An answer to the fit over confit... Confit: This is a preparation for meat to preserve it for long periods of time when fresh meat would be scarce. The meat is first salted to remove moisture. It is then cooked at the barest of simmers, submerged in fat, until the meat is buttery tender. After the meat is cooled, it is stored in crocks and covered with the fat to prevent exposure to air. The whole crock is stored to help age the meat. During this ageing period the meat develops a new flavour, completely different from its original state. When ready to eat, the meat is fried in a skillet or grilled until the skin is crisp and the meat is warmed through. Duck confit was once served with potatoes fried in the same duck fat as the confit. This practice is less popular now, but good companions to the confit are lentils or bitter green salads to balance the richness of the meat. Fatty meats such as duck, goose, and pork work best in confit. Confit is an indispensable component in cassoulet. Confiture: The term for fruit preserves. This term is used loosely now to encompass vegetables which are cooked long and slowly to produce a sweetened flavour. —Tallyrand's Culinary Fare: Food Glossary. Consider the two definitions above. The one answers the question, “What is a confit.” The second explains what a “confit” has become, in this “Hurry up, I want it right now yesterday,” world we now live in. A confit is still a confit, and a confiture is still a confiture, but today’s nueveau cuisine chefs, like so many others of the rapid-living and liberally liberated set, see no reason for adhering to the proper names of things, and throw words around like they do the garbage in their kitchens. Rather haphazard at best. Perhaps that explains why they are popular today and gone tomorrow. The attention span is very closely related to the stomach, don’t you know? So...in answer to the general running question here, “What is a confit?” It is a “confiture” without the “-ure,” which is to say that it is a slowly cooked fruit preserve which is then used as a base seasoning in many meat recipes, especially slow roasted meats such as briskets. In today’s cooking atmosphere, the confit is usually written as a part of the entire recipe, such as “Broiled Lamb Chops With Onion Confit,” or “Roast Pork Tenderloin With Cherry And Shallot Confit.” Using the search engine www.searchalot.com, submit “confit recipes,” and you will find over 6,000 entries. Of course there are a lot of duplications, but you will still, if you persevere, find recipes for hundreds of different confits that may be used with hundreds of more recipes. One of my own recipes, which is over forty years old now, is very similar to the recipe “Red Snapper with Rosemary-Scented Shallot Confit,” which you will find on the first page of that particular search. I use my recipe with any of the baked white fishes, but find that it does not sit well with most people if used with the red fishes. My recipe for just the confit follows: Rosemary Shallot Confit ©1965. SRRBBB. 12 medium shallot cloves, peeled 1 cup unsalted chicken broth 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1½ tsp. fresh rosemary, very finely chopped Place the shallots in a small covered casserole with the broth, oil, and rosemary. Bake in a 300º F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the shallots are tender but still retain their shape. . Use as an underbase for any of the baked white fishes. Not so good with the red fishes. For the red fishes, substitute 3 tbsp. finely snipped fresh dill for the rosemary. © 1965 SRRBBB. Perhaps now, the confit fits? Does that help? SRRBBB
