ingredients in robot coupe and mix.
- Reserve the duck confit for rillette preparation.
For the Rillette:
10 lbs. duck confit (see recipe above) Boursin cheese
8 ozs. chives, shaved
8 ozs. parsley, shaved
4 ozs. heavy cream
Procedure:
- Clean duck confit; remove all bones and skin, and drain any excess fat.
- Put 5 lbs. of duck, chives, parsley, Boursin cheese, and heavy cream in large mixing bowl. Mix well.
- Add rest of duck confit into bowl and fold together
- Place rillette mix onto plastic wrap and roll into cylinder shape with about a 3-in. radius.
- Tie each end with butcher twine; keep cold until serving.
For the Lentil Salad:
16 ozs. black lentil Boursin cheese
4 ozs. smoked bacon slices
1 oz. shallot
red onion
garlic, minced
4 ozs. sherry wine vinegar
1 oz. parsley, minced
to taste salt
to taste black pepper, freshly grounded
24 ozs. hot water
Procedure:
- In a small sauce pot, add lentils and hot water.
- Cover and sit for 15 minutes. Put the pot on stove and cook slowly until tender.
- Brunoise bacon and render in a pan. Add garlic and shallot after bacon is crispy.
- Deglaze with sherry vinegar.
- In a mixing bowl, add lentils, bacon mixture, onion, salt, pepper and parsley.
- Let sit at room temperature, and serve.
For Plate-Up:
- Garnish plate with lentil salad (see above) and golden frisee dressed in Xeres vinaigrette and hazelnut oil emulsion.
- Add potato chip for garnish.
- Add radish shavings and beet shavings.
- Add imported cornichons, sliced long.
- Make sauce with Pommery mustard and Dijon mustard; emulsify the mustards with olive oil and salt to taste.
Submitted by Max Knoepfel, Executive Chef, Westchester Country Club, Rye, N.Y.
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