Confit

We’ve spent the last couple of weeks making duck and goose confit.
Aldi has been selling frozen ducks and geese at pretty reasonable prices, and Asda have taken to selling duck legs for £2.70 a pair.
Makes a change from chutney – on which subject, SWMBO cooked up a huge vat of green bean chutney using our entire green bean crop from this summer. And then threw it all away as it wasn’t at all nice…
First up, dissect your bird – separate the legs and breast, and perhaps the wings if there’s a bit of meat on them.

Marinade in salt, oil, pepper, thyme, bay leaves and juniper berries.
After a couple of days stewing in the marinade, clear off the salt and vegetation and sear the meat.
Put it in a casserole dish, cover with goose fat and cook at 150 degrees C for a couple of hours. Yes, all that liquid is goose fat.
Then put it in jars and cover with lashings of goose grease.
End result – one of my favourite foods. No, strike that. My absolute favourite food.
Roast it in a moderately hot oven on a rack so that the fat drips off and the skin goes crispy.
Serve with reblochonade – sliced potatoes baked with a piece of reblochon cheese on top so that it melts through it.
Can you feel your arteries hardening just reading this?

More Flinty Red

Flinty Red asked me in recently to take some shots in the kitchen for them to use to publicise their Outside Catering service.
Some Creme Brulees (or should that be Cremes Brulee?) in the foreground, with Max the (temporary) chef in the background.

Crostini, ready to be loaded up with Marsala-cooked onions on Ricotta.
This was actually the (really nice) staff dinner – pork, beans, herbs and some of the Marsala onions.
Onglet with courgettes. I think the yellow ones came from Matt the chef’s own garden.
Fresh haloumi cheese
I had an email yesterday from someone at the BBC (yes, that BBC), asking for photos of Flinty Red to use in one of their food magazines. Coo!