Confit duck and mushroom tagliatelle with thyme

Read the full method and weigh the listed ingredients. Prepare the meat and vegetables as described in the ingredient list, keeping sauce, starch, garnish and working ingredients separate. Clean hands, boards and utensils after handling raw meat.

Rub duck legs with cure salt, crushed cure garlic and thyme. Cover.

Refrigerate for 8–12 hours; this schedule uses the minimum 8 hours.

Wipe the cure thoroughly with kitchen paper and pat legs dry.

Heat the oven to 100°C fan / 120°C conventional.

Allow about 15 minutes in total, checking the oven has reached its setting.

Melt the working duck fat gently. Arrange legs snugly in a casserole with bay and the curing aromatics.

Carefully pour melted fat over the legs until submerged and cover.

Check the oven setting and carefully put the prepared dish into the hot oven.

Cook covered for 3–3½ hours until a skewer meets almost no resistance. Keep the fat below a simmer and extend cooking if the meat still resists.

Check the stated readiness cue using a probe for cooked meat where specified. Carefully take the dish out and set it on a heatproof surface.

Lift legs out carefully and drain on a rack. Keep working fat separate; it is largely not eaten. Pull meat from the bones, discarding skin, bones and tough tissue.

Brown mushrooms in a wide pan with the separately listed retained confit fat, using uncrowded loads.

Add shallot and sauce garlic and soften for 2 minutes.

Add white wine, scrape the browned residue from the pan and bubble until substantially reduced.

Add stock and sauce thyme. Bring to a gentle simmer.

Simmer for 5–7 minutes until lightly concentrated.

Stir, check the base is not catching and adjust the heat. Add the listed top-up water if needed.

Continue at a gentle simmer until the stated readiness cue is reached.

Fold in shredded duck and warm gently. Remove thyme stems and season with pepper, tasting before adding the listed optional finishing salt because the duck was cured.

Fry breadcrumbs in their olive oil over medium heat for 4–5 minutes until golden.

Take off the heat and stir in parsley. Keep separate so it stays crisp.

Put the listed pasta cooking water and cooking salt in a large saucepan and start heating.

Allow the water to reach a full boil; the timer assumes a covered pan and a strong hob.

Add tagliatelle to the boiling water and stir to separate. Follow its packet for the final cooking time.

Cook until just short of the packet’s al dente time; this timer is an estimate for dried pasta. Fresh pasta cooks faster.

Stir briefly, taste for doneness and extend if needed.

Reserve some starchy cooking water, then drain the pasta.

Toss drained pasta into the finished sauce over medium heat for 1–2 minutes, adding reserved pasta water gradually until coated.

Take off the heat and fold in butter and Parmesan, loosening with reserved pasta water. Serve with crisp parsley crumb just before eating.