How to Make Duck Croquettes from State Bird Provisions
If you have not been to State Bird Provisions in the Fillmore neighborhood of SF, it is definitely worth the effort to make a reservation a month+ in advance. I mean, they did get best new restaurant in America in 2012. But is it actually worth that much of a hassle? Yes.
I honestly didn’t go there for a while because I usually try to avoid the hype, because it normally disappoints. I remember going to Al’s Place after that won Bon Appetite Best New Restaurant and I was pretty underwhelmed with my experience. I just kind of figured that State Bird would be another one of those places to eventually burn the flame out. But, to this day, it is still hard to get a reservation unless you book months in advance and people are constantly going back, for good reason.
Okay… deep breathes. Jumping straight into the deep end. State Bird Provisions is not exactly known for simple preparations, in fact quite the opposite. I was flipping around the SBP cookbook thinking about what on Earth to start with and knew right away when I saw this recipe. These beauties are basically deep fried duck confit cheese balls wrapped in a Michelin Star. Uhhhh yes please!
For this dish, the prep is definitely intimidating considering the multi day effort, long ingredient list, and new techniques to be used. I mean, have I ever confit’d something? Nope. Have I ever made duck at home? Nope. Have I ever cured any meat? Still no. Do I know what Verjus is? Nope. No need to worry though, time to learn.
Anyways, let’s get cooking…
First thing you should find is duck legs. You will need to cure the legs for 2 days (I am going to do one to fit it in on the weekend). Living in a big city, duck is not too hard to find given there are a ton of different butcher shops around the city; I found some a short drive away at Guerra Meats on Taraval for $12.99/lb (it’s typically 2 legs/lb). If you are unsure of where to find duck legs, you may need to go to a specialty store, or call around to a few different places who can easily make an order for you. The recipe calls for 3lbs, I am going to use 2lbs.
Quick note – what does it mean to cure? Curing comprises of various food preservation and flavoring techniques used with the addition of salt to remove moisture from that meat. It also is used to enhance the flavor of the meat through other techniques such as brining, or smoking, which still fall under curing.
Well, let’s get started.
Cookbook – Statebird Provisions
Recipe – Duck Confit Croquettes with Cheese and Raisin Verjus
Step 1 – Curing the duck legs
Step 1 ingredients:
- Duck Legs – recipe calls for 3lbs, I got 2lbs since I am cheap and this is expensive – It says that 3lbs will make 25 balls btw.
- Cure = 3tbsp Salt, 2tbsp, 2tsp Sugar, 1.5tsp Pepper
- Rosemary – 3 Springs
- Thyme – 9 Springs
- Shallot – 1 Coarsely chopped
- Garlic – 6 Cloves smashed
Steps – Place the aromatics (rosemary, thyme, shallot, and garlic) on a plate. Place the duck legs on top, and evenly pour on the curing mixture. Cover with parchment or plastic wrap and put in your fridge for 1-2 days (again, recipe calls for two days, I am doing one since I want to make these for the weekend). Place weight on top of them, recipe says about 8lbs, or a few beer cans should do the trick! The fridge might smell a little interesting also…
Step 2 – Do the confit
Step 2 Ingredients:
- Fat – Soooo normally duck confit is made in duck fat. However, buying rendered duck fat is $$$$. So we are going to use olive oil for ours.
Steps – Pre heat the over to 300F. Taking out the legs from the fridge, briefly rinse the aromatics off and pat dry. Place the legs in an over safe pan or dish. If using a large pot/dutch oven or pan, we can start pour the oil directly into the cookware we are using. Heat the oil on the stovetop to where you can see the oil starting to bubble, then place the covered pot/dish into the oven for three hours.
Step 3 – Make the Raisin Verjus
Step 3 Ingredients:
- Raisins – 1 Cup
- Verjus Rouge – 1 Cup
- Red Wine – 1/4 Cup
- Water – 1/4 Cup
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Grapeseed Oil – 1 Tbsp
- Fresh Ground Pepper – 4 turns
- Blender/immersion blender
While you are waiting or after you have taken the legs out of the oven, feel free to start on the sauce. Put the raisins, verjus, and red wine in a sauce pan on medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Transfer the mixture to a blender, add the water, salt, oil, pepper, and blend until smooth. Set aside and briefly heat up before use.
Side note – I don’t expect everyone to have verjus just hanging around at their house, I certainly didn’t. It is also not easy to come by online either as it seems there is basically one brand that makes verjus rouge. If you can’t find it, add a little more wine, and boil it down, it’ll still taste good. Also i really fucked this part up and had some seriously clean up because I was going to use my food processor because I don’t have a regular blender. Well, turns out it’s not exactly air tight to liquid, so that wine mixture went all over me and the kitchen, so I pretended nothing went wrong while the girlfriend is playing Animal Crossing on the other side of the wall. Pro Tip – follow instructions and use a blender or I eventually used an immersion blender and covered the jar with a paper towel when using it.
Step 4 – Fry Time
Step 4 ingredients –
- Large eggs – 3
- Thyme – 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Fresh pepper
- 5 1/2 ounces cheese – Recommends Wagon Wheel from Cowgirl Creamery, but I couldn’t find that. Also suggests a young fontina, provolone, or comte. I ended up using a gruyere.
- Breadcrumbs – 1 cup – fairly fine
- All purpose flour – 1/2 cup
- Fryer oil – I typically use canola oil
- Salt
- Scallions – 1/2 cup
Ok, almost done and here is the fun part. Start to remove the legs from the cooled oil. Take off the skin, and place the meat in a bowl, discard the bones. Finish the legs. The meat tastes ridiculous at this point already, definitely try some. When you are done taking off the meat, crack in 1 egg, and the thyme, mix together while shredding the meat even more. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
While the meat is cooling, start getting the final step ready. Pour oil into what you are going to use to fry and turn on the heat, goal is 325 F. I personally use a 20qt stock pot to eliminate splatter, feel pretty darn safe while using it, and eliminates a majority of the mess of using something with smaller side walls. Indoor at home fryers can also be bought for very cheap. Next, have an individual bowl for the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs. Also start cutting up cheese into small squares.
Quick note – the recipe stated this could make 25 balls if using 3lbs of duck. I used two and got 10, so mine must have been quite big comparatively, but it recommends to cut the cheese into 3/4 inch squares, which is pretty big. So I kind of call bullshit on the amount you can get, but also feel free to try and cut the cheese slightly smaller than what you might think.
After the duck comes out, start rolling into balls while putting a piece of cheese in the middle, set aside on a plate or baking dish or what ever you want. Once done, we can start getting them ready for the fryer. Dip the ball into the flour, then the egg, and then into the breadcrumbs. Make sure it is as coated as possible, and set onto a dish close by the fryer. Once the fryer is at ~325 F, start dropping a few at a time with a slotted spoon to start cooking, do this in batches and do not crowd the pot. Should be around 3-4 minutes, mine were on the faster side of that. When golden brown, remove on a dryer rack or plate with paper towels. Season with salt.
Well that’s basically it. Plate and enjoy how ridiculously amazing this recipe is! Please leave your thoughts and questions below!
And for the ratings…
- Difficulty of ingredients to find – 5/5 stars – A few special trips to stores. Verjus is weirdly hard to find, and same with duck sometimes
- Perceived difficulty going into recipe – 4/5 stars – This is going to take some effort
- Difficulty after recipe – 3.8/4 stars – Not terribly hard, but does take some effort
- Time taken – 5/5 stars – More than 4 hours
- Taste – 5/5 stars – Amazing dish, would make again in a heartbeat
- Make again – 3/5 stars – I am kind of torn on this one, I would make it again easily, but realistically I would only make for another special occasion
