Nicholas Gavin is the Culinary Creative Director of ChefSteps, where he develops recipes and is responsible for making all the food look beautiful. Nick has worked at ChefSteps for over a decade; he and ChefSteps co-founder Grant Crilly worked together at Modernist Cuisine. Nick has worked in professional kitchens both in the United States and abroad, most notably at Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain.

Nicholas Gavin

It’s hard to beat a well-made duck confit. Rich, fork-tender meat encased in crisp, mahogany-hued skin, it’s in the running for the bistro classic G.O.A.T. race; for our money, it might even rival <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-steak-frites">steak frites</a>. The process for making duck confit is super simple: Lightly cure duck legs with salt; gently cook them in fat until tender; and crisp the skin. Getting these steps just right requires precision. Go too heavy on the seasoning and you’re left with hammy, salty confit. Confit the legs at too high a temperature and they turn dry and stringy. And, if you rush the crisping step, you risk tearing and burning the skin. Building off our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/brining-guide">poultry brining testing</a>, we settled on curing the legs with 1% salt for 24 to 36 hours. We dialed in the temperature of the duck fat at [f 195] to cook this confit, deviating from our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/easy-crispy-duck-leg-confit">sous vide confit</a>, which cooks at a lower temperature for a much longer time. Just like with sous vide, precise control allows to choose your preferred doneness for the confit—in this case by simply extending the cook time rather than changing the cook temperature. And when you can dial in the exact temperature of your pan for crisping the skin for serving, you’re guaranteed perfect results. It’s classic confit, without the guesswork and hassle of juggling a vat of hot duck fat in and out of the oven.

Precision Duck Confit