Learn french in France

When you come to France to learn French at Azurlingua, the teachers will eventually talk about how fabulous the cuisine is here in Nice.  Learning the French language is just one of the things you will be learning in France, you will also want to learn how to cook your own meals just like how the French do.  Duck Confit is a very famous French dish that is made with duck legs.  It is used as an ingredient for many other cuisines.   The confit is prepared for preservation, which contains salt curing a piece of meat and then poaching the meat in its own fat.  Duck is usually used for this particular bowl or you can use pork if you want to.  Not only can you prepare it yourself, but you can also buy it in a can which will last for a few years.  This fastidious dish is made across France everywhere and it is considered a specialty in Gascony.  Gascony is in the southwest part of France in the Provence.    

Preparation:

1. Start by rubbing the meat (duck) with salt, garlic and herbs.  Some suggest thyme.  After you have rubbed all the herbs…
2. Now cover up the entire duck with foil and put it in the refrigerator for up to 36 hours.  When complete salt curing with a piece of meat it acts like a preservative…
3. After the 36 hours have passed, you then take the duck and rinse all the spices off and pat it to dry with a paper towel. 
4. It is important that you cook the duck in a deep dish that has room to contain all of the rendered fat from the meat while it is cooking so there is lots of space for the fat to go.
5. The duck is cooked at a very low temperature 170-275 Fahrenheit and is cooked extremely slow.  Sometimes it can take up to 4-10 hours to make the meat tender and for the meat to fall right off the bone.
6. You remove the meat and fat from the oven and let it sit till it cools down.
7. Transfer the meat to a canning jar and submerge it in the fat.  Topping the meat with fat by one inch above will maximize preservation for canning purposes
8. When this method is performed you can cook any type of duck in this fat by frying or grilling it.  You can also sautéed vegetables, eggs, quiches, tarts, potatoes pretty much whatever you like.

A recipe that is known all over France is to fry or grill duck legs in the fat (the recipe above) until the legs are crisp and golden.  To add to the dish cook potatoes and garlic with the duck fat, this is called pommes de terre a la sarladaise.  If you want you can also use other types of vegetables to accompany the dish like red cabbage slowly braised in the oven with apples and red wine.  If you’re not someone who likes to cook or you do not know how to cook food, visit some of the restaurants in the old town of Nice (vieille ville) where they might have this dish and many more. 

Hope you enjoy making your duck fat! 

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