Great Taste Coaster

I’ve always heard how chefs rave about duck fat and it’s properties. I never quite understood it until I finally got the nerve to buy some duck confit at market from Carr’s. Duck confit is a ridiculously time consuming and messy three hour process of cooking and preserving duck, and I would never want to do it at home. Fortunately for me Carr’s has great chefs who do it for you. So I got myself a duck leg (very affordable by the way), and took it home.

So all over the leg is a soft white almost toothpaste like layer of fat and skin. So I get out a cast iron skillet and start frying up some pommes sarladaise which is just French for duck fat fried diced potatoes and onions. The end result was the most amazing hash brown experience ever. The fat immediately liquified in the skillet and the potatoes just soaked up all that fatty goodness and crisped up in a way that vegetable oil, crisco, or any other fat simply can’t. Duckfat is like cooking with lard on steroids. The potatoes were locally grown yukon golds, and the lettuce is also locally grown arugula from Coulton’s organics.

Here’s my finished plate. I don’t do well with presentation. I garnished with locally grown parsley and beets. ( I think beets are some of the most underrated seasonal and local foods available.) The beets are also fried in you guessed it, duck fat.