Confit

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Confit ({{IPAc-en|k|ɒ|n|f|i}}, {{IPA|fr|kɔ̃fi}}) (from the French word confire, literally "to preserve"){{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3RsgAQAAQBAJ | title=Irish Pantry: Traditional Breads, Preserves, and Goodies to Feed the Ones You Love | publisher=Running Press of the Perseus Books Group | author=McMeel, Noel | year=2013 | location=Orange-Onion Confit | pages=44 | isbn=978-0762445523}}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bts-AAAAYAAJ | title=Chaucer: The tale of the Man of Lawe, The Pardoneres Tale, The Second Nones Tale, The Chanouns Yemannes Tale | publisher=Macmiillan and Co. | author=Skeat, Walter William | author-link=Walter William Skeat | year=1923 | pages=222 | isbn=1330317475}} is any type of food that is cooked slowly{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason=Clearly false}} over a long period as a method of preservation.

Confit, as a cooking term, describes the process of cooking food in fat, whether it be grease or oil, at a lower temperature compared to deep frying. While deep frying typically takes place at temperatures of {{convert|325|-|450|F|C|-1|order=flip}}, confit preparations are done at a much lower temperature, such as an oil temperature of around {{convert|200|F|C|-1|order=flip}}, or sometimes even cooler. The term is usually used in modern cuisine to mean long, slow cooking in fat at low temperatures, many having no element of preservation, such as in dishes like confit potatoes.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

For meat, this method requires the meat to be salted as part of the preservation process. After salting and cooking in fat, confit can last for several months or years when sealed and stored in a cool, dark place. Confit is a specialty of southwestern France.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

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."{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/confit|title=CONFIT : Etymologie de CONFIT|website=www.cnrtl.fr|language=fr|access-date=2017-11-20}} The French verb was first applied in medieval times to fruits cooked and preserved in sugar.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

Fruit confit

Fruit confit is candied fruit (whole fruit, or pieces thereof) preserved in sugar. The fruit must be fully infused{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason=I don't think so}} with sugar to its core; larger fruit takes considerably longer than smaller ones to candy. Thus, while small fruit such as cherries are confits whole, it is quite rare to see whole large fruit, such as melon confits since the time and energy involved in producing large fruit confits makes them quite expensive.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

Meat confit

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Confit of goose (confit d'oie) or duck (confit de canard) is usually prepared from the legs of the bird. The meat is salted and seasoned with herbs and slowly cooked submerged in its own rendered fat (never to exceed {{convert|85|C|F|disp=sqbr}}), in which it is then preserved by allowing it to cool and storing it in the fat. Turkey and pork{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason=What pork?}} may be treated in the same manner. Meat confit is a specialty of the southwest of France (Toulouse, Dordogne, etc.) and is used in dishes such as cassoulet. Confit preparations originated as a means of preserving meat without refrigeration.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

In a restaurant context, confit is usually served after further preparation.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason="usually" is insufficient}} Whole confit leg is baked to crisp the skin or added to a casserole-type dish. Confit duck leg is used to make rillettes.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

= History =

The traditional meat for confit includes 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.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

"Confit country" is the area of Occitan France{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason=Not clear}}, where goose fat is used for cooking, as opposed to olive oil, which is used in Provence, where olives were plentiful and thus cheap.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

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.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

Non-waterfowl meats are frequently treated to the confit process but 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 ("in confit"). For example, chicken cooked in goose fat is called poulet en confit.Plummer, Paul. Sensual Preservation: The Art of Confit. Pork is often confit and shredded to create rillettes.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

Condiment confit

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Italian cooking uses several "condiment confits," such as onion confit, chili confit, and garlic confit.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason=There's no evidence for a similar product to be used in Italian cuisine, and the photo below this sentence doesn't show an Italian food}}