Something was gonna get a-rendered...

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...

Rendering Duck Fat

I knew it would happen. I forgot the duck fat. It’s sitting in my freezer in Montreal and I am sitting on a train. Looks like I’ll be rendering some duck fat in Toronto. Fortunately there’s a meat place in St. Lawrence Market that specializes in wild game, and they seem to be the only place that sells duck. Hopefully that means they sell a lot of it and it’s very good, and hopefully this doesn’t just mean that the market for duck is very small. In Montreal’s Atwater market I walked into 5, yes 5, consecutive meat shops and found rendered duck fat in every single one. In most you could also buy pre-packaged duck confit, ready to be slipped in the oven for 15 minutes. The ultimate in luxury and convenience. In Toronto I’d be worried. They may not understand my need for 4 cups of duck fat. “Pork? Would I like some pork?” they’ll say. “It’s just as bad for you, if not worse, and that’s obviously what you’re after.” I am making neither rillettes nor paté. Give me no bacon, sausage or cured piglet, sir or madam.

I will cross my fingers and hope this butcher has duck wings. I will bargain with him. Certainly I’ll need to call in advance. What else is he possibly going to do with all his duck wings but give them to me? There aren’t enough French restaurants in the city with duck confit on the menu for him to trick me into spending buckets of money. In fact, I know that 500mL of duck fat costs exactly $5.00 in just about every store in Quebec, and I know that this is over-priced. Take out the labour cost and I’m looking at a lot of cheap duck wings.

These wings will be cooked for an excruciatingly long period of time over low heat. Then the fat will be sieved (I am currently traveling with my sieve…this I did remember. Go figure). Then this (hopefully) perfectly-rendered fat will be poured over the duck legs, which will have been sitting in the fridge covered in salt and other spices, waiting patiently all day to drown.

I will be glad I forgot the duck fat in Montreal because it will be such an educational experience. Oh please, please, please don’t mess this up, self.