Turns out I didn't have enough duck fat after all. Who knew 800mL wouldn't be enough? Certainly not Chef Rob Feenie, whose Gold Medal Plates cooking competition 1st prize-winning recipe I half-used for the duck confit. It only called for 2 cups of the stuff...thank goodness I saved the 2 cups of chicken skin from the legs and breasts I used to make Almond Chicken Curry a few nights before the big duck confit dinner. I decided to render it as back-up...and to feel like I wasn't such a wimp.
To render duck fat, normally you would remove all the skin from a whole duck and purchase extra duck wings, as they are cheap and have the highest fat:meat ratio. The method below for rendering chicken fat is the same for rendering duck fat, which I would have done if someone would sell me whole ducks or wings in Toronto...I started with a large pot and large skillet so I could put the chicken skin in a single layer and render it evenly. Then I set it over low heat and went about my business for the day. Every hour I checked in to see how it was doing. Slowly, ever so slowly, more and more fat was releasing from the skin. After about 3 hours I got impatient and figured I'd have enough fat by now. So I strained the remaining skin and let the fat cool.
I really don't know if I rendered it long enough, because there was a fair bit of skin left over. I think I did it on low enough heat. All in all, not a bad rendering experience. I didn't have to skin a whole duck, but I'm a little proud of myself anyway. Hot duck fat didn't get everywhere. Nothin burned. Nothing spilled. Nothing got set on fire. A relatively painless experience. Next time, I dare you to sell me a whole duck, scary butcher from White House Meats...
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