Duck confit

confit de canard

What it is

Confit is a preserve before it is a dish: the legs are salted overnight, cooked in fat below a simmer, then buried in that fat, where sealed from air they carried a household through winter. Cassoulet, garbure and the salade landaise all begin at the crock, not at the stove.

In the kitchen

Never crisp it in the fat it came in: wipe the leg nearly dry, lay it skin-down in a cold dry pan and raise the heat slowly over ten to twelve minutes. Its own fat renders and the skin goes to glass — turn it more than once and it steams instead.

Goes with

Garlic Thyme Potato White beans Frisée Shallot

Same species

Mallard Pekin duck Century egg (pidan) Duck heart Stuffed duck neck Duck

Also used with

Pork rind Pardailhan black turnip Périgord walnut Toulouse sausage

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us