Both the confit and grits can be precooked at home and brought to camp with the final prep being done out of a cooler with minimal effort. You’ll look like a chef and after a long day in the woods or on the water – this one is not only easy to heat up but will please even the bougiest of crowds.

Ingredients

• 2-12 duck legs
• Olive oil
• Bay leaf or preferred herbs
• 3 whole garlic
• 1 cup chopped green onion
• 1 cup shredded parmesan
• Whole lemon, sliced
• 1/4 stick butter
• 1 cup uncooked grits (soaked overnight)
• 4 cups water
• Salt

Prep

If time permits, this recipe is best when started the night before. Start by curing the duck and prepping the grits as explained in each recipe below. Finishing each the next day before putting it all together over an open flame.

Confit

For best results, cure the duck overnight in salt to draw moisture out and rinse later. If you skip this step,  salt the duck before slow cooking. Arrange the duck in a Dutch oven or other lidded baking pan, chop the ends off of whole garlic and add with bay leaf or fresh herbs of your choice for added flavor. Poke the skin on the legs to allow fat to run out of the skin. My pot had about ⅓ of the legs with skin still on so I added in quite a bit of olive oil, just covering the mid point of the legs. Slowly bake at 250-300 degrees in the oven until the meat is super tender and set aside. This will range from 3 – 6 hours depending on how much duck you’re cooking but if it’s not tender, don’t be afraid to go longer. 

1. Cure duck overnight in salt to draw out moisture, rinse after
   • 30 Minute Method: skip overnight cure and instead salt duck before slow cooking
2. Preheat oven to 250-300 degrees
3. Poke small holes in duck skin. This allows fat to run out during baking
4. Arrange duck in Dutch oven or lidded baking pan with bones
5. Chop ends off garlic. Add garlic and bay leaf or fresh herbs of choice to pot
6. Add olive oil to pot. Cover mid point of legs
7. Slowly bake in oven until meat is very tender (3-6 hours depending on quantity)
8. Set aside to cool for 45 minutes

Grits

Cooking grits is all about getting a high quality corn, a pre rinse/soak, and cooking them quick. Soaking overnight is best, and you’ll see hard bits flow to the top of the water, skim that off. Boil Grits with ½ tablespoon of salt in the water, stirring constantly. Simmer for 5 more minutes and cover off of the heat. Let the pan cool and the grits will continue to absorb liquid. Honestly you could substitute polenta in this recipe if you can’t find grits and it would still work. The difference is polenta uses yellow corn and grits is white hominy corn. Different but similar enough to sub in a pinch, and you can occasionally find precooked polenta in summer sausage looking tubes. It’s cheating but delicious. 

1. Soak grits overnight in water, skim hard bits from top in morning
2. Bring grits to boil with ½ tablespoon salt, stirring constantly
3. Turn down heat, simmer for 5 minutes
4. Remove from heat and cover, let pan cool. Grits will continue to absorb liquid
5. Set aside

Put it all together

1. Cook confit, let sit
2. Cook grits, let sit
3. Start fire, warm your cast iron
4. Add in confit fat and sear the skin on any duck legs until crisp
5. Add butter to pan, and sautee green onion lightly
6. Add grits and parmesan with some of the confit garlic and stir
7. Serve with grits in bowl, confit duck and garlic on top

Squeeze fresh lemon over the whole dish and spoon a tablespoon of extra confit fat over duck.