CONFIT DUCK

To prepare, place salt, pepper, garlic, juniper berries, thyme and orange zest in a food processor, and process until all the ingredients are combined

Pat the duck legs dry with a paper towel or tea towel, and place them in a non-reactive dish to fit in a single layer. Coat each duck leg evenly with the salt. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to cure (at least 12 hours or, for best results, 24 hours)

To confit, preheat oven to 100C

Wipe the salt from the duck, rinse duck well and pat dry with paper towels. Place duck legs in a single layer in a casserole dish along with the bay leaves, then pour in the fat until duck legs are completely submerged. Cook duck in oven until very tender and just beginning to fall off the bone (3¼-3 ¾ hours), then leave in fat and cool completely to room temperature. (Duck confit can be done ahead and will keep refrigerated if completely submerged in fat for a month

)To cook, preheat oven to 200C

Remove duck from fat, scrape excess fat from duck, being careful not to break the skin. Heat a heavy-based ovenproof frying pan to a medium heat with a little of the duck fat, place the duck legs skin side down, and gently fry until lightly browned (4-5 minutes). Turn legs over and place in the oven to roast for 15 minutes until the duck legs are hot and the skin is crispy and golden brown

QUICK TIP:There are three steps to duck confit – salting, poaching and roasting and/or frying. It does require time, so begin preparing two days in advance. Confit will keep for a long period if completely submerged in the fat and refrigerated for up to one month. This recipe should give you enough salt to do a second batch