It was more than a decade ago that chef Wandile Mabaso was in New York City, based at Gascogne on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue, where the secrets of confit duck were revealed to him.

Subsequently mastering this famous French cooking technique, he ultimately brought it back to South Africa to his Les Créatifs in Bryanston, Sandton, a restaurant which, like the chef-patron himself, is making waves in the South African culinary landscape.

Mabaso is a softly-spoken man whose quiet demeanour hides an enormous talent and a bold long term vision, about which we will reveal more in future stories in TGIFood. For now, let’s just say: keep your eyes on this man.

Wandile told us: “I like this technique of preparation because of my French training background. The first duck confit I ever made was in New York City at a restaurant called Gascogne, which is a region in the south west of France, and we created some traditional French dishes from there.

“Your foie gras comes from there, your cassoulet comes from there, and obviously the confit also comes from there. I learnt how to confit the duck in Gascogne restaurant back in 2012/13 and I found it to be a very effective cooking method in the sense where you’re always having tough meat or poultry, especially that’s wild, because of the cooking methods.

Chef Wandile Mabaso in his restaurant Les Creatifs. (Photo: Supplied)

“And when you look at duck confit, what inspires me is also the sustainability. We take the whole duck and render the skin so we get the duck fat from there as opposed to adding extra fat, and because the fat holds a lot of flavour as it cooks in the duck fat at a low temperature, it also extracts more flavour into the duck itself.

“The trick to this is after you’ve cooked it you have to let it rest in its own liquid, in this case its own fat, for probably about a quarter of the cooking time. So that way the moisture goes back into the actual meat and keeps it moist.

“I love this dish because it’s timeless, it worked 10, 50 years ago and still works today. If you follow that recipe you can never fail with this dish.”

He believes in the prevalent thinking that sweet and sour are a perfect flavour match for duck.

Garam masala duck confit with apple purée and duck jus

For the garam masala duck confit:

Ingredients

5 duck legs

¼ cup coriander seeds

1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

¼ cup black peppercorns

1 Tbsp cumin seeds

1 Tbsp star anise

1 Tbsp allspice

Salt

Ground black pepper

1 kg duck fat

Method

Season duck legs generously with salt and ground black pepper.

Toast all spices and transfer to cheesecloth.

Add legs to a bain marie and cover with duck fat, add in spices, and cover with foil.

Confit the duck in the oven at 100°C for four hours or until the meat falls off the bone.

Cool down in the fat before removing.

For the duck jus:

Ingredients

2 duck legs

¼ cup coriander seeds

2 onions, sliced

2 celery stalks, sliced

2 leeks, sliced

8 garlic cloves, bashed

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 Tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped

1 Tbsp black peppercorns

Tomato paste

Gelatine, to cover

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Method

Bring a pot to medium high heat. Brown the legs until golden brown. Take out.

Sweat half the onions, celery and leek. Add in half of the garlic, fresh herbs and tomato paste. Add in the legs. Cover with gelatine and braise in the oven at 150°C until the duck legs fall off the bone. Strain liquid. 

Sweat the rest of the onion, leek and celery. Add in the garlic, fresh herbs and black peppercorns. Add the strained liquid and thyme sprigs. Reduce until the sauce covers the back of a spoon. Season with salt and black pepper.

For the apple purée:

Ingredients

5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

3 rosemary sprigs off the stem

¾ cup butter

Method

Sauté the apples without giving them colour. Add in the rosemary.

Cook the apples in their own juices, constantly stirring to avoid browning. Season to taste with salt.

In another pot, add butter and bring to a heat. Use a whisk to turn the butter into brown butter.

In a separate bowl, place rosemary. Pour the brown butter into the rosemary bowl and cover with cling wrap.

Once apples are soft, place them on a flat surface and pick out the rosemary leaves. Blend the apples. Strain the rosemary brown butter and gradually add brown butter to the blending purée. Season accordingly. DM