Slow-Cooked Confit Duck Tacos

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These slow-cooked confit duck leg tacos include freshly pickled red onions, some

tangy crème fraiche, and fresh cilantro and lime!

Serves: 30 small-sized duck tacos (adjust scaling or portioning as desired).

Ingredients

For the Slow-Braised Confit Duck Tacos:

1.5 quarts vegetable oil (for cooking the duck legs)
2 Tbsp Kosher salt
48 oz 2.5 lbs whole, bone-in duck legs
2 large onions (quartered)
4 cloves garlic (left whole)
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of ¼ lime
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper (to taste)

For the Pickled Red Onions and Garnishes:

1 red onion (sliced into thin julienne sections (less than 1/8-inch thick))
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
60 baby 4-inch corn tortillas (two per serving, to prevent breakage)
*You can use one corn tortilla per serving if you like (or use flour tortillas here.)
1.5 cups crème fraiche (for serving)
¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves (for serving)
2 limes (cut into small wedges, for serving)

Instructions

Before braising the duck, salt the duck legs and let them sit overnight on wire racks on sheet trays in the fridge.
When you are ready to cook the duck, add the 1.5 quarts of vegetable oil to a large soup pot and add the salted duck legs and onion, ensuring you have enough oil to cover the contents.
Raise the temperature under the pot to medium, and wait until the oil reaches roughly 250˚F.
When the oil is at 250˚F, reduce the heat to low and continue to cook the duck legs at this temperature for roughly 3 or 3.5 hours, adding the garlic cloves during the final hour of cooking.
The braised duck legs are done cooking when they are completely fork-tender and are falling apart.
*Cook the meat at a temperature slightly below a simmer. This slow-cooking process can take up to 3 or 3.5 hours, depending on the size of the duck legs that you are cooking and the temperature of the oil that you cook them in.
Once the braised duck legs are cooked, allow them cool-down in the oil off-the- heat for roughly 60 minutes.
Once the duck legs have cooled, remove them from the liquid and place it in a large bowl.
Use your hands to separate the confit meat from the bones, and discard the bones. Set the contents aside and cover with tightly-fitting plastic wrap once cooled.
For the pickled red onions, simply combined the sliced red onion with the lime zest and lime juice and set aside.
When you are ready to serve, warm up the confit pulled duck leg meat until it is hot, and steam the mini corn tortillas and wrap them up in aluminum foil or covered with a kitchen towel.
Serve with two steamed corn tortillas per baby taco (to discourage breakage), and some of the pulled duck, along with some pickled red onions, crème fraiche, cilantro, and fresh lime juice, if desired.

Notes

The confit duck can be kept in the fridge submerged in oil for a few weeks. For best results, try to store the duck legs in the oil it was cooked in if you are trying to store it—this will act as a natural preservative layer and ensure the braised duck legs retain more of their moisture.