My Understanding Of Confit

I am writing this post on confit, because we had done this process in the college last week and I was very interested in the technique of this, they way the flavours slowly soaked through a succulent and tender piece of duck leg, it was magnificent to taste and experience. I wanted to learn more about this so I've decided to research as much as I could on this cooking technique and hopefully supply you with a simplified version so that you may try this at home.

Traditional meat for confit include both waterfowl such as goose and duck, and pork. . Varying forms of this delicacy thrive throughout southern France.

"Confit country" is the area of Occitan France where goose fat is used to cook, as opposed to olive oil which is used in Provence where olives are plentiful and thus cheap.

 Goose confit is associated with the Béarn and Basque regions with their classic specialties of cassoulet and garbure, hearty and earthy dishes of confit and beans. Saintonge and Brantôme feature duck confit, often with potatoes and truffles.

Non-waterfowl meats are frequently treated to the confit process, but they are not classically considered true confits. The French refer only to duck and goose confits as true confits; other meats poached in duck or goose fat are considered en confit. For example, chicken cooked in goose fat is called poulet en confit.
Fruit confit:

 are candied fruit preserved in sugar. The fruit must be fully in sync with sugar, to its core; larger fruit take longer than smaller ones to candy.  while small fruit such as cherries are confits whole, it is quite rare to see whole large fruit, such as melon confits, making large fruit confits quite expensive

Italians use a lot of confit with onions,garlic, and chilli confit. which is known as condiment confit.

Duck confit is the example I am going to give on confit because its the one im most familiar with at this time.

It is a French dish made with a duck leg, its seen as a speciality of Gascony in france.

Process:
To prepare a confit, the meat is rubbed with salt, garlic, and sometimes herbs such as thyme, then covered and refrigerated for up to 36 hours. Salt-curing the meat acts as a preservative.

Prior to cooking, the spices are rinsed from the meat, which is then patted dry. The meat is placed in a cooking dish deep enough to contain the meat and the rendered fat, and placed in an oven at a low temperature (in college we cooked it at 110 for 1hour 30 mintutes.

The meat is slowly poached at least until cooked, or until meltingly tender,
The meat and fat are then removed from the oven and left to cool. When cool, the meat can be transferred to a canning jar or other container and completely submerged in the fat. A sealed jar of duck confit may be kept in the refrigerator for up to six months, or several weeks if kept in a reusable plastic container.

 To maximise preservation if canning, the fat should top the meat by at least one inch. The cooking fat acts as both a seal and preservative and results in a very rich taste. Skipping the salt curing stage greatly reduces the shelf life of the confit.
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 sautéed vegetables, savory toasts, and as an addition to shortcrust pastry for tarts and quiches.

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

Duck confit is also a traditional ingredient in many versions of cassoulet.