Duck confit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Duck confit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Duck confit with salad
Duck confit with salad
Confit de canard from Café du Marché in Paris
Confit de canard from Café du Marché in Paris

Duck confit (French: confit de canard) is a French dish made with duck legs. While it is made across France, it is seen as a specialty of Gascony. The confit is prepared in a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salting (with garlic and spices) a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then cooking it under its own fat. The meat is placed in a crock or pot, covered and poached for 90 minutes in its own fat at a temperature around 250 degrees Fahrenheit/120 degrees Celsius.[1] The cooking fat acts as both a seal and preservative and results in a very rich taste. Confit can be refrigerated up to 6 months.

Confit is also sold in cans, which can be kept for several years. The flavourful fat from the confit may also be used in many other ways, as a frying medium for sauteed vegetables (e.g., green beans and garlic, wild or cultivated mushrooms), savoury toasts, scrambled eggs or omelettes, and as an addition to shortcrust paste for tarts and quiches.

The classic recipe is to fry or grill the legs in a bit of the fat till they are well-browned and crisp, and use more of the fat to roast some potatoes and garlic as an accompinament. The potatoes roasted in duck fat to accompany the crisped-up confit is called pommes sarladaise. Another accompaniment is red cabbage slow-braised with apples and red wine.

Powered by ScribeFire.