Duck Rillettes

Makes about 4 cups

IF YOU’RE WARY OF COOKING DUCK, consider rillettes your gateway drug. To make this spreadable pâté, duck legs are first cured with salt and spices, then submerged in duck fat and slowly cooked until the meat is silky and tender. You could stop there—confit duck legs can be carefully removed from the fat, seared, skin-side down, until the skin is crispy and the meat is warmed through, then served as a main course.

Or you can take one more small but worthy step and pull the confit meat from the bones, shred it, and combine it with pan juices and some of its cooking fat to make rillettes. What a snack! I like it best spread thick on toasted bread, maybe with a swipe of grainy mustard or a cornichon pickle on top.

Though this takes a few days to make, both the confit and the rillettes will keep, refrigerated, for up to 1 month.

3 tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 bay leaves, broken into pieces

4 whole duck legs

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 pounds (6½ cups) duck fat

Crackers or toasts, for serving

Grainy mustard, for serving

Cornichon pickles, for serving

In a small bowl, stir together the salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Arrange the duck legs in a rimmed baking dish large enough to accommodate them in a single layer and season on both sides with the salt mixture, using all of it. Tuck the sprigs of thyme around the duck. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 2 days. Remove the duck from the fridge, discard the thyme, rinse the legs under cold water, and set on a paper-towel-lined plate.

Preheat the oven to 200°F. Melt the duck fat in a large Dutch oven over low heat. Slip the duck legs into the melted fat (they should be completely submerged), cover the pot, and transfer to the oven. Cook until the duck is very tender and beginning to fall from the bone, about 2 to 2½ hours. Remove from the oven and carefully, with a slotted spoon, transfer the duck legs to a plate.

Let the fat cool to room temperature, then ladle it through a fine-mesh sieve into glass mason jars or other freezer-safe storage containers (quart-size yogurt containers are particularly handy), taking care not to disturb the pan juices that have sunk to the bottom of the pot.

Remove and discard the skin and bones from the duck and shred the meat. Transfer the meat to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Add ¼ cup of the pan juices from the bottom of the pan and mix on low speed. (Reserve the remaining juices, which are packed with ducky flavor; they will solidify once chilled and can be added to soups, beans, or pan sauces to boost flavor. If you don’t have an immediate use for the juices, they can also be frozen.) Add a few tablespoons of the duck fat and mix on low speed to combine. It’s possible to overmix, so exercise some caution; the mixture should be almost spreadable but the meat fibers shouldn’t be so broken down that it’s paste-like. Taste—it should be juicy and well seasoned. Add additional pan juices, fat, or salt as needed.

Pack the rillettes firmly into two wide-mouth pint jars, smoothing the top and leaving about an inch of space at the top of each jar. Set the jars on a rimmed baking sheet and carefully spoon or pour some of the reserved fat into each jar; the fat should completely cover the meat (if any of the meat is exposed to air, it will spoil, so make sure it’s covered with a thick layer of fat). The remaining duck fat can be refrigerated for up to a month or frozen for up to six; it can be used for multiple batches of duck confit or as a cooking medium for the world’s best roasted potatoes.

Cover the jars and transfer to the refrigerator. Duck rillettes will keep, refrigerated, for up to a month. To serve, let the rillettes come to room temperature. Serve with crackers or toasts (here), accompanied by grainy mustard and cornichon pickles.