eG Cook-Off #64: Confit

[KennethT]

I'm looking in 'Under Pressure'. It says 82.2C for 12 hours for pork belly although that sounds slightly long to me. Has anyone tried doing it at that temp for that long?

I'm doing pork belly for christmas and was originally planning to vacuum it with some duck fat (yeah, it's not REALLY confit, but traditional confit is kinda messy imo) and simmer it at about 80c for 6-8 hours...

Check the original SV index page - there's tons of info on pork belly...

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-sous-vide-index/#entry1777784

[Anna N]

Tonight I enjoyed another one of the chicken legs with some mashed sweet potato (I posted it in the Dinner Topic). In the fridge I have some pork shoulder curing which I shall confit (SV) at 80 C for 14 hours or so.

Well the pork shoulder was definitely a failure. I used the cure from Joy Adams "In the Hands of a Chef" and even though I was careful to thoroughly rinse it off the end result was inedibly salty. And time and temp did not produce the silky, melting texture I had hoped for. Back to the drawing board.

[catdaddy]

Ah yes - forgot to introduce it - Poulet Rillette! I think it's not too much finer that it's supposed to be. Probably eat it at work - so no plonk - but gerkins of some sort and on Ak mak crackers I think.

It would make a great stuffing for pasta, too.

[David Ross]

I for one think the discussion and use of sous-vide and more modern techniques for crafting confit has been a great learning experience for an old tradionalist like me.

[judiu]

Kerry, what about some quick pickled red onion as a "go with"? Just thinkin'.

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry, what about some quick pickled red onion as a "go with"? Just thinkin'.

Thinking some quick pickle of some sort will be needed - maybe even the quick pickled mustard seed from Momofuku.

[David Ross]

Tonight I finished the Quail Confit dish.

Started with Quail that I buy at the local Asian grocery store. Six quail sell for about $10.00, an incredible buy and the only place in town where I can buy quail. Frozen by the way.

The the same basic method as the chicken confit-heavily seasoned with Kosher salt, then black pepper, bay leaf, garlic, black pepper and crushed juniper berries. The quail sits in the fridge for two days.

The quail is slowly roasted in pork lard in a 200-225 oven for about 4 hours. Then refrigerated in the fat for one week. Before serving tonight I reheated the quail in the oven to melt the fat.

Then very gently removed the quail from the fat, separated the legs and thighs to garnish the plate. Pulled the breast meat off the carcass and sauteed to heat it through. Served with a warm salad of crimson lentils, (locally harvested in Montana), with bacon, onion and apple cider vinegar. Then a drizzle of red wine sauce over the quail and around the plate.

A pretty good dish, especially the warm lentil salad. You could toss the confit in the salad and it would be fabulous. The quail confit was good, but I must say I now prefer the chicken. In fact, I think I prefer chicken over duck and quail for confit.

[David Ross]

I'm thinking about doing a beef tongue confit. However, I'm not sure how or when I should do the salting stage. Typically I boil tongue first, not only to cook it but to be able to remove the outer skin. If I salt the tongue and let it cure a few days, will the salt penetrate through that thick layer of outer skin? And will the salt then start to cure the meat? I could boil the tongue, remove the skin and then cure it in lard, but I think eliminating that salting stage would rob the tongue of classic confit technique and flavor? Any ideas?

[Martin Fisher]

It takes some time to cure tongue without injection...not only is the skin tough...the meat is very dense.

I'd skin it before curing.

[Steve Irby]

I finally got around to a piece of pork confit that I prepared when the challenge first started.  It's been resting in the back of the refrigerator in it's bed of pork fat for about four months.  I used a pork flank steak that I seasoned with a New Mexico spice rub and let it rest for a few days.  I then simmered it in rendered pork fat until tender and then off into the refrigerator.  The was pork trimmed out of a Tamworth hog that I butchered the previous fall.

 

Getting ready to melt off the fat.

 

 

 

A few succulent slices.

 

 

And a quick quality control check.

 

[rotuts]

loks very delicious

 

never knew that pork flank steak was sold.

 

wonder where it all goes ?

[Steve Irby]

Rotuts -I trimmed the steak out while breaking down a whole hog so it was not purchased at a market.  A specialty butcher may have pork flank but at a processing plant it would go in the sausage mix as trim.  One of the nice things about home butchery is the ability to use these "off cuts" that never make it to the supermarket.