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Chettinad duck confit with pepper jus
Chettinad duck confit with pepper jus, from above
Non vegChettinad x France

Chettinad duck confit with pepper jus

Duck cooked low and slow until it gives up, then handed a Chettinad pep talk. Crackling skin, zero regrets.

300 minTime
50 gProtein each
hotSpice
Patience and pepper2 chapters · 1 min read

Make it your way

Grandma's wayThe original. Handle with reverence.
The original
831kcalsame
50 gproteinsame
5 gfibresame
300minutessame

Per serving, worked out from the ingredient table.

Ingredients

4 servings
Duck4 legs, about 250 g each
Salt1½ tbsp coarse salt
Black pepper1 tbsp
Fennel seeds1 tsp
Star anise2
Whole spices4 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick
Dried red chilli3
Garlic1 head, halved
Curry leaves2 sprigs
Bay leaf (indian bay leaf)2
Duck fat300 g to cover, most is strained and saved
Shallots3, sliced
Chicken stock (chicken broth)1¼ cups
Jaggery2 tsp
Tamarinda small piece, soaked
Butter1 tbsp, cold
Sweet potato2 medium
Ghee2 tsp
Milk3 tbsp

Method

6 steps
  1. 1Dry roast the pepper, fennel, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and chillies on low heat for 2 minutes and grind. Mix half with the salt, rub over the duck and chill for 2 hours.
  2. 2Heat the oven to 140°C. Rinse off the cure and pat dry. Pack the legs snugly in an ovenproof dish with the garlic, curry leaves and bay, cover with melted duck fat and bake 2 1/2 hours.
  3. 3Boil the sweet potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes, then mash with ghee, milk and salt.
  4. 4For the jus, heat 1 tbsp of the duck fat in a pan on medium heat. Cook the shallots 3 minutes, add the remaining spice powder for 30 seconds, then the stock, jaggery and tamarind water. Reduce by half, about 10 minutes.
  5. 5Take the jus off the heat and whisk in the cold butter.
  6. 6Lift the legs from the fat. Crisp them skin side down in a hot pan on medium high heat for 5 minutes.
Serve it like this

Spoon a neat bed of sweet potato mash, rest the crisp duck leg on it, pour the pepper jus in a ring around and top with fried curry leaves.

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Make it a meal

What goes with Chettinad duck confit with pepper jus: a bread or rice, a side, something to drink and something sweet.

Bread or rice Curry leaf and green chilli focaccia210 min
Bread or rice Jeera rice30 min
With a main Chana masala cottage pie with sweet potato mash60 min
On the side Coconut chutney10 min
On the side Mango caprese with kasundi15 min
To drink Mango matcha lassi10 min
Something sweet Falooda knickerbocker glory150 min
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