Duck Confit, a must do before Cassoulet!!

Before I share the Cassoulet recipe I realized that first I must share the Duck Confit recipe .  What is confit? Confit is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavour and preservation. Depending on where you are constitutes how something is turned to confit, usually it is the fat of which you are making confit but in some areas Olive Oil is used, my recipe for Duck Confit uses both Duck Fat and Olive Oil from Provence.
Ducks carry a lot of fat which when cooked or grilled renders away from the meat of the bird, I only Confit the Leg & Thigh, the breasts I separate from the rest of the carcass as I do the leg & thigh then I pull the rest of the skin off and cook it as I sear the leg and thigh to render the fat.
Before any of that happens I lightly season the Leg & Thigh with cracked pepper, very little sea salt and garlic powder. To confit just a couple of legs&thighs really is not worth it, there are a couple of store bought confits that are of good quality. Generally I will Confit 12 or more ducks which means I have 24 leg & thighs that takes about 1 gallon of fat. This is where the Olive Oil comes into the recipe or application. As the legs and thighs are searing begin heating the duck fat over low heat adding olive oil, the combination is about 3-1 ratio of duck fat to oil. Now that all the leg and thighs are seared (not cooked) completely submerge the leg & thighs into the warm oil. As you are doing so preheat your oven to 200 degrees, bring your fat and oil to 200 degrees cover and into the oven it goes, here is where you will need to be prepared to be around for 8 hours, it is not wise to leave an oven unattended, especially when one is slow cooking with fat. Did I say 8 hours? Yes allow the duck to slow roast in the fat for 8 hours, once the 8 hours has passed remove from oven and allow to cool to room temp. The contents are now confit and can be stored in the refrigerator for months. You can remove the leg & thighs from the fat, fresh or vac pack and freeze until ready to use. I will be back with what to do with the Duck Confit prior to using it in a dish such as Cassoulet.
Until then "Think Good Thoughts and Smile"