Non-traditional confits

[carswell]

Hi, Paula. As you know, I'm a huge fan of duck confit, so I'm delighted to find TCOSWF contains recipes for confit calf's tongue, pork and toulouse sausages besides the expected duck, goose and gizzards. But I'm also curious about other types of confit you may be familiar with. Confit lamb shank has almost become a cliché in Quebec restaurants, but I don't recall ever seeing confit rabbit or hare on offer here or elsewhere. Ditto beef, venison, boar and veal, not to mention exotic game meats (squirrel, antelope, camel, alligator, etc.). Is fish (e.g. tuna) ever confited? A local butcher shop occasionally offers confit sweetbreads; I've not bought them because the shop's duck confit is second-rate and because I'm uncertain how to use them (in a salad? as an appetizer?) or even prepare them (whole? sliced? cold? heated in the oven? steamed? fried?). Does other offal lend itself to the confit technique? And are these preparations at all traditional or is it a case of finding new uses for a traditional technique? Lastly, is confit an exclusively southwest French thing or is something like it found in other cuisines?

[Wolfert]

Hi, Paula. As you know, I'm a huge fan of duck confit, so I'm delighted to find TCOSWF contains recipes for confit calf's tongue, pork and toulouse sausages besides the expected duck, goose and gizzards. But I'm also curious about other types of confit you may be familiar with. Confit lamb shank has almost become a cliché in Quebec restaurants, but I don't recall ever seeing confit rabbit or hare on offer here or elsewhere. Ditto beef, venison, boar and veal, not to mention exotic game meats (squirrel, antelope, camel, alligator, etc.). Is fish (e.g. tuna) ever confited? A local butcher shop occasionally offers confit sweetbreads; I've not bought them because the shop's duck confit is second-rate and because I'm uncertain how to use them (in a salad? as an appetizer?) or even prepare them (whole? sliced? cold? heated in the oven? steamed? fried?). Does other offal lend itself to the confit technique? And are these preparations at all traditional or is it a case of finding new uses for a traditional technique? Lastly, is confit an exclusively southwest French thing or is something like it found in other cuisines?

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Hi Craig,

First let me thank you for all your help in preparing the latest edition of TCOSWF.

There is a recipe for confit of lamb in olive oil in the 1994 revised edition of Mediterranean Cooking, I first saw it in a Riviera restaurant served with huge amounts of garlic.

From Turkey to Morocco, all parts of lamb preserved in fat are used as seasoning. See my slow mediterranean book for an updated Moroccan recipe for preserving lamb for flavoring couscous.

I think quail is put up for confit in southwest France. Perhaps someone reading this will share their thoughts on this subject. I'm stumped.

[FoodMan]

In the mountains of Lebanon, Qawarma (or Awarma or Kawarma) used to be a major source of sustenance in the winter. Basically it is lamb cooked in it own fat, mainly the fat from the "Liya"...the large lump of fat where the tail is. This is true lamb confit. Now, like all confits it is still done, but mainly for it's rich and delicious taste, not for long winter survival.