LinsFood | by Azlin Bloor

In-Depth Recipes, Food Culture & Food Stories

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Categories
      • Amuse-Bouches, Canapés and Starters
      • Cookies
      • Desserts
      • Dips, Sauces and Gravy Recipes
      • Eggless Recipes (Desserts & Baking)
      • Birthday and Occasion Cakes and Cupcakes
      • Cheese (Types and Recipes)
      • Gluten Free
      • Healthy Recipes
      • Meat Recipes
      • Noodle Recipes from around the World
      • Rice Recipes from around the World
      • Salad Recipes
      • Soups and Stews from around the World
      • Seafood
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
    • Seasonal Recipes
      • Winter Recipes
      • Spring Recipes
      • Summer Recipes
      • What's in Season Now?
      • Autumn (Fall) Recipes
    • Festive Recipes
      • Chinese New Year Recipes
      • Valentine's Day Recipes
      • Nowruz Recipes (Persian New Year)
      • Easter Recipes
      • Ramadan Recipes from around the World
      • Eid Recipes from around the World
      • Thanksgiving Recipes
      • Christmas Recipes from around the World
    • Collections
      • Alcoholic Drinks
      • Alcohol Free Drinks
      • Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
      • Cake Decorating 101
      • Fine Dining
      • Gin Recipes
      • Pantry Recipes
      • The Chilli Pepper Page
      • Top 12 Chicken Recipes
  • World Cuisines
    • American
    • British Recipes
    • Burmese Recipes
    • Chinese Recipes
    • East and West African Recipes
    • Eastern and Central European Recipes
    • French Recipes
    • South Asian Recipes (India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka)
      • Kashmiri Recipes
    • Indonesian Recipes
    • Italian Recipes
      • Risotto Masterclass
    • Japanese Recipes
    • Korean Recipes
    • Latin American Recipes
    • Middle Eastern and North African Recipes
      • Persian Recipes
      • Tagine Masterclass
    • What is Singapore and Malaysian Food?
    • Spanish Recipes
    • Thai Recipes
    • Turkish Recipes
    • Vietnamese Recipes
  • Reference
    • Ingredients

      Ingredients
    • The Edible Garden

      The Edible Garden
    • What’s In Season?

      What's In Season?
    • Oven/Cooking Conversions

      Oven/Cooking Conversions
  • Travel
  • Media
  • About
    • About Me

      About Me
    • Online Cooking Courses

      How to cook noodles
    • My Cookbooks

      Singapore Recipes

How to Make Potted Duck (Rillettes de Canard)

Published 29/10/2018, updated 19/12/2019 23 Comments

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe
Potted Duck close up, on a fork (Rilettes de Canard)
Potted Duck (Rilettes de Canard)
Potted Duck (Rilettes de Canard)
Potted Duck on toast

Potted Duck, or Rillettes de Canard, is like pâté. Duck legs are slow cooked, then the meat is chopped or shredded, seasoned heavily, and potted up into little containers. Perfect as a starter during any festive season.

It’s one of those recipes that I look forward to making every year, when the temperatures start to drop. It’s funny really, because it’s a dish for any season, as far as I’m concerned. And duck is something we can get all year round too.

But, some recipes just taste so much better when you cook them seasonally! And game season generally starts in September here in the UK. Just one of the many reasons I love autumn!

Having grown up in Singapore, the whole seasonal cooking thing still gets me very excited! Even after a quarter of a century in the UK!

Following close on the heel of summer time and autumnal fruit and vegetable preserving, is potting, a totally different type of preserving, and in this instance, meat.

What is Potted Duck?

Or potted meat, for that matter.

Before the advent of refrigeration, food was preserved in so many different ways. It was:

  • pickled
  • sweetened
  • salted and spiced
  • buried underground

And sometime in the 16th century, people discovered that meat could be made to last longer if it was “potted up” and covered with a layer of clarified butter.

Potting up meat for the purpose of preserving it, is an old custom in many cultures. See my article on:

Khlea, the Moroccan Preserved Meat

Khlea, Moroccan preserved meat

Here, in the UK, and indeed elsewhere in Europe, we’ve been doing it for many centuries. Cooking meat, then potting it up before covering it with a layer of fat became all the rage in the 17th and 18th centuries, and not only did it make the meat and even fish, go further, but it also became a new way of serving up food.

Cooks potted up all sorts of meat: beef, venison, poultry, seafood and parts of the animal like tongue, which was extremely popular with many.

Potted meat is a fantastic starter for anytime of the year, but there is just something so classy about serving these little pots of meat up during the festive season. And the best thing is, despite the fact that they look very impressive, potted meats are very, very simple to make.

Eliza Acton, in her Book of Modern Cookery, published in 1845, says:

Any tender, and well-roasted meat, taken free of fat, skin and gristle, as well as from the dry outsides, will answer for potting admirably, …

In fact, there is no reason why, you can’t make potted meat with any leftover roast. Although here, you would probably have to pulse the meat in a chopper to break it down to a soft, pâté stage. More of this later.

Potted Duck in a glass jar with toast
Some stewed apples or chutney is always good with it

Potted Duck Recipe

All you need is some slow cooked, and well cooked, duck legs, where the meat is meltingly tender. This is how we make potted duck:

  1. Marinate and salt the duck overnight
  2. Brown some duck legs in a little duck fat (or oil)
  3. Cover with white wine (optional) and water and cook for 3-4 hours on the stove (or in the oven)
  4. Shred the meat, season
  5. Place in small ramekins or jar, cover with the cooking fat from earlier
  6. Place in the fridge overnight and it’s ready to be eaten

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

Is Potted Duck (Duck Rillettes) the same as Rillettes de Canard?

Yes. I find the main difference is the method in which the duck is cooked.

  • The French like to simmer their duck meat on the stove. And in a whole lot of duck fat and some liquid.
  • The Brits like to roast their meat in said duck fat and liquid.

I feel that simmering the meat gives you meat that is just that little bit tender and flavoursome. And that’s the method I use.

Also, I’m only using a fraction of the duck fat generally used when making duck rillettes. Because it doesn’t need it, as far as I’m concerned.

Here is an interesting and enjoyable article on Rillettes de Canard and memories of Canada, from Monika and Petar of TravelWorldOnline.

Duck Confit
Duck Confit

Quick Potted Duck Recipe

If you are making potted duck with duck meat roasted in the oven, the initial method is similar to making Confit de Canard. So you could, if you really, really must, start with shop bought Duck Confit. I’m sure most supermarkets and many delis will sell them these days.

Then just shred and pot up.

Potted Duck Texture

Speaking of shredding the meat, many people like their rillettes or potted meat to be as smooth as pâté. To that end, they often place it in a food chopper. The danger here is over processing it and getting a rubbery mix. If you do want to use a chopper for shredding your cooked duck, be sure to use the pulse action.

I much prefer my duck rillettes to have texture, and so I use 2 forks to shred the meat up, and also to “beat in” the seasoning.

Potted Duck close up, on a fork (Rilettes de Canard)
How I like it – almost emulsified, but with texture

Season, Season, Season your Potted Meat

This is perhaps the most crucial part of potting up your meat; the seasoning. You want to be heavy handed with your salt and pepper, as well as the cooking liquid and fat.

You will see from the recipe here, that I’ve gone for minimal flavours, letting the duck speak (quack?) for itself. I’ve refrained from the popular French quatre épices (4 spices – which is just pepper, nutmeg, cloves and ginger), juniper berries, mace, mixed spice, etc.

But go ahead and add a pinch here, a pinch there, when you are shredding the duck meat. Just remember to taste as you go along.

The cooking liquid and fat (that the duck legs were cooked in) is where all the flavour is, and is also what is going to keep your meat moist. So be liberal with it.

  • Once you’ve taken your duck out of the liquid, you can skim off as much of the fat as possible and set aside in a bowl.
  • Then drain the remaining liquid, and throw away all the solids.
  • Then add the liquid and fat to the meat as you are shredding and mixing. But be sure to keep enough of the fat to cover your potted up meat.
  • If you run out of fat, just top your meat with some melted butter. You want fat that will harden in the fridge to create a solid barrier between the meat and air.

What to do with the Leftover Potted Duck Fat and Liquid?

Skim off as much of the fat as possible and store them separately in clean containers, in the fridge. The fat, I would store for up to 1 week, the jelly, no more than 2 days. You could, of course, also freeze both.

Use the duck fat for roasting potatoes or for frying up anything!

The liquid, which will thicken to a jelly like consistency, can be used to flavour soups, sauces and even curries. In fact, if you are making any flavoured rice, couscous or similar starches, add some of the jelly, like you would stock. It’s delicious!

Phew, I think we’ve covered it. Let’s get down to business.

More Game Recipes on LinsFood

  • Arrosto Misto, Mixed Italian Roast
    Arrosto Misto, Mixed Italian Roast
  • Risotto with Sautéed Partridge and Apples
    Risotto with Sautéed Partridge Breasts and Apples
  • Roast Partridge
    Pot Roast Partridge

♥ Do you like this recipe? Please give it a 5-star rating below! And when you make it, share it on Instagram or any other social medium and tag me @azlinbloor. Much obliged! … Lin ♥

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares icon
Potted Duck in a glass jar with toast

Potted Duck | Rillettes de Canard


★★★★★

5 from 37 reviews

  • Author: Azlin Bloor
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours 35 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 4 1x
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

Potted Duck recipe. Or Rillettes de Canard as the French call it. A classy little starter that can be made days ahead.
(Total time does not take into account the marinating, cooling and refrigerating.)


Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 duck legs
  • 2 heaped Tbsp duck fat
  • 250ml (1 cup) dry white wine (optional)
  • water as needed
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp salt

For Marinating

  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 1 heaped Tbsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp Calvados

For shredding/potting

  • 2 Tbsp Calvados or any brandy (optional)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Start with marinating the Duck Legs Overnight

  1. Pound the garlic, thyme, rosemary and salt to get a rough paste. Stir in the Calvados.
  2. Rub this all over the duck legs, getting under folds and skin as necessary.
  3. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.

Cooking the Duck Legs

  1. Rinse the duck legs well and pat dry.
  2. Heat the duck fat in a shallow pan on medium-high heat.
  3. Brown both sides of the duck, about 2 minutes each.
  4. Standing slightly away from the pan, pour in the white wine fairly quickly. The duck fat will sizzle, but it shouldn’t really protest too much about the wine being added. Follow this up with enough water to completely submerge the duck legs. Make sure the skin side is facing up. This will help to keep the meat moist as the liquid reduces.
  5. Add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, peppercorns and salt, and bring to a boil.
  6. Then lower the heat right down, and simmer for 3 hours. Maybe even 4. You want the duck meat to be very, very soft at the end of that time.
  7. When done, take it off the heat, and leave the duck to cool in the liquid. I leave it overnight, only because I usually get this done towards the end of the day. Leave it covered.

Shredding and Potting

  1. When the duck legs are cool enough, take all the meat off the bones, lose the skin, and any ligaments and tendons.
  2. Place the meat in a bowl and shred, shred, shred with 2 forks. Keep adding the liquid and the fat to moisten and flavour. And add the Calvados little by little too, if you are using it. You can also beat the meat with a wooden spoon, if you like, to make it softer and almost emulsified. Season with lots of pepper and enough salt. Keep tasting it.
  3. When done, pot it up into little ramekins. Skim off the fat from your pan, and top the meat with it.
  4. Cover with foil and keep in the fridge for at least 24 hours before serving, and up to a week.

Notes

Total time does not take into account the marinating, cooling and refrigerating.

  • Category: Starter
  • Method: Medium
  • Cuisine: British and French

Keywords: duck recipes, christmas, festive

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @azlinbloor on Instagram and hashtag it #linsfood

Comments

  1. Lisa says

    05/12/2019 at 2:47 pm

    I just love the idea of making duck rillettes. Of course, I can buy them in the supermarket in France at this time of the year, but I bet the homemade ones taste much, much better! How long can the potted meat keep once it has been made? (It’s possible you wrote that somewhere in the description, but I missed it. 😀 )

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      07/12/2019 at 9:08 pm

      I love making it at home. It can last about a month, when kept in the fridge.

      Reply
  2. Maria says

    05/12/2019 at 4:42 am

    It sounds so fancy, Lin, but really quite an easy process! I love the idea of spreading it over a crispy toasted bread slice.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      07/12/2019 at 9:08 pm

      It certainly is an easy recipe. Thanks Maria.

      Reply
  3. FoodyFoodie says

    01/11/2018 at 2:38 am

    New knowledge for me. I never know “potted up” is the way to preserve food. Gonna follow your recipe to make my own “potted up” dish.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      01/11/2018 at 9:32 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  4. Karen Monica says

    31/10/2018 at 4:08 am

    To be honest I have never tasted potted duck before. So I can’t imagine how it taste like. But seems like I can get all the ingredients for this recipe so I can try to make it myself. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      01/11/2018 at 9:32 am

      Thank you, Karen.

      Reply
  5. Kemi says

    30/10/2018 at 7:54 pm

    I absolutely LOOOOVE rilletes!! I used to DEVOUR rilletes du jambon when I lived in France and I would literally scoop the fat off with hot baguettes! Lol. Clearly, things have changed now in terms of healthy nutrition and since moving to NYC, haven’t had rilletes here. Sigh.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      01/11/2018 at 9:32 am

      Haha, a girl after my own heart! Thank you!

      Reply
  6. Menesa says

    30/10/2018 at 7:44 pm

    I’ve never tried potted duck before, but your pics make it look so delicious. It’s something I intend to do before the end of the year. Thanks for the innovative way of making it.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      01/11/2018 at 9:31 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Anshula says

    30/10/2018 at 2:07 pm

    I’ve never heard of potted duck before this post but I feel a compulsion to try this recipe – it looks so good!! And I totally agree that serving little pots of meat is so classy!

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      01/11/2018 at 9:31 am

      Thank you, Anshula, there’s just something about little dishes!

      Reply
  8. Dalene Ekirapa says

    30/10/2018 at 8:52 am

    Oh my! This just reminds me of the duck breast meal that I had a couple of weeks ago. It was so yummy so for sure, I can imagine how delicious the potted duck actually is.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      30/10/2018 at 8:58 am

      Thank you, Dalene! Oh yum, duck breast is always awesome!

      Reply
  9. James Street says

    29/10/2018 at 8:49 pm

    Yum, great recipe! Is there a reason you are using calvados, instead of just brandy?

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      30/10/2018 at 8:57 am

      Hi James, yes, I love apple brandy or apple cider brandy. It has just that little hint of fruity sweetness that I enjoy. Apples are in season along with duck in autumn, and as they pair so well with a lot of game, I’ve kept with the theme and gone for the apple brandy. But you can use any brandy and it will work just as well.

      Reply
  10. Gina M says

    29/10/2018 at 3:40 pm

    This looks really good, I have so many parties coming up in the next couple of months and looking for starter recipes. Pencilled this in, thank you.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      30/10/2018 at 8:55 am

      A pleasure, Gina, let me know how it goes.

      Reply
  11. Lily Norton says

    29/10/2018 at 12:47 pm

    This is just amazing, you make it sound so easy! I love potted duck and love to order it when eating out. Mmm, I am so tempted to try this, Azlin. It seems very doable.

    Reply
    • Azlin Bloor says

      30/10/2018 at 8:54 am

      Thank you, Lily. It is extremely do-able! I hope you do give it a go, and let me know what you think!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Delicious Grilled Duck Breast Salad - Bon Appét'Eat says:
    14/03/2020 at 3:01 am

    […] Here are more duck recipes for you: – Duck Taco With An Orange Cherry Fresh Salsa– How To Make Potted Duck (Rillette) – Honey Roast Duck Recipe– Roasted Duck Recipe With Orange […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




LinsFood | by Azlin Bloor

Hey folks, I’m Azlin Bloor; former chef, culinary instructor and mum of 4.
Click here to read more about me!

Language

ArabicMalayFrenchSpanishHindiChinese (Simplified)ItalianRussianEnglishGerman

My Latest Posts!

  • Gushtaba recipe, Kashmiri Meatballs in yoghurtGushtaba (Kashmiri Meatballs in Yoghurt Gravy)
  • oysters on a plate with chill marinadeThai Style Grilled Oysters (plus How to Shuck Oysters Video)
  • Marmalade Duck with Sichuan PeppercornsMarmalade Roast Duck with Sichuan Peppercorns (perfect Chinese New Year Recipe)
  • Vegan Mapo Tofu on white rice, in a bowlVegan Mapo Tofu (perfect Vegan Chinese New Year Recipe)
my foodgawker gallery
Tasty Query - recipes search engine
Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100

Cook with me on Udemy!

Cook With Me

LinsFood contains affiliate links. This means that we earn a commission off any purchases that you might make by clicking on some of the product links.

Contact Me     Privacy Policy     Cookie Policy
Copyright Azlin Bloor | LinsFood.com 2011-2021
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.