There are many ways of preserving meat like smoking, air curing, salt drying but confit must be the most esoteric method I have come across. Confit is somewhat similar to the more common rilette except you don’t shred the meat.
Well basically confit is meat that is marinated with salt and garlic for a few days and then poached under low heat in lard. It is then kept refrigerated and can last for several months. Confit is sold in cans but I’d recommend the ‘fresh’ type which is sold refridgerated in a vacuum pack as shown in the picure. Outside of France ‘fresh’ confit is not all that common, but you can normally find it at a French speciality store.
The most common meat used nowadays for confit is duck (the others being goose and pork) and the most common part of the duck used is the leg, including the thigh. If not referring to any particular part of the duck, its referred to as Canard de Confit and it its the leg, then its Cuisse de Canard Confit. Quaint language this French is.
So what’s so special about confit? Well because the salt and poaching in oil dessicates the duck, this gives us the perfect conditions for a crispy, and I might even say crunchy, skin. You’ll need a grill or a blow torch to effect this and coincidentally, because of the high fat content, you would want high temperatures to thin down the fat anyway.
A recipe using Cuisse de Canard Confit is my Crispy Duck Leg Confit with Wine Mustard Compote.
Kobi's Kitchen 