What do you do with duck confit?

So what's all the fuss about duck confit (and duck fat for that matter)? Well, if you've ever had duck confit, you know the answer to that question, but for those of you who haven't tried it, it's something pretty special. Here's a description of confit and a recipe to follow.

What is it?

Duck confit is a French dish made with the leg of the duck. The word 'confit' literally means 'preserve' and is a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salt curing a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then poaching it in its own fat.

To prepare a confit, the meat is rubbed with salt, garlic, and sometimes herbs such as thyme, then covered and refrigerated for up to 36 hours. Prior to cooking, the spices are rinsed from the meat, which is then patted dry. The meat is placed in a cooking dish deep enough to contain the meat and the rendered fat, and placed in an oven at a low temperature. The meat is cooked until meltingly tender (generally four to ten hours).

What you end up with is two-fold; an amazingly tender piece of meat and a well seasoned fat. Serve your confit with salad, as a side with beans (as in the classic cassoulet), as a stuffing for pasta (or served with pasta), a filling for spring rolls - the possibilities are endless. Plus, you have a well seasoned fat that is excellent for roasting potatoes, braising cabbage or frying eggs in. Now before you gasp in fear at frying an egg in duck fat you should know, it's lower in cholesterol than butter!

We have duck confit available at Tria: Gourmet Eats to Go, downtown at the Butcher's Block, 319-4th Street, Courtenay.

Here's a simple recipe for a lovely salad featuring duck confit. You can find local pears right now in the Comox Valley and Little Qualicum's Bleu Claire cheese is amazing with this salad.

Duck Confit with Pears and Blue Cheese

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon shallot, finely chopped
• 1 duck confit leg
• 1 Anjou or Bartlett pear
• mixed greens
• 1-2 ounces Roquefort or other blue cheese
• salt and pepper.

Method:

• Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the duck leg and cook until well browned on all sides. Transfer to a cutting board. When cool enough to touch shred the meat into bite size pieces.
• Combine the vinegar, shallot, mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in the oil.
• Halve the pear, remove the core, and slice thinly.
• Toss the greens, duck, pear, and dressing into a large bowl. Stir until combined and then sprinkle on the Roquefort cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste

Tria: Gourmet Eat to Go is located at 319-4th Street, Courtenay (inside The Butcher's Block). Our hours of operation are Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Our menus are growing and changing, keep checking back for updates or drop us an e-mail if you'd like to be added to our newsletter

Lunch Menu

You can grill any of the following sandwiches. Please note: it takes approximately 6-8 minutes for grilling. We happily take phone in orders.

THE DELISH - Fiesta Greenhouse roasted and house-smoked peppers, red onion jam, Pattison Farm’s basil pesto and goat cheese cream on our house baked focaccia
7.50 + TAX

MUFFULETTA – Butcher’s Block in-house smoked ham, a mixed olive salad, Natural Pasture’s boerenkaas cheese on our house-baked focaccia
7.50 + TAX

THE ROCKIN’ MOROCCAN – oven roasted chicken, roughly chopped and mixed with our blend of toasted Moroccan inspired spices, feta cheese, Nature’s Way Farm arugula pesto and charred green onion on our house baked focaccia
7.85 + TAX

DOUBLE MEAT LOVE – Loads of our own roast beef AND the Butcher’s Block in-house smoked ham, caramelized onions, cheese, roasted garlic spread, mixed greens, tomatoes and cucumbers
8.25 + TAX

THE CLUCKIN GOOD TIME! – 4 oz of our house brined and roasted chicken, layered with our house-smoked ham and slathered with aged white cheddar, served on our house baked ciaguette bread with a brown butter-mustard dressing. Broiled to perfection until hot and gooey! Only served from noon-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday
9.25 + tax

THE VEGGIE – Simple and lovely! Lots of cucumbers, tomatoes, mixed greens, cheese, our roasted garlic spread and sundried tomato pesto (veggies change with the seasons)
6.50 + TAX

Daily Soup
8 oz – 3.75 + tax
12 oz – 5.25 + tax

Side Salads
8 oz – 3.50 + tax
12 oz – 5 + tax

Tria's Take Home Dinner Choices and Sides

This is a new and growing component to Tria so keep checking back for our ever-growing and expanding take home dinner options. Our take home dinner menu will change with the seasons but you'll always find the following in our display case:

Deluxe Shepherd's Pie - We start with a chuck roast that we sear until golden, add onions and carrots and cook until they are caramelized and heavenly and then we add red wine and our house made chicken stock and cook for 4-5 hours until we have a decadent beef ragu base. We top this ragu base with our outrageously creamy and lightly truffled mash potato. Not your regular Shepherd's Pie!

Decadent Mac N' Cheese - Five different cheeses make this mac n' cheese something to behold! Topped with panko crumbs that have been toasted in brown butter and mixed with parmesan cheese.

Smoky Maple Baked Beans - White beans that we've smoked and then cooked for several hours with a mixture of onions, maple syrup and slow roasted tomatoes. Grab some Kassler loin or some pork ribs from the Butcher's Block and you've got dinner!

Twice Baked Potatoes - Excellent with a side salad and a steak. We take B.C. potatoes, bake them, scoop them, and combine with a mixture of smoked boerenkaas cheese and roasted garlic and then top them with smoked paprika. Smooth, creamy and delicious.