Friday, July 25, 2008

Dictionary Friday: Confit

confit
This specialty of Gascony, France, is derived from an ancient method of preserving meat (usually goose, duck or pork) whereby it is salted and slowly cooked in its own fat. The cooked meat is then packed into a crock or pot and covered with its cooking fat, which acts as a seal and preservative. Confit can be refrigerated up to 6 months. Confit d'oie and confit de canard are preserved goose and preserved duck, respectively.

© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

Hmm. I didn't realize that confit was specifically meat-related, mostly because I have made (and purchased) onion confit and just last night, I made this fig and rosemary confit.

I made the fig confit during fig season last year, too, and it's really great, especially with brie and proscuitto, as the recipe suggests. Of course, not everyone in my house agrees. Cooper likes it (even though he doesn't love figs), but yesterday when Dixon helped me puree the confit, I let him taste it.

His evaluation? "Dirt."

I chose to translate that as, "Tastes very earthy, Mommy." I'm pretty sure I'm right.

8 comments:

theminx said...

I think the "confit" you made was more of a "confiture" - a sweet confit, if you will. Or...a preserve.

Kit Pollard said...

It is similar to a preserve.

But the onion confit that I bought last time I was in Paris (where I do most of my souvenir shopping at the grocery store) was just called "confit d'oignons".

Hmm. A google search makes it seem like the 2 words are used interchangably. Fluidity of language, I guess...

Anonymous said...

what a great site - glad I found it, Kit. Come see me at www.meredithsfoodforlife.blogspot.com

theminx said...

Well, in my mind, it's not "confit" unless there's animal fat in it, but ymmv....

Kit Pollard said...

...and I just learned a new internet acronym! I'd never heard ymmv before. Actually, I initially read it as "mmmm" and was thinking "yes, mmmm animal fat!"

John said...

Maybe it was confit d'irt? Really though, confit has to be the most overused culinary term in this or any language! And even though I love how it tastes, because I see so much of confit this and confit that, I've just been tuning the confits out!

Anonymous said...

In French confit refers to preserving food by a variety of methods. Confit de canard, or duck confit, is perhaps the most often seen. According to my English dictionary, confit refers only to preserving a meat in it's own fat. So the meaning in English is narrower. I recently wrote a page on duck confit and how it is served in France, if anyone is interested.

Kit Pollard said...

Wow - I had NO idea that confit(ure) was such a controversial topic! Or, really, that people cared about it at all...

Kim - thanks for sharing the link to your page. It really is a simple read and has tons of information.

As for the figs, ultimately, the confit was a hit with my friends. I served it with cheese and crackers and proscuitto and it went over well across the board...

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