French cooking terminology makes everything seem way more complex than it actually is. French cuisine has set the bar at a very high level and because of that there are endless recipes using their terminology. For instance the term confit. It sounds fancy when it basically just means to preserve. The confit method of cooking and preserving is by storing or cooking food in fat or in something that inhospitable to bacterial growth. In the case of Confit Duck, it is almost 100% of the time referring to duck cooking in its own fat.
Cooking duck in duck fat makes the duck much more tender by essentially breaking down muscle fibers as anything acidic would do. Fat is fatty acid, so it works as a vinegar or citrus based marinade that would be used to make a tough cut more tender. The difference with tenderizing with duck fat is that it is absolutely delicious, and when preparing duck you want to accentuate the flavor of the duck as much as you possibly can.
Let’s get on with the preparing the Confit Duck Wings with Orange Marmalade Teriyaki recipe.
Start off by taking each duck wing and rubbing them with salt and sugar. Refrigerate them for 24 hours. This will act as a dry brine to help flavor and keep moisture in the duck wings while they cook.
Set your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the duck wings from the refrigerator, rinse them, and then pat them dry.
In a roasting pan, or braising pan, combine the duck fat, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, and peppercorns. This step is a way to flavor the duck fat while the wings are cooking in it. Place the duck wings into the duck fat, make sure the wings are completely covered by the duck fat. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for two hours and then remove the pan from the oven.
While your duck wings are cooking, this would be a perfect time to prepare the Orange Marmalade Teriyaki.
In a small sauce pot over medium heat, reduce the teriyaki sauce by half. After the teriyaki has reduced by half, add it to a mixing bowl with orange marmalade, grated or finely diced ginger, finely chopped scallions, toasted sesame seeds (bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes), and toasted and diced garlic (bake the cloves whole at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, adding a bit of oil helps them toast evenly).
If you are making this sauce the day of using it, add red pepper flakes to the sauce. If you are able to make this sauce in advance, or hours beforehand use a finely diced serrano pepper in place of the red pepper flakes. Set the sauce aside, you can refrigerate it but it is best at room temperature.
Raise your oven temperature to 400 degrees.
Remove the wings from the duck fat. Place the wings onto a baking sheet and roast the wings for an additional 20 minutes, or until the wings are very crispy.
Do not discard your duck fat, it can be used over and over again. You can use it to prepare more duck, or you can use it in place of butter or oil when cooking.
Once the wings are done getting crispy you can coat, dip, and/or drizzle the orange marmalade teriyaki sauce over the crispy wings. Garnish with a little bit of sesame seed and diced scallion/chive.
If the weather allows, grilling the wings after they are coated in the sauce is really tasty. The sugars in the sauce caramelize and it takes the wings into another dimension of flavor. With or without grilling these confit duck wings and this orange marmalade teriyaki will be one that you come back to year after year.
Confit Duck Wings with Orange Marmalade Teriyaki
Ingredients
Duck Wings
- 24 Duck Wings
- 6 tbsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 4-6 cup Duck Fat Enough to Cover Wings
- 2 Sprigs Rosemary
- 4 Bay Leaves
- 8 Cloves Garlic
- 24 Peppercorns
Orange Marmalade Teriyaki
- ½ cup Orange Marmalade
- 1 cup Teriyaki
- 2 tsp Ginger
- 1 tbsp Scallions
- 1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seed
- 2 Cloves Toasted Garlic
- 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flake or ½ Serrano Chili Pepper
Instructions
Duck Wings
- Start by rubbing the duck wings with salt and sugar and then refrigerate for twenty-four hours.
- Set the oven to 275 degrees.
- Rinse the wings and pat them dry. In a pan, combine the duck fat, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, and peppercorns. Place the wings into the duck fat, make sure the wings are completely covered by the duck fat. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for two hours.
- Set the oven to 400 degrees.
- Remove the wings from the duck fat (let the fat cool and save it for other recipes). Place the wings onto a baking sheet and cook the wings for an additional twenty minutes, or until the wings are very crispy.
Orange Marmalade Teriyaki
- In a small sauce pot, reduce the teriyaki sauce by half. After it is cooked down add it to a mixing bowl with the orange marmalade, ginger, scallions, sesame seeds, and toasted garlic and stir with a whisk.
- If you are making this day of, use red pepper flakes. You can make this recipe in advance, if so, place a half of a serrano chili pepper in instead of the red pepper flakes.
- You can either toss the wings in the sauce or use it as a dipping sauce, or both. Because of the sugar in the sauce, the wings will escalate even further if you are able to grill the wings after they are sauced, allowing the sugars to caramelize.