How to sous vide duck

Sous vide used to be a method of cooking used by professional chefs in restaurant kitchens, however it is now more accesible to the home chef. It is a technique that that uses precise temperatures to deliver consistent results, food is vacuum sealed in a bag and then cooked at a certain temperature in a water bath.

Our in house Chef Simon has given us his method for cooking duck sous vide:

For the home cook sous vide is most recommended for cooking confit duck legs, use the following instructions –

Sous vide Confit Duck legs:

• Recommended but not required: Heavily season the duck legs with sea salt flakes and rub all over with garlic and thyme. (TIP: more flavours can be added at this stage, e.g. Spice rub)
• Leave to cure for up to 10 hours in the fridge.
• Rinse legs and pat dry.
• Seal and vacuum on full in a single layer. They will cook in their own fat and juices resembling confit.
• Submerge in a water bath at 88°C and cook for at least 8 hours or overnight.
• Chill on ice in the bag to retain whole set legs or alternatively remove from bags whist hot and shred before chilling.
• To reheat: place skin side up on a baking tray and roast for 30-40mins at 220C/200C fan.
• Take caution with the hot duck fat in the tray (save for further use if desired).

For the real enthusiasts you could try sous vide duck breast or crown

Basic sous vide Duck breast:

• Trim excess fat from breast and score the skin with a sharp knife.
• Fry skin side down in a dry pan on medium heat to render fat and starting to generate colour. Don’t colour too far as will be cooking again.
• After a couple minuets, flip over for 1 min to colour all over.
• Remove from pan and chill as quickly as possible.
• When cool, seal and vacuum on full.
• Submerge in preheated water bath, set to 58°C for 90mins.
• Remove from water bath and chill on ice in the bag till completely cool.
• To reheat: season breast and return to a pan, skin side down, on medium heat with a little oil.
• Generate colour and crisp skin, flip over, and cook in a 180°C oven for approx. 5 mins or until hot throughout.
• Finish in pan with butter, thyme, and garlic if desired.
• Leave to rest somewhere warm for 5 mins before serving.

Sous vide crown:

• Carefully score the skin and season all over with salt.
• Sear the crown in a medium to hot pan to render the fat and start to develop colour.
• Leave to cool, seal and vacuum on full.
• Submerge in preheated water bath, set to 62°C for 1hr 30min.
• Remove the bags and carefully remove the crowns. Cut the breasts from the crown and chill ready to cook.
• To reheat in a pan, skin side down and finish in the oven at 180C fan for approx. 5mins or until hot.
• Glaze if desired, rest for 5 mins before serving.