Luxuriously simple chicken confit; when one thinks of confit, the word simple doesn't usually appear. They typically think of fancy restaurants, chefs and a complicated dish. The reality is confit is no more tricky than planning an outfit in advance. It requires forethought, but not much more. I made a beautiful duck confit for our recent anniversary and it took a little planning, but the beauty is the oven does most of the grunt work.
Confit is a dish that is based wholly and unadulteratedly around fat. A combination of duck fat and olive oil to be precise, but lots of it. Enough to completely over the chicken legs and render them helpless, with no other option than to submit. What comes out of the oven and onto the plate is truly sublime. Tender, fall apart chicken. Subtly flavoured with herbs and garlic. Give the chicken a wee blast under the grill for a crispy coating and you have the best Sunday dinner.
This is, in fact the basic recipe for any kind of confit. Consider duck legs, rabbit or even small lamb shanks. Any meat on the bone will improve with covered in a herb salt and paralysed by a bath of fat. I would love to hear what combinations you explore.
Ingredients
- 100gm sea salt
- 6 fresh bay leaves
- 4 whole chicken legs, bone in and skin on
- 10gm fresh thyme
- 5 juniper berries
- 1 bulb of garlic, unpeeled and cut in half horizontally
- A good coating of pepper
- Enough fat or olive oil to cover - I used duck fat, topped up with olive oil
