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What does ‘Confit’ Mean?
We set the record straight!
First of all, ‘confit’ is pronounced ‘confee’. It is quite possibly the single most abused word in the culinary dictionary. Chefs ‘confit’ everything; tomatoes, aubergines, onions, fruits, coffee percolator, cuddly toy, kitchen sink, you name it and it’s on a menu at a restaurant near you.
Confit is the name given to a meat which has been cooked in its own fat and then covered and preserved in the same fat to prevent it from spoiling. That’s it.
A tomato cannot be cooked and stored in its own fat, it can be cooked and covered with olive oil (which is what they really mean) but to call it ‘confit’ is taking poetic licence a little too far.
We confit duck legs. Whole ducks are deboned, the breasts are reserved for roasting to order, the legs for confit, the carcasse is roasted to render its natural fat for confit and then used for making the base to our chosen sauce. The whole process begins two days before, the duck breasts are marinated with chinese spices (sechuan pepper, anise, cassia bark, dried orange peel) and vac-packed to maintain freshness and seal in the flavour of the marinade.
The duck legs are then coated in a salt and herb mix to both flavour the meat and draw out the excess moisture before cooking. Coarse sea salt is blended with bay leaves, cinnamon, anise, juniper berries, thyme, parsley and chervil with a little lemon zest to make a flavoursome salt rub.
As the salt works its magic the flesh begins to harden, at this point the salt can be washed off and the meat patted dry. Put the legs in a pan and cover with the rendered fat, if you don’t have enough then buy a tin of duck (or goose) fat and pour that over.
I like to flavour the new fat with onion, garlic, herbs, spices etc. Once cooked the fat can be strained and used again and again. Remember to strain it everytime so that you are left with the pure fat and taste it to see how it develops in flavour.
Cook the duck legs slowly all afternoon until the flesh is meltingly tender. The legs can be kept whole or the meat can be stripped from the bone and used in salads, soups, casseroles or as a filling for stuffed cabbage which I use to serve with a roasted duck breast.
Miles,
That’s something I didn’t know and now have a yen for …. by the way, terms like ‘meltingly tender’ have a strange affect on middleaged women …. I’m away now to take my medicine
Cid
October 21, 2007 @ 11:02 am
Cid,
I’d best choose my words more carefully!
Miles
October 21, 2007 @ 1:11 pm
Miles
Well, I never new that. Many thanks for enlightening us on this one.
October 21, 2007 @ 7:03 pm
Thanks for clearing this up. I hear this ALL THE TIME on Food Network. I was watching ‘Chopped’ and I think one competitor was confiting watermelon so I HAD to look it up. LOL now after hearing you explanation. Wow! Thanks again.
April 8, 2011 @ 4:11 am
By the way - LMAO at CID!!!
April 8, 2011 @ 4:14 am
Erin,
Welcome to the site, glad you found the post some use. It is a much abused term in my profession!!
Miles
April 8, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
Wow you should be an author, Miles. Words like “meltingly tender” are so descriptive and visual! Thanks for the article, it was very informative and fun to read.
June 25, 2011 @ 6:33 am
Nicola,
Welcome to the site and many thanks for your kind words, I’m glad that you enjoyed the post and hope you return again soon. I write a fair bit of rubbish so you’d have to be patient!!
Kind regards
Miles
June 25, 2011 @ 8:00 am
Recently, in a very much praised restaurant in Cork, I ordered duck confit. What came to me was a variation on crispy fried duck. Meat cooked to crematorium condition, dry and barely tasting of duck. Main course arrived with sauce almost like water running into the creamed potatos. I will never, ever eat in that place again but still see people raving about the food on websites and in the newspapers. Am I unlucky? The restaurant was far from full. On the other hand, in a restaurant in Mayo, I had duck so tender it didn’t need chewing!
December 14, 2011 @ 3:31 pm
Kev,
Welcome to the site and thanks for taking the time to comment. You raise a couple of very interesting points there, one is that confit is used and abused and the end product differs vastly from one place to another and second that, as is often the case in England a celebrated restaurant isn’t always a good one!
Either way Kev, the duck should be tender!!
Kind regards
Miles
December 14, 2011 @ 4:32 pm
Just came here after seeing someone on masterchef the professionals ‘confit’ an egg yolk…. Which got me wondering! Thanks for clearing it up for me! Like your site
November 22, 2012 @ 8:30 pm
Sarah,
Welcome to the site and glad that it has proved some use to you. Confit egg? Oh dear!!!
Kind regards
Miles
November 22, 2012 @ 8:59 pm
mmmm, I’ve never actually done this but I think it’s right up my street.
I will have to have a go.
As you’re effectively curing the duck, i wonder how it would turn out if you cold smoked the legs after curing and before making the confit.
I feel an experiment coming on.
S.
November 23, 2012 @ 9:35 am
Sarah, you don’t need TV show chefs now you have found Miles .We sit here at the feet of the master. He’s an absolute genius, too good for TV !
November 23, 2012 @ 3:41 pm
Like Sarah, it was the confit egg yolk that got me here. Informative and amusing, thanks.
November 23, 2012 @ 7:37 pm
Chris,
Welcome to the site, glad you have found it of use-most don’t!! For that you win the star prize, my latest book ‘A hundred and one confit egg recipes’
Nice to hear from you
Kind regards
Miles
November 23, 2012 @ 9:09 pm