We love cooking “duck steak”—that is, duck breast. But equally satisfying are these meaty duck legs. And there’s a lot you can do with them.
The most common way to cook duck legs is to give them a hot bath in duck fat and transform them into duck leg confit. Stash the confit, or take the next step and shred the tender meat to create rillettes, a creamy spread of shredded duck, aromatics and fat.
Roast in the oven until the skin is crisped and golden. Be aware that there is a lot of fat on these duck legs; collect it as it renders out and use to fry or roast potatoes.
Break down the sinewy texture with slow cooking. Braise in wine for tender meat, which can be shredded for a ragout or lasagna.
Duck legs come with the thigh attached. You may wish to separate them before cooking, but you can leave them intact, depending on your plans.
D’Artagnan is dedicated to finding farmers that share our vision of a more humane and sustainable way of rearing livestock. We look at scale and sustainability; working only with those farms that respect nature and focus on the best animal welfare practices.
At our New York State farm the large Moulard duck, a cross between Muscovy and Pekin breeds, is the duck of choice. It’s worth noting that the Moulard breed is the favorite duck of Southwest France, where duck is a way of life.
Our Moulard ducks are raised cage-free in open barns, on a bedding of wood shavings with plenty of space and sunlight. This environment allows natural flocking behavior. The ducks eat a vegetarian diet of corn, soy and fresh, clean water. Antibiotics and hormones are strictly forbidden.
The duck farm does their own hand processing in a USDA-inspected plant, and uses air-chilling for the best flavor and least amount of water retention.
