Confit – Page 2 – Forcemeat Academy

Confit and braising are both ways to slow cook chicken and other meats. But what’s the difference and why would you choose one method over another? I wanted to know these answers (partly because my braising efforts don’t always work), so I researched the topics and put together this helpful article for you (and me). So…what's the difference between confit and deep braising? Confit and braising are slow cooking methods that create tender results. Confit is generally poultry slow cooked at low oven temperatures (200°F/93°C to 300°F/150°C) in its own fat and/or with supplementary fat such as lard. Braising is when meat and other foods are submerged in water, stock and/or wine and gently simmered (248°F/120°C to 300°F/148°C) for hours until fall-apart tender. Braising is used with cheap, tough cuts that have lots of connective tissue such as shanks, oxtail, tongue, brisket, rump roast, etc. Now you know the basic differences, let’s look at more details about confit and braising, their differences and similarities, what foods you can use in each of these cooking methods and how to achieve perfectly tender braised meat instead of wrecking your whole stew or pot roast. What is confit cooking? Confit cooking is a way to slow cook and preserve poultry (and sometimes pork) in animal fat, generally duck or goose fat and/or lard. Confit meat is tender, often so tender that it falls off the bone (though you don’t have to let it go this far, if that’s your preference). Confit is a traditional method for preserving meats, associated with the region of Gascony in France. It’s an old-school survival food. In their book, Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie, Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman say, “Before refrigeration, families would put up enough confit to last throught the winter … they wouldn’t eat this confit during the upcoming winter … They would eat the confit from the previous year only once they’d put up a new batch, to ensure that they had enough food for this year and the next.” Because of its humble beginnings, you can guess that it’s simple to make confit and you only need basic equipment from start to finish. Basic instructions for making confit: Marinate your poultry for eight hours to three days with salt and other aromatics. Put the poultry, additional fat (as necessary) and water, stock or wine in a pot that’s small enough so everything fits snugly. Cook low and slow for a few hours until the fat is clear and the meat sinks to the bottom. Put the meat in glass jars and cover it entirely with fat to keep the air out. Store your confit in the fridge (or cold room if for some strange reason you don’t have the internet but not a fridge, ha ha). [For more information on confit cooking, check out my epic article, Confit: Preserving Yummy Meats the French Way.] What is braising? Braising is a method of slow cooking tough cuts of meat in liquid such as water, stock, wine or beer. Meaty braising recipes often include aromatics (like garlic and onion) plus hearty vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. While I’m focusing on meat braising, it should be said that vegetables, grains and legumes can also be braised. Basic instructions for braising: Brown your meat and set aside. Sauté your onions and other aromatics until they’re pleasantly browed. Deglaze the pan with water, stock, wine or beer, according to your recipe. Add the rest of the ingredients (and make sure there’s enough liquid to cover the meat) and bring the liquid to a simmer. Cover the pot and transfer it to your preheated oven (or continue on the stove top though this makes it harder to keep the temperature at a simmer). Cook for hours until the meat is tender. Cool the stew, put it in the fridge and let the flavours mingle (this is ideal but if you can’t wait, you can eat it on the same day you cooked it). Reheat gently the next day and enjoy! Equipment needed for braising: A large, oven-proof pot. Your favourite enamelled cast iron pot—also known as a cocotte—is a good choice as it looks good enough to go from the oven to the table. Wooden spoon. Knife to cut all the ingredients. What’s the difference between confit and braising? The differences between confit and braising include the purpose, equipment required, ingredients, temperatures, time and suitability as comfort food. The differences between confit and braising Confit cookingBraisingThe purpose (and why choose each type of cooking)To cook meat until tender and preserve it in its own fat.To cook tough cuts of meat until tender. In meats with a lot of cartilage, the point is to cook until the cartilage is broken down, creating a gelatinous sauce.EquipmentA pot. The oven. A knife for cutting the meat.A pot. The oven. A wooden spoon. A knife for cutting the meat and veg.Cooking mediumFat, generally duck, goose or pork fat.Stock (made of water, stock, wine, beer, etc.) Cooking temperaturesLow oven temperature: 200°F (93°C) to 300°F (150°C).Low oven temperature but a little higher: 248°F (120°C) to 300°F (148°C).Preservation method?Yes.No.Time requiredTwo to six hours.Seven minutes (fish!) to four or five hours.Comfort foodNo. Unless you’re from Gascony in the 1700s.Yes. A good stew or goulash over some carbs (if you do that) on a cold winter day is the ultimate comfort. What are the similarities between confit and braising? The similarities between confit and braising is down to the slow cooking style and that they’re both cooked in liquid. Confit and braising both require enough liquid (either fat or stock) so the food is covered during cooking. (Though some braising recipes call for less liquid.) And for the home cook, it’s great news that both techniques require basic kitchen equipment; even if you’re a minimalist in the kitchen, you’ll have a pot, knife and wooden spoon. There are also similarities in terms of results. You get tender meat with both confit and braising, which is why people appreciate these two cooking methods. This is especially true for braising the tough cuts of meats—its’ so satisfying to know how to braise properly so you never have shoe leather for dinner again. What foods can you confit? Poultry is the main meat of traditional confit, but pork is also well suited to confit. In their book, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing, Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn say, “Pork is excellent for confit. In fact, confiting a pork loin from a commercially raised hog is a superb way of cooking this debased cut of meat. Actually, any part of the pig can be confited with excellent results. Confited belly and shoulder are rare treats in the home kitchen, extraordinary for their succulence and flavor.” With poultry, we often hear of confit duck legs, but you don’t have to stick with duck. You can confit goose, turkey and chicken too. Legs are the most commonly used for confit, but you can also use the wings. Breasts can become dry and mealy so it’s better to find another use for them. In his article, Duck confit, on the River Cottage website, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says, “The breasts can be hot-smoked or dry-cured and the rest of the carcass can be roasted and used to make stock.” While confit is mostly limited to birds and pigs, vegetable confits are increasingly common. You can make vegetable confit with tomatoes, squash and other root vegetables, fennel, onion, garlic, mushrooms, etc. They’re generally made with olive oil instead of animal fat and last a couple of weeks in the fridge (unlike poultry confit which can last months or even years). [To read more about confit, check out my epic article, Confit: Preserving Yummy Meats the French Way.] What foods can you braise? Braising is exciting because it’s so versatile. Meats that make for great braising: Poultry – Thighs and drumsticks. Pork – Shoulder, ribs, belly, blade roast and Boston butt roast. Beef – Chuck roast (a.k.a. pot roast), chuck arm roast, chuck eye roast, braising steaks (skirt, flank, leg), cheeks, oxtail, ribs, shin/shank and the shoulder clod arm roast. Lamb – Shank, shoulder, neck and leg. Rabbit – The whole thing. Fish – Thick fillets (3/4 of an inch to one inch thick), tails or the whole fish. You can also braise vegetables. I never tried this back in my veggie days, except for braised cabbage but that was an inappropriately named recipe (it should’ve been called sautéed cabbage with lots of butter). I must admit that I’ve now just looked at a few braised vegetable recipes and even with professional photography, they don’t look that appealing to me. Like, why not roast or sauté them? But, in case braised veggies sound good to you, check out Susie Middleton’s Braised Carrots, Red Onions & Bell Peppers with Ginger, Lime & Cilantro recipe on the Fine Cooking site. I’m including it because of the comment by reader Lilu_LDM, who says, “I'm not a good cook at all. I made this a couple of days back. I came out very delicious. Probably the best dish I've made in my whole life. :) The instructions are easy to follow and it's not very complicated but … it tastes so good.” So, I could be wrong about the whole braised vegetable issue. Now onto a topic dear to my heart because—I confess—I’ve wrecked many stews before because of inappropriate braising. And I’ve been known to blame hard-as-rock results not on my own shortcomings but on the extreme leanness of grass-fed stew beef. But as I researched the next section, I decided to take 100% accountability for my past braising sins. How to braise your meat so it’s perfectly tender—every time! Braising isn’t difficult but there are multiple ways to go wrong, as I know too well. In this section, I’ve put together the tricks that will make your meat tender. I haven’t added the tips about creating the perfect flavour as that’s not where folks go wrong. Tough meat that makes you want to cry after three hours of waiting—that’s how braising breaks hearts. In his book, The River Cottage Meat Book, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says, “[Braising] is the area of meat cookery in which, I suspect, most home cooks have the most room for improvement … when it comes to slow cooking, the shortcomings of the average cook often lie in their unwillingness to explore and experiment with unfamiliar ingredients, and to appreciate the full range of extraordinary flavours and wonderful textures that are there for the taking.” Guilty as charged! Braising tip #1: Use larger pieces of meat In the book, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, by Julia Child and Jacques Pépin, Jacques uses a five-pound piece of bottom round—the “eye round”—for his pot roast. He says, “It is lean and solid and becomes very tender and moist during braising, but still holds its shape and slices easily.” You can’t trust small pieces of lean meat (like stew beef) to cook to the same tenderness. In her legendary book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, The 40th Anniversary Edition, Julia Child says in her Boeuf Bourguignon recipe to use “lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes.” This is interesting because the stew beef I’ve totally wrecked came in smaller than 2-inch cubes (but still, I take full responsibility for my stew beef crimes). Braising tip #2: Use the right cut of meat Though Jacques and Julia suggest lean meat is okay, not everyone agrees. In Kelli Foster’s article on The Kitchn site, 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Beef Stew, she says, “The long, slow cook time leaves lean meat, like sirloin, tough and chewy, while tougher cuts, like chuck, break down and become really tender.” Fattier meat makes braising easier. In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, The 40th Anniversary Edition, Julia Child says, “Although it is not essential, beef for braising is usually larded. That is, strips of fresh pork fat are inserted into it, going in the direction of the grain.” That’s probably why Julia also said lean meat is okay for stewing. Personally, I’d rather find a fattier cut of chuck than do a sewing project on a leaner piece of meat. If you have a leaner cut of meat (sometimes chuck can even be too lean!) and larding doesn’t appeal to you, simply add chunks of pork belly or salted pork belly to your stew. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says in The River Cottage Meat Book, “I’d happily fling in, say, 250g [of pork belly/his homemade bacon] with a kilo of beef. This means … that roughly one in five pieces of meat in the finished stew will be bacon, not beef. That’s a ratio I’m more than happy with.” Braising tip #3: Brown the meat Many people think searing the meat seals in the juices but Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall disagrees. He’s absolutely in favour of searing the meat on high heat—not to seal in the juices but to create flavour. I’m adding this tip only because people think it’s for making tender meat; but now we know the true purpose. And this step means there’s lots of tasty bits when it’s time to deglaze the pan. Braising tip #4: Use a heavy pot with the lid Back to Jacques Pépin who says (in the Julia and Jacques book I mentioned earlier), “It’s also necessary to use a good pot for pot roast, such as an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven or covered casserole. It must have a heavy bottom and good heat transfer, to form the best crust, and a tight-fitting lid that will lock in the moisture so the meat won’t dry out.” The pot roast to accompany this advice looked amazing, I must say. Braising tip #5: Get the stock up to temperature before putting it into the oven Braising works at a low temperature in the oven but don’t let the oven do all the work of getting your stew to the right temperature. After you’ve browned, deglazed, added the aromatics, veggies and liquid, bring the pot to a simmer and then stick it in the pre-heated oven immediately. Julia, Jacques and Hugh all agree on this. And I’ve just learned something, decades later than I should have… Braising tip #6: Don’t go beyond the gentlest of simmers Braising is not boiling! In Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen, Fourth Edition, The Culinary Institute of America defines simmer as, “To maintain the temperature of a liquid just below boiling.” And in her book, French Provincial Cooking, Elizabeth David says, “Allow to barely simmer, to tremble or shudder rather, in the centre of the pot only … keeping the heat absolutely regular.” To do this, check your stew regularly and turn the heat up or down as required. Braising tip #7: Read this Fine Cooking article If you want to perfect your braising adventures but don’t have all the cookbooks I’ve mentioned, that’s okay. I recommend reading Tom Colicchio’s article, Braising Meat So It's Meltingly Tender on the Fine Cooking website. Conclusion Well, there you have it; confit and braising are great ways to make tender and satisfying meat dishes. May your confit be well preserved, and may your braising always tremble, but never boil!