Everything about Confit totally explained
Confit (
French) is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavor and preservation. Sealed and stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months. Confit is one of the oldest ways to preserve food, and is a speciality of southwestern
France.
Etymology
The word comes from the French verb
confire (to preserve), which in turn comes from the
Latin word (
conficere), meaning "to do, to produce, to make, to prepare." The French verb was first applied in medieval times to fruits cooked and preserved in sugar.
Meats confit
Confit of
goose (
confit d'oie) and
duck (
confit de canard) are usually prepared from the legs of the bird. The meat is salted with herbs, and slowly cooked submerged in its own rendered fat, in which it's then preserved by allowing it to cool and storing it in the fat. Turkey and pork may be treated similarly. Meat confits are a specialty of the southwest of France (
Toulouse,
Dordogne, etc.) and are used in dishes such as
cassoulet. Although confits are now considered luxurious, these preparations originated as a means of preserving meats without refrigeration.
History
Traditional meats for confit include both waterfowl such as goose and duck, and pork. Duck gizzards are also commonly cooked in the confit method.
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, used in Provence where olives are plentiful and thus cheap.
Confit country is divided roughly into regions where one type of meat predominates the confit preparations. 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 are not classically considered true confits. The French refer to ‘true’ confits as “duck confit” (
confit de canard) or “goose confit” (
confit de oie); other meats poached in duck or goose fats are considered “en confit.” For example, chicken cooked in goose fat is called
poulet en confit.
Fruits confit
Fruits confit are candied
fruits (whole fruits, or pieces thereof) preserved in
sugar. The fruit must be fully infused with sugar, to its core; larger fruits take considerably longer than smaller ones to candy. Thus, while small fruits such as
cherries are
confites whole, it's quite rare to see whole large fruits, such as
melons,
confits, and when they're available, large
fruits confits are quite expensive.
Small
fruits confits, such as cherries, are traditionally used as decorations on elaborate
cakes. In French, the expression
la cerise sur le gâteau ("the cherry on the cake") is used figuratively to mean some kind of desirable, but not indispensable, additional feature or finishing touch. An equivalent saying in English would be "the icing on the cake", or "the cherry on top".
Further Information
Get more info on 'Confit'.
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