| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 11 hr 55 min |
| Active: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon cracked black peppercorns
- 4 fresh turkey legs
- 8 cups (64 ounces) rendered duck fat
- 8 cloves garlic, smashed
- 4 medium shallots, minced
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 whole cloves
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 star anise
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 lemon, strips of peel only
- 1 orange, strips of peel only
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the salt and pepper. Place the turkey legs in a large re-sealable bag and add the salt mixture. Shake around to coat the legs evenly and then seal bag and place in fridge overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add 1/4 cup duck fat. Remove the turkey legs from the bag and brush off excess salt. Add the turkey legs to the pot and brown all over, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Add the garlic and shallots and cook until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the thyme, cloves, rosemary, star anise, fennel seeds, cinnamon, lemon peel and orange peel and then pour over the remaining duck fat so the legs are completely covered.
- Bring to a gentle simmer (without boiling or frying), then remove from the heat, cover and place into the oven. Cook until the meat starts to fall off the bone, about 3 hours.
- Place the legs on a baking sheet. Shred the meat and serve. Reserve the fat and use it to cook gravy, French fries or roasted potatoes. If making ahead of time, remove the pot from the oven and set aside to allow the turkey to cool in the fat. Once cooled, place in the refrigerator overnight to completely chill. To serve, remove the turkey from the fat and crisp in a dry pan to heat through.
Reviews
I would love to give this 5 stars but I have to agree that it was way to much salt. Oils have salt already and then you add all the salt to the legs.. Total Salt Overload. I was so excited to try this and when it came out of the oven it smelled so good and the look was absolutely mouth watering and then I took a bite and had to spit it out. I make the turkey every year and really wanted to try something different I ended up making a putting the meat in a pan of hot water to try and soak up some of the salt then I put it back in the oven. That helped some but was still pretty salty. I honestly will try this again but use much less of the salt mix.
Too much salt!! Used 1/2 cup of KOSHER salt for 6 turkey legs and even though the meat fell off the bone after 3 hrs in oven, the meat was inedible due to the saltiness, ate stuffing and sweet potato fries instead and had to throw out the meat, what a shame! Will try again with only 1/4 of the salt!!
Do you think you could shred the turkey and crisp up the day of if you wanted to save on time and oven space?
Great turkey but very salty. Maybe the legs should be rinsed?
This is the best turkey ever! I’ve been doing it for 3 years now! This year I’m confiting a whole turkey in a turkey roaster using this recipe! This will be amazing. Do yourself and you’re guests a favor and get the duckfat and make this!
I thought this recipe was killer!!!!! My husband and I are avid hunters, including duck, so we painstakingly save our duck fat. We had enough to cover the searing of the legs, but not enough to complete the confit. So I ordered a 10 lb. bucket from D’Artagnan. Yes it was $50.00 but I am also having to pay $4.99 per lb. for good butter these days! I also only used about 10% of the fat, so I will just repackage the remaining fat, freeze it and have that luscious duck fat for the best ever fried potatoes. This year we hosted Thanksgiving and we cooked turkey 3 ways: Traditional which was succulent, brined and smoked wild turkey which we harvested and the confit. All three received rave reviews, but the confit disappeared!!!. Next year we do a family potluck (every other year) and I guarantee I will be buying up turkey legs next November and bringing a huge platter of this amazing dish!!!
If you want good food that everyone will love, make this recipe. One reviewer missed the instruction to season legs and refrigerate overnight for 8 hours so they were confused about cooking time. Another reviewer mentioned the cost of duck fat….it’s OK, you can use canola oil like I did. Guy mentioned that tip when he made this during his cooking show. This was easy and delicious and I will make the confit legs again to serve next to the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving. My guess is that the confit legs will go first. Don’t miss out on this!
It says cook for 3 hours. How do you have almost 12 hours total time?