Pheasant-leg confit with bay and juniper

Save up a bag of legs over the season then make this French-inspired recipe in a big batch, says Philippa Davies. Serves four.

Pheasant-leg confit with bay and juniper

Ingredients

Salt cure

• 4 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp rosemary
• 1 orange, zest only
• 1 tbsp juniper
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 50g coarse sea salt
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium shallots, peeled and roughly chopped

Pheasant

• 8 pheasant legs
• 600g goose or duck fat, melted

Method

1. For the salt cure, put the bay, rosemary, orange zest, juniper, peppercorns and salt in a blender and then blitz. Add the garlic and shallots, and mix a little more.
2. Rub each leg in the salt cure and place in a dish. Cover and chill for 4 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 120°C fan/Gas Mark 1.
4. Brush the salt off the legs and briefly rinse in cold water. Pat dry.
5. Place in a single layer in a baking dish and pour over the fat. Cover with baking parchment and cook on a low shelf for 3-4 hours or until the meat is tender. Note: these can be eaten straight away or left to cool and stored in the fat. If covered with fat, they should last a few weeks. To reheat, remove from the fat and roast in a preheated 200°C fan/Gas Mark 7 oven for 20 minutes or until hot.