I think it is probably hard to convey, in writing, exactly how giddy this photo makes me. Do you see that beautiful, clear, golden liquid? That’s duck fat. Otherwise known as, “one of the most delicious substances you could possibly ever consume.” Also known as, “nearly impossible to find without paying a fortune.” Finally, known as, “the substance Katy is so in love with that her parents worry she will die of a heart attack at 26.”
Heart heath aside, I am so incredibly excited to have this little jar in my fridge (and two others in my freezer). And I am extra, extra, extra excited to share it with all of you! So let me start at the beginning.
Sometime in early 2008, I came to the conclusion that many dishes, be they vegetable, soup, or sauce, could be improved with a richer, more flavorful cooking fat. I like olive oil as much as the next girl, and I’ll use butter on occasion, but I was intrigued with the idea of cooking with other types of fat. I experimented with sesame oil, dabbled in truffle oil, but finally I realized what my dishes were lacking: duck fat.
So, I started looking. None of the grocery stores in my neighborhood sell duck, except in the prepackaged D’Artagnan ziplocs — no duck fat scraps to be had there. But in the back of my mind, I remembered the meat sellers at the farmer’s market. If you can buy a duck breast or leg at the farmer’s market, I figured, the rest of the bird is pretty likely to be for sale as well (the same is probably true of a good butcher, if there’s not a farmer’s market near you).
Sure enough, the following Saturday, I asked at the farmer’s market if the duck meat vendor had any fat for sale. The man gave me a curious look, and said, “we don’t bring it every week, but if you give me your name a week in advance, I can take an order.” I gleefully gave him my name, and asked for a pound of duck fat. And as I was about to walk away, he called out, “I’ll just get you the actual fat — you’ll have to render it yourself, is that ok?”
Brightly, I responded, “of course!” Inwardly, I thought to myself, “um, what is rendering, exactly?” And, I will admit, I was a little bit intimidated when I was handed this:
Somehow that is not exactly the culinary delicacy that I had in mind. But after a little bit of research, I did figure out how cooks render what’s pictured here into that gorgeous golden liquid that one can actually cook with.
And now I’m going to share it with you, because it’s actually quite simple.
Take the fat from the animal, and put it in a flying pan. Cover it with about 2 cups of water per pound of fat, so that the fat is entirely submerged in water. Turn the heat on the burner as low as you possibly can, and just barely simmer for about 60 or 90 minutes, until the water has cooked off and you are left with a beautiful golden fat.
Here’s what it looks like after about five minutes:
After fifteen minutes:
After forty five minutes:
When it starts to look as though the simmer is dying down, watch the fat very, very carefully. It should be a warm golden color, with little lighter-colored bubbles emerging from the center of the pan where the heat is strongest (the water). As there is less and less water, those bubbles will become closer and closer to a boil, and the remaining liquid will turn a darker golden. Eventually, the boiling bubbles will suddenly become much smaller, just back to a bare simmer, which means all the water is gone. At that point, remove the fat from the heat immediately — if you burn the fat, it’s useless and you have to start all over.
In my (humble) opinion, it’s better to have a slighly watery duck fat than to lose a whole batch that you burned, so once it hits the right color and the bubbles start to die down, you’re done.
Next, let the fat cool in a heat-proof container, uncovered, for about fifteen minutes. When it has cooled slightly, strain it through a fine mesh strainer at least three times, and pour it into a small glass container or two.
Allow to the rendered fat to cool, uncovered, for about 2 hours at room temperature, than transfer to the refigrator for 24 hours (it will solidify again). After 24 hours, move any containers that you plan to freeze to the freezer.
My pound of duck fat made about 1 cup of rendered fat. It will keep several months in the refigerator or up to a year in the freezer.
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36 responses so far ↓
1 Sarah // Mar 20, 2008 at 8:28 am
Congrats on your duck fat rendering!
Looking forward to seeing what you decide to use it for!
2 adele // Mar 20, 2008 at 8:31 am
Glorious.
What are you planning to cook?
3 katy // Mar 20, 2008 at 8:51 am
I’ve already used it to saute a mixture of black salsify, parsnips and shallots — I only used a teaspoon and it was still so incredibly rich! The photos are a little unspectacular (it was 9 pm and the light in my apartment is miserable), but it was delicious!
4 Kitt // Mar 20, 2008 at 10:11 am
Wow, that’s ambitious! And what a payoff. Bravo!
5 Jami Leigh // Mar 20, 2008 at 10:50 am
It’s posts like these that make me thankful for my feed reader! Oh, and I loved the pictures as well.
6 Jen (Modern Beet) // Mar 20, 2008 at 11:33 am
Fantastic post! I’ve never cooked with duck fat before, but I see it every week at the farmer’s market (already rendered, for $26/pint!). Question: does it taste ‘gamey’ at all?
7 Deborah // Mar 20, 2008 at 11:49 am
Since I think I’d have a hard time even finding fresh duck anywhere close by, this might remain a dream for now. Hopefully that will change!!
8 katy // Mar 20, 2008 at 11:50 am
Jen — I really didn’t think it did at all, but I’ll let you know once I’ve experimented further. Also, I love duck so much that I’m probably a terribly biased judge!
9 Ann // Mar 20, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I’m temporarily speechless with admiration and envy.
*pause*
Okay, I’m not over it, but I can make words now:
WOW!
COOL!
OMG!
I am so going to try that. Just as soon as I hunt me down some fat.
10 Jessica // Mar 20, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Wow that is quite interesting! I love the golden color.
11 mimi // Mar 20, 2008 at 4:16 pm
i have never eaten duck - can you believe it? but those jars of duck fat look amazing!!! i can’t wait to hear about all the yummy things you make with it!
12 Cynthia // Mar 20, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Pure gold love huh?
13 Kitt // Mar 20, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Hey Katy, I saw you posted on Bittman’s blog. Did you notice they removed a whole bunch of comments referring to the missing instructions (but which also commented on the recipe)? But not all of them. Lame …
14 Donald // Mar 21, 2008 at 6:27 am
Katy:
Nicely done. I too was iching to get some duck fat. I found it on Amazon for the costly $13 a cup!!!! So, I did something even better. I roasted a duck. It yielded almost 13 ounces of fat! Tis in a mason’s jar in the fridge. It whispers to me every time I open the door!
15 MyKitchenInHalfCups // Mar 21, 2008 at 7:47 am
I can see why your excited. I’ve seen duck fat talked about more and more places. Clarity in a fat is a beautiful thing. Now I’m very interested to see what get flavored with it.
16 emily // Mar 21, 2008 at 8:53 am
I don’t really know what to say…is it wierd to say that it looks gorgeous? I’m impressed by your enthusiasm, worried for your arteries, and excited to see what you make/improve with your katy-rendered duck fat. go on skype!!
17 Helen // Mar 21, 2008 at 9:30 am
Mmmmmmm, duck fat! I love it too. It looks like a pale olive oil or honey in the picture. I never thought of just rendering some down and keeping it as a cooking fat before, nice idea. I bet it adds such richness and flavour to everything. Careful, you might get addicted!
18 katy // Mar 21, 2008 at 9:07 pm
You guys make me so happy!!! I’m so glad that others share my duck fat excitement.
Now I will have to come up with some great recipes for you all!!!
19 Paz // Mar 21, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Wow! Very cool! Great job!
Paz
20 Jaime // Mar 21, 2008 at 11:25 pm
wow, how cool! who woulda thunk?
21 Elle // Mar 22, 2008 at 8:44 am
Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful, isn’t it?
22 Steve // Mar 22, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Katy that is truly inspiring, I’ve longed to do the same thing. I am reinvigorated to seek out duck fat … wow, that’s a funny statement. Anyway, I’m looking forward to cooking “confit” style and can’t wait to try your technique.
23 Zenchef // Mar 22, 2008 at 5:27 pm
haha!…You’re my hero!
That’s was a pretty brave attempt, i’m sure you didn’t know what you were getting into when you first ordered it.
Well done! Now have fun.
24 Mark // Mar 23, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Try goose fat for the ultimate. I have a great recipe around here using goose, chestnut stuffing said goose was stuffed with, goose pan gravy with plenty of goose fat made into, wait for it, a croquette. I made them cylindrical and deep fried them to a golden brown. Once you try goose fat, you never go duck.
25 Cakespy // Mar 23, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Well Miss Katy, you have made rendering duck fat seem sexy. Damn! You are one saucy vixen.
26 núria // Mar 24, 2008 at 11:45 am
How interesting… Mmmmm. I’ll have to try this one!!! Whenever I cook duck I’m always careful to take the fat away… but you are true this must give such a special taste to your dishes.
Thanks Katy!
27 Claudia (cook eat FRET) // Apr 3, 2008 at 3:29 pm
great job!!!
i love the stuff myself…
28 Sausage and Egg Sandwich | sugarlaws // Apr 7, 2008 at 7:34 am
[...] How to Render Duck Fat [...]
29 dave // Apr 9, 2008 at 1:07 am
duck fat is the necessary ingredient for perfect roast potatoes
30 Terry B // Apr 10, 2008 at 1:04 pm
A great post! Although I have to agree with Donald: The best way to get duck fat is by roasting a duck! You can also just roast or pan sear duck breasts and get a decent amount of duck fat to play with.
31 miki // Apr 18, 2008 at 4:19 am
thats so funny. I just roasted a duck yesterday and had cups of duck fat that I threw away because I didn’t want it. Next time, I’ll keep in mind that someone might want it.
32 Chez US // Apr 18, 2008 at 7:40 am
Great post. Love duck fat! I had a hard time finding it out in San Francisco, too, I did end up finding it at Wholefoods (there must be one in NY) and also at a “local” butcher, Golden Gate Meat Company - there has to be a good local butcher in New York, that sells it. Or a french food shop - it is used in tons of french recipes.
33 Ian // Apr 18, 2008 at 10:41 am
Wonderous stuff, duck fat. Here’s a tip for taking it to the next level. Find yourself some smoked duck that still has skin on. Render that fat for a pork-free bacon flavor whenever you want!
Here’s the producer my favorite grocer carries:
http://www.nueskes.com/products/poultry/Smoked_Whole_Duck.cfm
34 Terry B // Apr 18, 2008 at 11:38 am
Oh! And I forgot to mention that one delicious use of this liquid gold is roasted fingerling potatoes!
35 Celine // Apr 18, 2008 at 12:29 pm
This fat looks delicious– I wish I had some in my fridge! Your blog is beautiful, this is the first time I’ve seen it. I have (a more amateur) one too and know how hard they are to keep up.
36 mattogier // May 15, 2008 at 8:27 am
I use rendered fat to confit whole duck or goose leggs and the legs of my Turkey at Xmas.
First rub the meat with a mix of flacked salt, pepper , garlic and, say, thyme. Leave in fridge for 48 hours rerubbing at 24 hours.
Brown meat off in a fry pan then into a dish and cover with the fat - bake at 120 deg C for 2 - 3 hours until the meat is falling off the bone.
The fat can be re-rendered and filtered and stored in the fridge and/or the meat can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks covered in fat.
To serve the meat scrape off excess fat (and re-render) and flash it in a very hot oven to heat through and crisp up the skin.
Can be shredded from the bone and served like Chinese duck or with a split pea and peppercorn pure - Thanks to Hugh FW for initial River Cottage recipe.
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