ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

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If there is one thing we all know to be true, it’s that the French do it better. Fried potatoes, bulldogs, toast, kissing—you name it, and the French have perfected it. All right, so maybe not all of these things are actually French, but they still have a certain je ne sais quoi—just like this duck confit recipe.Duck confit, named for the French word for “preserved,” is a specialty of Gascony, a region in southwestern France where duck cooked in its own fat is a central ingredient in the signature local dish, cassoulet. Traditionally, confit is made through a centuries-old preservation process that involves salt-curing a piece of meat and then cooking it in its own fat. In this recipe, we season the legs aggressively with a salt-sugar cure before cooking them sous vide, letting them marinate in their own delicious juices. Once they’re nice and tender, we finish the skin under the broiler. The result? Fork-tender, moist-as-all-get-out duck with the crispiest, crunchiest skin you’ve ever seen. C’est du gâteau!