Best Duck Rillettes Recipes

DUCK RILLETTES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line a 9x13 baking dish with 2 pieces of aluminum foil.
• Stir kosher salt, 2 teaspoons black pepper, and dried thyme together in a bowl. Mix garlic, ginger, orange zest strips, fresh thyme, and bay leaves together in another bowl.
• Season duck all over, inside and out, with about 2/3 of the kosher salt mixture. Fill duck cavity with garlic mixture.
• Place duck, breast-side up, into prepared baking dish and season with remaining salt mixture. Wrap duck tightly in aluminum foil.
• Roast in the preheated oven until meat pulls away from the bones, 5 to 6 hours. Cool duck with its accumulated juices, wrapped in aluminum foil, to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight.
• Pick meat from bones and place in a bowl.
• Spoon all accumulated juices in the foil into a saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Cook until hot throughout; strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Let fat and stock separate; transfer fat from the top to another bowl.
• Mash duck meat, 3 tablespoons duck fat, 2 tablespoons duck stock, butter, brandy, parsley, chives, Dijon mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, and ground black pepper together in a bowl with a wooden spoon; transfer to a sealable container, press down, and drizzle a little duck fat over the top. Sprinkle thyme leaves, black pepper, and orange zest over the top. Seal the container and refrigerate for the flavors to blend, 1 to 3 days.

DUCK-CONFIT RILLETTES

Steps:

• Shred the duck meat, discarding the skin and bones. Place the shredded meat in a food processor and add 1 tablespoon of duck fat. Pulse the machine and add enough of the remaining fat so the rillettes hold together. Season the rillettes with plenty of pepper and serve with toasted country bread. Alternatively, spoon the rillettes into ramekins, top with a layer of duck fat, and store in the refrigerator. They will keep for several weeks.

RILLETTES OF DUCK

Steps:

• Lay duck breast side down. With sharp knife carefully remove skin. Cut off 5 ounces (approximately 1/2 cup) duck fat, chop into fine dice; reserve. Discard skin. Remove meat from carcass, cut meat from the breast and from the thigh in strips. Do not use meat from lower leg.
• Finely mince barding fat in food processor.
• Clean vegetables. Cut onion in half horizontally and carrot in half lengthwise.
• Place barding fat and duck fat in casserole. Add water to barely cover. Set over medium heat; cover and simmer 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until water has evaporated. Fat should be almost completely melted.
• Add pork fillet, duck, garlic, onion, carrot, bouquet garni, salt and pepper and pepper corns Add 1 cup of wine; bring to boil. Cover and place over low heat so mixture is barely simmering. Cook 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; remove vegetables and aromatics. Add remaining wine; cover with damp cloth and let cool. Be sure cloth does not touch mixture.
• When lukewarm mix thoroughly with fingers. Taste, and correct seasoning.
• Fill a two-quart terrine and cover with foil. Refrigerate for at least two days before eating. Serve with country bread.

DUCK RILLETTES

Steps:

• Cut breasts from duck and discard skin and all visible fat. Reserve legs and carcass for another use.
• Brown duck neck (halved if necessary) in a dry 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, turning once, about 10 minutes total. Transfer to a plate. Pat duck breasts dry and season with salt and pepper, then add to pan and brown over moderate heat, turning once, about 8 minutes total. Transfer to plate with duck neck.
• Add Armagnac to pan and deglaze by boiling, scraping up any brown bits, until most of liquid is evaporated. Add 2 cups water, shallots, garlic, sliced carrot, thyme, bay leaf, kosher salt, peppercorns, and duck breasts and neck with any juices on plate and cook at a bare simmer, covered, 1 hour. Discard neck, then transfer breasts to a plate and cool. Shred duck meat, then chop.
• Pour broth through a sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. (If liquid measures less than 2 cups, add water.) Return to cleaned pan and add chopped carrot. Simmer, covered, until carrot is tender, 3 to 5 minutes.
• While carrot is cooking, sprinkle gelatin over remaining 2 tablespoons water in a cup and let soften 1 minute.
• Stir softened gelatin into hot broth until dissolved, then stir in duck meat, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into crocks (you'll have about 3 cups total) and chill, covered, until set, 3 to 4 hours. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes before serving.

GOOSE (OR DUCK) RILLETTES

Steps:

• Break up the carcass and place it with the other parts and the cubed pork in a large pot with a cupful (or more, as necessary) of water. Add the seasonings, cover, and cook very slowly, stirring often, for at least 2 1/2 hours.
• When the meat separates easily from the bones and the liquid has almost evaporated, remove the bones and tear the meat into short strands with your fingers, mixing it well with the fat, skin and giblets. The texture should be coarse and with separate threads, rather than more homogenized like a pâté.
• Fill small baking or custard dishes with the mixture and any remaining liquid, leave it to cool, and then cover it with a layer of goose or duck fat. I use small containers which will each serve two to four people as an amuse-bouche before a meal. They can be frozen.