One of the greatest culinary magic tricks ever is making duck rillettes. You’ll think the finished spread has the fat content of the finest foie gras torchon even though the majority of the spread is made up of very lean duck flesh thanks to the emulsification process using a small amount of butter, duck fat, and duck gelatin. By the way, I long for torchon de foie gras.
| Prep Time: | 1 hr |
| Cook Time: | 5 hrs 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 day 13 hrs |
| Total Time: | 1 day 19 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 3 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper, or more to taste
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 12 cloves garlic
- 1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 orange, zested into thin strips
- 6 (1/4-inch-thick) slices fresh ginger
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 whole duck
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon brandy (such as Armagnac)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line a 9×13-baking dish with two pieces of aluminum foil.
- Make the spice rub: Stir kosher salt, pepper, and thyme together in a small bowl. Make the seasoning mix: Mix garlic, thyme sprigs, garlic, ginger, and bay leaves together in another bowl.
- Season duck all over, both inside and out, with about 2/3 of the spice rub. Fill the cavity with all of the seasoning mix. Place duck, breast-side up, into the prepared baking dish and season with remaining spice rub. Wrap duck tightly in aluminum foil.
- Roast in the preheated oven until meat pulls away from the bones, 5 to 6 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Cool duck with its accumulated juices, wrapped in aluminum foil, to room temperature, about 1 hour. Chill in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
- Pick meat from the bones and place into a bowl.
- Spoon all accumulated juices in the foil into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cook until hot throughout, about 5 minutes. Strain juices through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Let fat and stock separate, then 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 black pepper together in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Transfer to to a sealable container, press down, and drizzle a little duck fat over the top. Sprinkle thyme leaves, more black pepper, and orange zest over the top. Seal the container and refrigerate for the flavors to blend, 1 to 3 days.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 125 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 25 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 544 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
what is this and why does it look so nasty
I used Chef John’s recipe from a food wishes you tube video, which is very similar. The video is awesome, Chef John is quite the character. I’ve made this 2x now. Both amazing. I packed the rillettes into Mason jars topped with a layer of duck fat, sprinkled with chives & orange zest. It lasts for months in the refrigerator, the longer it sits, the more flavorful it becomes.
Geez is this good. And it’s really very easy – just time consuming. I wanted a recipe that used a whole duck since I had one in the freezer. Recipes that don’t call for just parts are pretty hard to find! Amazing how much flavor is imbued in the meat from the aromatics. I particularly love how the orange peel sneaks up at the end. Served with cornichons and grainy mustard. Drop dead perfect.
I’ve made this twice and it has come out better than each time. It’s really best if you let it sit in the fridge for a week. Great addition to a charcuterie/cheese board and stores for quite a while if you do frequent entertaining.
Astounding flavors! I followed this recipe to the letter and it was not as complex as it initially seems. The hardest part was gathering all of the ingredients and that wasn’t a big deal. Frankly, this is simply a roast duck that’s been mixed with some fabulous flavors and the process is nice t difficult. Try this at least once. You will be more than pleased! I’m hooked!
Astounding flavors! I followed this recipe to the letter and it was not as complex as it initially seems. The hardest part was gathering all of the ingredients and that wasn’t a big deal. Frankly, this is simply a roast duck that’s been mixed with some fabulous flavors and the process is nice t difficult. Try this at least once. You will be more than pleased! I’m hooked!
This stuff is great! I am preparing to make it my second time. We have a bunch of hoity-toity friends coming this weekend and they will love it. I have found that Chef John’s Crostini Dijonnaise are a perfect match for this spread. I try to follow Chef John’s recipes to the letter but somehow manage to forget something or fail to have an ingredient. This is one recipe that will forgive an inexperienced chef. Since I have all the grace of a seal peeling potatoes, I find the most challenging part of this recipe to be pulling the cooked meat from the bones. Last time I managed to get just under 24 ounces of meat from a six pound duck. This time I am shooting for 30 oz. If I can manage to find that much meat I’ll serve half to the invaders and hide the other half for later consumption. This spread lasts a long time in the fridge (if it is well hidden).