Confit

DUCK CONFIT IS MADE by gently cooking duck parts completely submerged in their own fat. Twenty-five years ago, confit could be found only in Southwest France, where it was used as a method of preserving duck and goose without refrigeration, but now the dish shows up more often than not in a typical French restaurant. Of all the ways to cook duck legs, confit is the most popular and fashionable. However, because duck confit recipes call for a lot of duck fat, many home cooks are horrified when they read the recipe. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll end up eating very little of this fat, because it’s rendered during the slow cooking.