View source for Confit

{{Short description|Type of food preservation}}
{{for multi|the confectionery|Comfit|the South African jam|Konfyt}}{{refimprove|date=November 2023}}
[[File:Duck Confit (3375036024).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Duck confit]]
'''Confit''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ɒ|n|f|i}}, {{IPA|fr|kɔ̃fi}}) (from the [[French language|French]] word ''[[wikt:confire#French|confire]]'', literally "to preserve")<ref name="IP">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Chaucer">{{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}}</ref> 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 [[food preservation|preservation]].<ref name="IP" />

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."<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 [[cherry|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==
[[File:Essen Ente 02 (RaBoe).jpg|thumb|Duck leg confit]]
[[Image:Fete Huma 2006 p1140018.jpg|thumb|Canned duck confit and [[cassoulet]]]]
Confit of [[Goose as food|goose]] (''confit d'oie'') or [[Duck as food|duck]] (''[[Duck confit|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 [[gizzard]]s 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 [[Occitania|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 Country (greater region)|Basque]] regions with their classic specialties of [[cassoulet]] and [[garbure]], hearty and earthy dishes of confit and beans. [[Saintonge (region)|Saintonge]] and [[Brantôme, Dordogne|Brantôme]] feature duck confit, often with potatoes and [[Tuber (genus)|truffle]]s.{{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''.<ref>Plummer, Paul. ''Sensual Preservation: The Art of Confit''.</ref> Pork is often confit and shredded to create [[rillettes]].{{fact|date=November 2023}}

==Condiment confit==
[[File:Blended garlic confit.jpg|thumb|right|Blended garlic confit]]
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}}

==See also==
{{portal|Food}}
* [[Maceration (food)]]
* [[Confit byaldi]]
* [[Fruit preserves]]
* [[Philippine adobo]]
* [[Potted meat]]
* [[Rendang]]

==References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Larousse gastronomique: the encyclopedia of food, wine & cookery'', Ed. Charlotte Turgeon and Nina Froud. New York: Crown Publishers, 1961. The English translation of the 1938 edition. {{ISBN|0-517-50333-6}}.
* James, Kenneth. ''Escoffier: The King of Chefs''. Hambledon and London: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

== External links ==
* {{wiktionary inline|confit}}

{{Food preservation}}
{{Meat}}
{{French cuisine}}

[[Category:Charcuterie]]
[[Category:Cooking techniques]]
[[Category:Culinary terminology]]
[[Category:Food preservation]]
[[Category:French cuisine]]
[[Category:Garde manger]]
[[Category:Jams and jellies]]
[[Category:Occitan cuisine]]