Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

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Chef

Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by Chef »

You may have had this in a restaurant, maybe you cook it at home, but do you know how long a confit will last?

Confit is a French word meaning to preserve, it is normally applied to Duck or Goose and probably as they are the two most common fats to use for it's preparation and preservation. Just about anything can be confit, pork, salmon, trout, garlic, the list is pretty long but the methods are basically the same.

The meat, duck in this case, is first salted with herbs to remove moisture and add flavour, and then poached in it's own (or a substitute) fat for a few hours until any remaining moisture has been evaporated out and the fat has sealed the meat, this can then be drained, roasted, grilled, fried... or can be preserved for use later by adding the cooking fat back to the meat in a suitable container, plastic or glass, until the meat is completely emersed in the fat, and then sealed with a layer of lard.

Preserved this way a confit can last up to 6 months in a fridge, if sous vide (cooked in a vacuum bag in a water bath), considerably longer than that and if frozen or canned properly can last for years and years. There are as many recipes for confit as there are French Grandmothers, and as I said you can confit a lot of different foods, generally, a fatty meat or oily fish will confit alot better than lean or non fatty, but have a look around for recipes, the taste is divine and not at all oily or greasy and you will be amazed at how long it will keep.

I've added a link here for a Confit of Duck from Raymond Blanc who I respect greatly. :)

http://www.raymondblanc.com/recipes/con ... beans.aspx

Try the recipe in full with the flageolet beans it's superb, but if you want to preserve the confit, at the end of step 2 remove the duck from the fat, place a table spoon of the liquid fat in the bottom of a sterilised plastic or glass container, add the duck and then cover with the remaining fat, making sure the meat is below the level of the fat. Cool this and once cooled add a 1/2" layer of lard over the top, cover with a greaseproof disc and a lid and leave it for a few months. If you want it to keep longer either freeze it or use a bit more salt in the initial stages. Frozen it will keep almost indefinately.

Not so much a recipe but a method of cooking which is both deliciou and prepper friendly. Bon Appétit! :D

C
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diamond lil
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Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:42 pm
Location: Scotland.

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by diamond lil »

Thanks chef - I hate cooking but I do like duck.. :mrgreen:
Ian

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by Ian »

Super, keep them coming Chef. Just what I need.

I don't know if you are aware of Simon Mulholland's survival cookery course? 2007ish I think and some truths as well as a smile or two. I commend it to you:

http://saddlechariot.blogspot.co.uk/200 ... y-way.html

Pity it is such an awful colour. His original site has vanished. It is well worth preserving if you can, to refer back to in the future. We are loosing so much valuable information just through neglect.
Chef

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by Chef »

No Ian, not heard of him but will take a look thanks. :D

I'll read/watch anything to do with food/cooking/hunting/survival, love it all. :D

EDIT: Wow that really is a gawd awful colour to try and read, I'm sure I can grab the site and then convert to text to make it easier to read lol.

Just from the snatch I read though I disagree with the comments about recipes, the duck fat needed to confit a single duck can be obtained from a single duck in the wild, there is enough fat on a sheep or a pig to confit a flock of ducks lol, I don't think survival food needs to be basic, there are herbs, nuts, funghi (careful with those tho) and all manner of things lying around our country that with a bit of thought, some adapted methods and some know-how can be made into gourmet survival food without much more effort. :D

C
Last edited by Chef on Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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itsybitsy
Posts: 8435
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by itsybitsy »

Confit lasts for yonks. My friend and I used to run a small business, selling French and Italian produce. We bought some Confit de Canard, some Cassoulet (my fave!) and Coq Au Vin that had use-by-dates for around 4-5 years after we got it. Fantastic stuff. The sausages in duck fat were also quite amazing.
Chef

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by Chef »

I can't remember the last time I had cassoulet, mmmmm, I wonder if my lad would eat it, he eats everything else I cook... :idea:

C
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itsybitsy
Posts: 8435
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by itsybitsy »

Chef_ wrote:I can't remember the last time I had cassoulet, mmmmm, I wonder if my lad would eat it, he eats everything else I cook... :idea:

C
Served with crusty bread and unsalted butter. Fab. :mrgreen:
Chef

Re: Duck Confit ~ Confit de Canard

Post by Chef »

... and a nice bottle of wine... Awesome! :D

C