Confit chicken is among the less known items on a shelf of prepared foods. But one jar covers three different meals.
What does confit mean?
Confit is a method of preservation from French cooking.
The meat cooks slowly in its own fat at a low temperature.
Between eighty and ninety degrees.
For two to four hours.
Collagen turns to gelatine under those conditions.
The muscle fibres loosen and the product can be pulled apart by hand.
The meat then gets stored within its own fat.
The fat solidifies and forms a barrier; that is a technique surviving from before refrigeration and it works on the same logic today.
| Use | Quantity | Use of the fat | Preparation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandwich | 70-80 g | Spread on the bread | 5 minutes |
| Salad | 60-70 g | Into the dressing | 5 minutes |
| Pasta | 70 g | Base of the sauce | 15 minutes |
| Rice | 60 g | Frying the grains | 25 minutes |
| Toastie | 60 g | In the pan | 6 minutes |
| Soup garnish | 40 g | On top | 2 minutes |
How does the meat get shredded?
That is the first step shared by every recipe.
The jar comes to room temperature.
The fat is solid and the meat firm in a cold product.
Twenty minutes of waiting suffices.
The meat comes apart with two forks or by hand.
It gets pulled along the grain.
Bones get removed where present; confit thigh products contain bone.
Shredded meat keeps three days in an airtight container in a fridge; but with a little confit fat poured over it that period reaches a week.
How does the confit fat get used?
That fat is the hidden value of the product.
A mixture of chicken fat and the juices released during cooking.
The aroma is intense.
It does not get discarded.
Three uses stand out.
The first spreads it on bread; it takes the place of butter in a sandwich.
The second uses it as a sauce base; onion and garlic fry in it for a pasta sauce.
The third fries potatoes and vegetables; drizzled over roasting vegetables it makes a clear contribution in aroma.
How is a sandwich built?
Three builds stand out.
The first is classic: baguette, bread spread with confit fat, shredded chicken, lettuce and mustard.
The second is Mexican in style: tortilla, confit chicken, avocado, red onion and lime, rolled as a wrap.
The third is a hot toastie; confit chicken and kaşar go between bread and the chicken warms under the press while its fat runs into the cheese.
The chicken goes in cold or warm in all three.
Long heating dries the meat; because the product has already cooked for hours a second cooking is unnecessary.
How is it used in salads?
Confit chicken becomes a fatty component in a salad.
That reduces the quantity of dressing.
The classic build: lettuce, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, confit chicken and a lemon dressing.
No olive oil goes into the dressing; the confit fat does that job.
A grain-based version: quinoa or bulgur, chickpeas, parsley and chicken.
A Caesar-style version works too.
The chicken joins the salad at room temperature; the fat stays solid in cold chicken and leaves an unpleasant texture on the palate.
How is the pasta made?
That is the most filling use.
Confit fat heats in a pan.
Garlic and onion fry in it.
Cream or tomato joins them.
The shredded chicken goes in once the sauce has come to the boil.
It cooks two minutes more.
Cooked pasta and a spoonful of pasta water join it.
Cheese comes last; parmesan or aged kaşar binds the sauce and the dish is ready in fifteen minutes.
Where does it belong with rice and grains?
Confit chicken works well with rice.
The rice fries in confit fat.
Water joins it and the rice cooks.
The shredded chicken goes on top while the rice rests.
The lid goes back on and five minutes pass.
Steam warms the chicken.
The same method applies with bulgur pilaf and freekeh.
The chicken does not cook with the rice in that use; cooked together the fibres break down and get lost in the grains.
Can confit be made at home?
It can, and it needs no equipment.
Chicken thighs stand overnight with salt, garlic and thyme.
They get rinsed and dried the next day.
They go into a pan with enough oil to cover them.
They cook two and a half hours at a hundred and forty degrees in the oven.
The product cools in its own fat.
It goes into a jar and gets sealed with fat.
It keeps two weeks in a fridge; the product stays protected as long as the layer of fat remains intact, and the surface gets sealed again after every use.
What storage conditions suit confit chicken?
Commercial confit sells in jars or vacuum packs.
Unopened product keeps until the date on the label.
Generally six months to a year.
It moves into a fridge once opened.
No part of the meat should sit above the fat.
It keeps two weeks under those conditions.
Shredded meat stored without fat keeps three days.
It keeps three months in a freezer; it gets portioned and frozen together with its fat, and thawing happens in a fridge.
What determines the quality of the fat?
The fat in a confit product depends on the type of fat used.
The traditional method uses goose or duck fat.
The aroma is intense and the texture creamy.
Commercial production generally uses a mixture of chicken fat and vegetable oil.
That mixture appears on the label.
Pure animal fat is solid at room temperature; the higher the vegetable oil, the more fluid the product stays.
That serves as an indicator in the kitchen; where the fat is fully solid on leaving a fridge, the proportion of animal fat is high.
