Steve Wertz
Huh? Every Asian supermarket with a butcher section I've ever seen offers raw duck legs. If I'm not mistaken, you've described your own visits to such establishments. Have you just not investigated the meat counter goods?
I seriously doubt that there is any kind of special antimicrobial protection in duck, however (like certain other bird meats such as squab) duck is all dark meat. Dark meat is dark because it contains a higher density of mitochondria (and therefore the cytochrome enzymes) for extra capacity to convert the energy in glucose to ATP bond energy. I don't see any reason why this difference would contribute toward antimicrobial properties. (But I could be mistaken.)
The gas oven temperature mistery 2860A while back I was searching for some info for a European friend in an Australian published Cookbook and I found a"useful information page" and one topic...
That makes no sense. Polyunsaturated oils such as most vegetable oils will go rancid (i.e. oxidize) faster than the more highly saturated animal fats. Pouring pork lard or beef fat over the confit would be more likely to have protective value.
Adding an oil-soluble antioxidant, such as the contents of a vitamin E capsule, probably would increase longevity, if that were an issue.
I don't know that duck confit has a minimum time before consumption. It is my impression that the 6 month figure is a maximum time. But I may be mistaken. I've only just started to research this. The more I learn, the more intriguing it becomes.
