Cooking with Duck Confit

What is confit? Confit is a French word that means “preserved,” and refers to a method of slow cooking food – and storing it – in fat. Duck confit is a common ingredient in Gascony, the Southwest region of France, where you’ll find many small jars filled with confit of all kinds stored in the cellars. It was developed long before refrigeration to tenderize a tough cut and to store it over the winter. Both the process and the meat that has been through this process are called confit. Duck leg confit is a signature D’Artagnan product, and a vital ingredient in our cassoulet recipe kit.

Confit: a Brief History - Our Products – Dartagnan.com

It’s very easy to make your own confit, but it is time-consuming. You will need plenty of duck fat to bathe the duck legs - or rabbit legs, as in our recipe. Conquer confit at home, or go the easy route and buy our duck leg confit or our chicken leg confit.

How to Cook with Duck Confit

There’s no end of ways to eat duck confit. The classic way to enjoy it is to simply warm it, either skin-side down in a pan with duck fat, or put it under the broiler for a few minutes until the meat is heated through and the skin is super crispy. Confit will add a dimension to just about any dish, but here are a few ideas for enjoying duck leg confit.

Perfect Pasta

Choose your favorite pasta, and add a serving of shredded duck confit on top, or toss it with pasta for duck confit carbonara. Add a fried duck egg on top – with a runny yolk – for the ultimate pasta dish.

Best Biscuits and Gravy

A comfort food classic becomes even more delicious with shredded duck confit. Pour thick gravy over flaky biscuits and duck confit for a truly delightful experience.

Duck Confit in Pie

Swap out chicken in a pot pie, or beef in shepherd’s pie, and use duck instead. Nothing says comfort like duck confit in a pie. Our duck confit shepherd’s pie recipe is a fall and winter favorite.

Potatoes and Duck

Grated or sliced potatoes browned with duck fat in a pan are the perfect nest for shredded duck confit. Another way to enjoy duck confit with potatoes is our easy sheet pan recipe with green beans and fingerlings.

Duck Sandwiches

Shredded duck confit can serve as the center of attraction in many types of sandwiches; try it with your favorite BBQ sauce or in our Vietnamese-style duck confit banh mi recipe.

Duck Confit with Beans

Of course, duck confit and white Tarbais beans are a natural pairing, best experienced in cassoulet. But another favorite is duck confit with lentils, as this recipe attests. Get French green lentils, often called lentilles du Puy, if you can find them. Serve over creamed sorrel or spinach.

Duck Nachos and Tacos

Use shredded duck confit instead of ground beef and layer into nachos for your next game-day treat. Many chefs offer duck confit tacos, which are easy and fun to cook at home.

Duck Salad

Crisped in the oven or on a grill, shredded duck confit is perfect on a salad. Our recipe for crispy duck salad with Thai chile and lime dressing is bright and refreshing. Or try an Ariane favorite: duck salad in the style of Gascony.

Duck Confit with Greens

Steam spinach or sauté Swiss chard in duck fat, and stir with shredded duck confit until well heated.

Duck Confit with Cabbage

For a savory meal, place duck confit in a pot with shredded cabbage, white wine, and chicken broth and bake it all for about an hour. Garbure is a classic dish of Southwestern France and is the epitome of comfort food.

Duck Chili

This quick and easy chili recipe uses three types of duck charcuterie, a little beer, and plenty of fresh chile peppers for great depth of flavor and a hearty texture.