Twelve months chilled under its fat cap. Five days once broken.
On the palate
Deeply savoury, unctuous, faintly herbal. The skin crisps like glass.
Where this dish comes from
Confit is Gascon, and it is the reason the southwest of France ate well through winters that had no refrigeration. The word is simply the past participle of confire, to preserve. Salt draws water out, the fat excludes air, and a sealed crock of legs under fat will keep in a cold larder for the better part of a year.
The method is medieval at the latest and likely far older; Roman authors describe meat kept under fat and oil, and the same logic underlies Middle Eastern qawarma and English potted meats.
André Daguin of the Hôtel de France in Auch was confit's great modern champion, and Ariane Daguin carried it to America with D'Artagnan. Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of South-West France (1983) is still the definitive account, and the dish anchors menus from Bistrot Paul Bert in Paris to Balthazar in New York.
How we make it
Wiped, not rinsed. Rinsing a cured leg puts water back into the meat, and water in the confit pot is how a batch turns rancid.
82°C for ten hours, held on a thermostat and checked hourly. Above 90°C the fat starts to fry rather than poach and the meat shreds dry.
Cure and confit
12 hours cure · 10 hours confit
01Legs cured overnight in salt, thyme, garlic and cracked pepper.
02Wiped clean — never rinsed — and submerged in their own rendered fat.
03Held at 82°C for ten hours until the bone gives with no resistance.
04Sealed under a cap of fat that becomes the seal itself.
Skin side down in a dry pan until it crackles. Do not add fat; it has enough.
THE INGREDIENT LEDGER
Every defining ingredient, named: who grew or caught it, where, when it was taken, what it has meant to the people who kept it, and what it does for you.
Moulard duck legs
Processed November 2025
Farm / fishery
A pasture flock raised on open range, no cages
Region
Hudson Valley, New York
History
Confit is Gascony's oldest larder trick: legs salted, cooked slow in their own fat, then sealed under it in stoneware for the winter.
Why it is good for you
Duck fat is largely monounsaturated — closer to olive oil than butter — and the meat is high in iron and B vitamins.
Nutrition, roughly
Per 100 g: 200 kcal · 19 g protein · 13 g fat · iron, zinc, B12.
Rendered duck fat
Rendered November 2025
Farm / fishery
Rendered in-house from the same birds
Region
Hudson Valley
History
In a Gascon house the fat was worth as much as the meat and was used until the last spoonful.
Why it is good for you
Stable at heat, resistant to oxidation, rich in oleic acid.
Nutrition, roughly
Per tablespoon: 113 kcal · 13 g fat.
Garlic, thyme & bay cure
Cure mixed the day of salting, November 2025
Farm / fishery
Farm garlic; herbs from the atelier garden
Region
Hudson Valley · Sonoma
History
Forty-eight hours in salt and aromatics before any heat — the step that separates confit from a roast.
Why it is good for you
Allicin, thymol and bay oils, all traditional digestives.
Nutrition, roughly
Negligible.
Nutrition figures are typical values for the ingredient itself and are given as a guide, not as a dietary claim. Harvest dates refer to the batch printed on your lid.
