Pork Confit

[rascal]

I made up a batch of pork confit last week and everyone should take a stab at it... so easy and so delicious. I used grocery store lard in mine, so I'm confident that it can be even better once I can get my hands on some gen-u-wine pork fat.

Pork Confit

Bone-in country style spare ribs

Kosher salt

Pepper

Lard

Dredge the ribs in the salt and pepper and refridgerate for 24 hours. Place in oven-safe cookware and cover with melted lard. Make sure the meat is completely covered. Bake for 10-12 hours at 190F. Remove meat to a cool container and cover with melted lard (separate from exuded pork juices first). Refridgerate for a few days, or however long you'd like.

I served these crisped up on the stovetop, with baby argula dressed in a sharp red wine vinaigrette, topped with carmelized onions. Just one of those dishes where everything comes together, the rich tenderness of the pork, the bitterness and acidity of the greens, the sweetness of the onions...

[Jinmyo]

Nice.

[culinary bear]

Bruised fennel seeds go wonderfully in confit pork... I've used both collar and belly in the past and they worked really well...

[NulloModo]

That actually sounds a lot like one of the methods for preparing Carnitas that was discussed in the monster carnitas thread...

[fifi]

Well, you are right that it is similar to carnitas, but you don't take a confit all the way to browning and a typical confit will be cured before poaching in fat. (I was trying to braise some country ribs one time and finally made carnitas when I forgot about it. )

I would be inclined to try the spice mixtures in this post in the Confit of Turkey Leg topic. I did and it is incredibly delicious. I am thinking of grinding up a few batches of the cure (minus salt and sugar) to keep around as a general purpose seasoning. That mix with pork would be delicious.

Too bad you had to use the lard off the shelf. It is hydrogenated and doesn't taste very good to me. If you can find a Latin grocery or butcher shop, they may have fresh lard. It is easy enough to make yourself if you can get your hands on some pork fat. The hardest part is cutting up the fat. Fresh lard is delicious and will add another flavor dimension.

If I were going to cut up some pork butt to make this, what size and shape of pieces would you suggest?

[Wolfert]

[quote name=fifi' date='If I were going to cut up some pork butt to make this, what size and shape of pieces would you suggest?

[

In the French southwest, I know the typical cut is pork butt or boned pork shoulder or blade end cut into 7-ounce chunks. The traditional salting is 22 grams per poundd, and you can add any other spices and herbs to taste.

The best thing about making pork confit is you can combine rendered pork fat and duck fat

for an even better flavor.

Brown the confit by sauteenig in a skilllet just before serving, 5 to7 minutes.

[iriee]

very similar to pork rillette. instead if curing overnight you just dice pork butt,,,season with salt,pepper thyme,bay leaf. add a bit of water,,cover and cook real slow for 2-3 hours. then its shredded up a bit and seasoned and packed in small crocks. great with bread,mustard,,cornichons. mmmmmmm

[PCL]

What about pork belly?? Then it would be confit inside and out... double fattening equals double happiness!!

[rascal]

I would be inclined to try the spice mixtures in this post in the Confit of Turkey Leg topic. I did and it is incredibly delicious. I am thinking of grinding up a few batches of the cure (minus salt and sugar) to keep around as a general purpose seasoning. That mix with pork would be delicious.

Too bad you had to use the lard off the shelf. It is hydrogenated and doesn't taste very good to me. If you can find a Latin grocery or butcher shop, they may have fresh lard. It is easy enough to make yourself if you can get your hands on some pork fat. The hardest part is cutting up the fat. Fresh lard is delicious and will add another flavor dimension.

If I were going to cut up some pork butt to make this, what size and shape of pieces would you suggest?

←

I'm definitely going to be experimenting with this more.. for the first try I wanted to get the "pure" taste of the pork without a flavored cure.

Unfortunately in my area (Burlington VT) real butcher shops are extinct, and we have no Latin markets. There is a meat wholesaler about 40 mins away who I'm going to contact about some pork fat. I agree that there is kind of a synthetic taste to the hydrogenated lard.

I also would like to give rilletes a try.

[cricklewood]

I made up a batch of pork confit last week and everyone should take a stab at it... so easy and so delicious. I used grocery store lard in mine, so I'm confident that it can be even better once I can get my hands on some gen-u-wine pork fat.

Pork confit is the bomb we did a menu in the fall last year at school(finishing up cooking school) and I had proposed doing duck confit with a warm baby veggie salad for an entrée , my teach was sick of duck confit and proposed doing pork I was sceptical at first but man was it ever good we used shanks(wich can usually be found quite cheaply round here) we rendered down bards of pork skin wich we're frozen to get the fat..I think u could probably obtain the pig skin w/fat on cheaply... and then render it down in a large stockpot with a bit of water to prevent it scorching.

[helenas]

Not exactly confit but i'm using olive oil for a quite a while in all confit recipes.

And for those willing to try this, Paula Wolfert's pork coddled in olive oil is a way to go - one of the best pork dishes ever.

[Kent Wang]

A lovely pork loin I bought from Full Quiver Farms, confited for over three hours.

[viva]

Pork Confit in progress due to a surfeit of lard. (The farmers' market pork shop was out of their little containers of lard... so I got the big 8 lb'er.)

Got a whole Boston Butt cut, chunked into roughly 4 inch cubes. It's in the fridge seasoned with fresh thyme, herbes de Provence, kosher salt & black pepper.

Tomorrow: oven at 250 for 4-5 hours. Then, say, a week of aging in the fridge. I wonder - does the pork confit need to age a little longer than duck given the thickness of the meat?

[Domestic Goddess]

Hmmmm Pork Confit! I have about 2 lbs. of lard in the fridge. I might take a stab at this during the week. Eldest son raved about the carnitas and I think this will bowl him over, too.

[Kent Wang]

The resulting pork can be too fatty to eat large amounts of, but try making rilettes.

[phatj]

Pardon me for the tangential question, but I have a tub of lard (Leidy's brand) purchased from a supermarket here in PA. The package doesn't say anything about being hydrogenated; would it be safe to assume that it is not?

[viva]

I pretty much assume all lard purchased in a supermarket is hydrogenated. Is there a way to tell on the label itself if you're not sure?

Mine is from Nahunta Pork Center (where Pork is King!) - no hydrogenation. Ingredients: lard.

Edited April 16, 2007 by viva (log)

[phatj]

I pretty much assume all lard purchased in a supermarket is hydrogenated.  Is there a way to tell on the label itself if you're not sure?

Mine is from Nahunta Pork Center (where Pork is King!) - no hydrogenation.   Ingredients:  lard.

←

Mine doesn't even list ingredients. It just says "Pure Lard."

EDIT: just searched Google for "Leidy's lard" and what came up, but this thread about leaf lard @ RTM. The last post suggests that Leidy's isn't hydrogenated, but it's not clear whether it's pure leaf. I'm guessing not for $3/lb, but who knows?

Edited April 16, 2007 by phatj (log)

[jayt90]

Pardon me for the tangential question, but I have a tub of lard (Leidy's brand) purchased from a supermarket here in PA. The package doesn't say anything about being hydrogenated; would it be safe to assume that it is not?

←

Check the nutrition label If the trans fat level is low, .3 g per 100ml, that is within rabge of natural trans fats in pork.

[phatj]

Pardon me for the tangential question, but I have a tub of lard (Leidy's brand) purchased from a supermarket here in PA. The package doesn't say anything about being hydrogenated; would it be safe to assume that it is not?

←

Check the nutrition label If the trans fat level is low, .3 g per 100ml, that is within rabge of natural trans fats in pork.

←

The tub has no nutrition label, and lists no ingredients. Is this even legal? I'm going to go back to the grocery and see if they still have this stuff.

[Qwerty]

I confited a chunk of pork belly the other day, the results were spectacular. Cured for 24 hours using 2:1 salt to sugar, coriander, fennel, thyme, then cooked in rendered pork fat for about 4 hours. Cooled, stored, etc. Cut into desired portion cuts.

Crisped up one side of the pork belly in a pan, and the resulting slice was meltingly tender and succulent. Of course, it was ultra-ultra fatty, but the fat literally melted in my mouth and released tons of flavor.

I highly recomend this to anyone.

I've also had success with pork carnitas using a similar method--though I didn't cure the butt--and confiting pork butt with cure. I used half of the resulting butt for tacos, sandwiches, etc, and the other half I turned into basic rilletes which I enjoyed for months after.

Actually, I think I may do some more this weekend. Talked myself into it.

[jayt90]

Pardon me for the tangential question, but I have a tub of lard (Leidy's brand) purchased from a supermarket here in PA. The package doesn't say anything about being hydrogenated; would it be safe to assume that it is not?

←

Check the nutrition label If the trans fat level is low, .3 g per 100ml, that is within rabge of natural trans fats in pork.

←

The tub has no nutrition label, and lists no ingredients. Is this even legal? I'm going to go back to the grocery and see if they still have this stuff.

←

I looked at Leidy's web site, and I would tend to trust them. But write to make sure

[viva]

Your sense of smell might be a good guide too: when I opened up my tubba lard from Nahunta, I smelled pork fat. If I open up hydrogenated junk, I smell chemicals.

Back to the confit discussion: I'm wondering if I missed a critical step. Was I supposed to *shred* the pork after cooking, before putting it into the fridge covered with lard? Or was it okay to leave it in chunks? I had cut the Boston Butt into about 3 or 4-inch chunks, which then cooked down a bit smaller.

There's plenty of pork sitting happily in their fat - I see rillettes in my future.

Edited April 18, 2007 by viva (log)

[Qwerty]

It's perfectly OK to leave them in chunks, as long as they are submerged in fat and clean they should last a good long while...and get better with time.

Only time to shred it would be if you are making carnitas and you want to fry it in the fat and get that nice crispy top and succulent under. IMO, there aren't many things that are better to eat than a nice fat carnitas burrito with all the trimmings.

[doctortim]

Inspired by this thread, I made pork confit for the first time today. It was a bit of an adventure all round -- confit-ing the pork was simple enough, but notably this was the first time I've ever attempted to render fat before. It was messy, but worth it. The confit itself was fantastic. The flavour was wonderful, but the sensation of the fat melting instantly from the tender meat is something else. Kent is right, it's extremely rich and a little goes a long way. I'm currently thinking of the many ways I can use it before I die of a heart attack at 30 years of age.

(I did take a picture of the pork immersed in oil before I put it in the fridge, but frankly the torn pork looked like the view from an arthroscopy)