Duck Chips & Dip - cooking recipe

Ingredients

For the Tea Smoked Duck Breast
8 duck breasts
For the Duck Confit
8 duck legs
12 fresh thyme sprigs
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons coarse cracked black pepper
2 quarts duck fat
For the Lemon Goat Cheese Dip
2 cups haystack mountain goat cheese
For the Kennebec Chips
1 cup picked dill
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon picked thyme
1/4 cup shaved shallot
2 tablespoons fleur de sel salt

Preparation

Tea-Smoked Duck Breast:
Rub cleaned breasts with Chinese five spice, Kosher salt. Allow to dry/cure in refrigerator for one day. Remove from cooler and place in the cold smoker.
Smoke for twenty minutes with a healthy sprinkle of oolong tea leaves and a smoldering stack of hardwood (apple, pecan peach, pecan) wood chips.
Remove from smoker and render the skin crispy, flip the breast and continue to cook until the breast is rare (internal temperature 115 degrees F).
Place cooked breast on a sheet tray, allow to cool one hour, and then fully freeze in the freezer.
Duck Confit:
Day 1:
Place duck legs on sheet pan racks and sprinkle with a healthy layer of kosher salt and black pepper. Spread thyme sprigs and garlic across legs to evenly coat (1 oz thyme per tray, 1/2 cup garlic per tray) Allow to cure overnight in the walk-in.
Day 2:
Remove duck legs from the cure and rub off the garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme mixture. Place legs into a large pan and cover with melted duck fat. Cover pan with foil and cook in a 300 degree oven for 4-5 hours. Duck should be above 165 degrees and be tender enough to pull.
Pull meat from the bones and remove skins. Layer the pulled meat thinly on sheet trays to cool. Cool to room temp for one hour and then place on speed rack in walk-in. Cool overnight. Once fully cooled overnight, store into quart containers.
Lemon Goat Cheese Dip:
Mix goat cheese, milk and lemon thoroughly in stand mixer. (DO NOT OVER MIX IT WILL BREAK). Season to taste and refrigerate.
Kennebec Chips:
Slice potatoes into long, wide and thin slices the thickness of a playing card. Fry at 300 degrees until golden (3-4 minutes). Season with kosher salt immediately after removing from hot oil.
To Plate:
Reheat the picked and cleaned duck confit in some of the remaining reserved duck fat. Add shallots and thyme and season to taste. Reserve warm.
Remove duck breast from freezer and shave as thinly as possible on a sharp mandolin, or preferably on a meat/deli slicer.
Plate and spread a large dollop of the lemon goat cheese spread on a plate of your liking (8\" diameter minimum). Stack chips onto the goat cheese spread creating a nest look.
Spoon warmed duck confit into the \"crater\" of the chip nest and then top with a healthy mound of shaved rare and still slightly frozen duck beast.
Garnish with fresh picked dill, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with a light sprinkle of crunchy fluer de sel or other large crystal garnishing salt.