Confit (French) is a special delicate French traditional rustic way of cooking and preserving meat: meat is pressed at low temperatures in its own juice and fat. Cooked meat is stored in greased pots (in the southern regions, olive oil is sometimes used instead of fat). Such methods of preparation and storage of products are known in the traditions of other peoples. By the way, do not be afraid of fat, according to the latest research, we need it - in reasonable quantities, of course, besides, fat-free food is basically unpleasant and disgusting to taste.
Such a method as confit is very suitable for the preparation of waterfowl (duck, goose) and pork meat, but we will tell you how it is possible to cook conf from chicken.
Chicken meat is cheaper than duck and goose, as a rule, in cities it can be bought in the form of separate parts of the carcass, in addition, it is easier to digest by the human body. But ... we need a lot of fat. Depending on the availability and desire, we can safely use for the preparation of chicken confit as chicken overdried fat, or goose or pig, such combinations will also be gastronomically interesting.
The main rule of cooking confit: the optimum cooking temperature is from 80 to 130 (well, to 150) degrees Celsius. Well, if you have an advanced oven, if not, the problem is solved (there are also such devices - flame dividers, ).
Confiture of chicken liver with cognac
Ingredients:
- Fresh or freshly frozen chicken liver - 300 g;
- fat chicken (goose or pork) inverted -150 g;
- ground spices (black pepper and fragrant, cloves, grated nutmeg, ground coriander seeds);
- cognac or grape, apple or pear brandy - 1 tbsp. a spoon.
Preparation
You can cook in a frying pan or in pots in an oven, or in a cooling Russian stove, or on a cooling "Swede" (oven with a stove with removable rings).
We'll prepare the liver: we'll rinse it, throw it back in a colander, and then - on a napkin. Slightly add and abundantly sprinkled with a mixture of ground spices, brandy beverages. Let the chicken liver pomarinuetsya at least an hour 2, and better - night. Salt the secreted liquid and - can be cooked.
We will cook in a deep frying pan - the liver is cooked quickly. Melt a lot of fat in a frying pan. The supply of fire must be the lowest. Let's immerse the liver in fat completely, cover the frying pan with a lid and let us torment (in fact - cook in fat, not fry) for about 30-40 minutes. Too long to not torment should not be - the liver will become stiff.
Readiness is tested by experiment: we extract a piece, cut, look at the color, taste it. We put the prepared liver in a ceramic container (a bowl, a pot), fill it with fat, in which it was stewed, covered with a lid or a plate. This dish is kept long enough and without a refrigerator. At any time, you can take the mute and eat with any side dish or just a piece of bread, fresh vegetables and greens.
Similarly, you can make confit from chicken ventricles, only the cooking time will be at least 2.5-3 hours.
Also it will be delicious to get confit from chicken legs, before pickling, they must first be cut into the shin and thigh, possibly, and split the hip into 2 separate parts. Next, we prepare chicken meat in fat, as described above, for at least 3 hours.
You can make a confit from a chicken breast. Cut the fillet with the skin from the chicken breast barrels in two pieces. You can cut each piece across in half. Marinate the meat in spices with cognac or brandy, then prepare also as legs (see above). The meat from the breast is somewhat dry, during cooking it will become saturated with fat and become much more tender. Serve chicken confit with light wine - it will be better absorbed.