Confit de Canard - a recipe from France for confit de canard (preserved duck)
Confit de canard (preserved duck) is another of those things that is often almost impossible to get outside of France, but in France weighs down the supermarket shelves. It is usually bought in tins containing four - six portions of duck, preserved in goose fat. Confit de canard is essentially duck that has been cooked by simmering in oil for a while, then preserved in goose fat.
When we still lived in the UK we would fill the car with tins of confit de canard at the end of our stay, rather than the duty-free wine that everyone else took home. I recommend you do the same.
Someone made the comment that telling you to get your confit out of a tin is not in the spirit of true French cooking (although it would be the reality for most). Unfortunately making your own preserved duck doesn't qualify as quick and easy but for completeness I have added a recipe at the bottom of the page
Getting the confit out of the tin is the only unpleasant part of the exercise, especially if the tin is cold and the goose fat has solidified. If so, leave the tin in a warm place for an hour or two before trying to get it out.
Recipe for Confit de Canard
Method- Scoop the confit de canard pieces out of the tin (see comments posted below if you want to try and make your own)
- Put them on a baking tray in a medium oven for 15 minutes. The intention here is rather to warm the confit de canard and remove the excess fat, than to cook it further. Don't cook longer - it is hard to destroy confit de canard, but over-cooking can do it.
- That's it, ready.
- Serve with salad, dauphinoise potatoes, plenty of fresh bread, and a nice glass of Bordeaux.
- Remember to save the goose fat for your next batch of oven-roasted potatoes.
- See also the cassoulet recipe for a slightly more sophisticated use of Confit de Canard.
To Make Confit de Canard - preserved duck
Joint the duck/goose;cover the pieces with sea salt and leave somewhere cool for 48 hours;
simmer the pieces in goose fat for 2-3 hours;
put the pieces in preserving jars and pour the goose fat on top to completely cover the pieces.
Sterilise the jars, then use within a couple of months.
(this method for making confit de canard is courtesy Floyd on France, a fine French recipe book unfortunately now out of print. I've never made it myself!)
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Creme brulee recipe from France
For years I was put off creme brulee, for reasons that I have long forgotten. But after years of pressure from my family I was eventually persuaded to try it. Perhaps we were in a restaurant where everything else was 'off the menu'. To cut a short story even shorter, it was great and I have enjoyed it many times since. It still took a while before I was brave enough to make it myself, having seen it made on television using something like an flamethrower for the finishing touches.
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
300ml whipping / double cream
vanilla pod
1 tablespoon caster sugar
demarara sugar
Method
- Heat the cream gently in a saucepan with the vanilla pod
- Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together, then slowly pour in the warm cream, stirring continuously
- Remove the vanilla pod and divide the mixture between the ramekins (little creme brulee dishes)
- Put the ramekins in a roasting tin, and pour water into the tin until it is 2/3 of the way up the edges of the ramekins. Make sure water does not splash into the ramekins.
- Put in a preheated oven (160-170 degrees C) for 30 minutes
- Allow to cool (you can put them in a refrigerator to speed this up). They should be completely cold before the final stage.
- Sprinkle a thick layer (3mm) of demarara sugar on top of each one. Put them under a high grill, close to the heat, until the sugar has melted together. Watch attentively! If the sugar is melting unevenly turn them around. Should take less than 5 minutes.
- Or use a propane blowtorch if you have one to hand.
- The creme brulee should now have a 'crunchy' top. Eat within 30 minutes or the crust will start to go soft.
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Boeuf bourguignon recipe, France
Guest recipe supplied by Peter Chapman at Le Bignon restaurant - please see below the recipe for further information and ways to enjoy more of Peter's cooking for yourself.
Every recipe book you read will tell you that theirs is the only and most authentic recipe. I just think mine tastes good! It is much better to cook this in a large cast iron casserole so that all the flavour from the browning stage is not lost.
This dish should be started the day before!
Ingredients
- 1 Kg Chuck Steak* cut into 100gm cubes (about 4 inches)
- Large carrot roughly chopped
- Large onion chopped
- Two fresh bay leaves
- Two cloves garlic crushed in their skins
- Two cloves
- One bottle robust red wine
- Ten black peppercorns
- Tablespoon Madeira
- Beurre manie (teaspoon flour and teaspoon butter mashed together)
- Tablespoon butter
- Chopped parsley
- Olive oil
Method
Put the pieces of beef in a large glass bowl and add the next seven ingredients making sure that the beef is covered. Cover the bowl and allow to marinate for 24 hours.
When ready to start cooking, take the meat out of the marinade and dry it thoroughly on kitchen paper. In a casserole heat a tablespoon each of oil and butter until the butter stops foaming and then add the meat pieces four at a time.
Brown them over a high heat on all sides – they should look really crusty almost like a steak – and then take them out of the pan and add the next four, until you have a pile of fragrant beef.
Add the drained vegetables from the marinade to the casserole and brown those too and then pour in the wine marinade. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer and pile the meat back in. The meat should be entirely covered by liquid. If not add a little beef stock or more red wine if you have a bottle handy, bring back to a simmer and place in a low oven (140°C) for three hours.
It is worth checking the meat every hour and if the level of liquid has dropped and the meat looks a little exposed, turn it over gently in the liquid. Even if the meat looks burned, don’t be alarmed and don’t add more liquid – you need the gentle reduction of the sauce and the darkening of the meat for flavour – if the pan looks totally dry, your oven thermostat has broken!
Towards the end of the cooking time, gently poke the meat with a fork – it is done when it starts to break apart when you do this.
Take the casserole from the oven and carefully lift out the meat into a warm dish and set to one side.
Strain the sauce into a clean pan and place it over a low heat. Allow it to come to a gentle boil. Add the Madeira and reduce until it tastes as strong as you like – the sauce should become almost syrupy. Whisk in the butter and flour mix and keep whisking until blended.
Add the meat back to the sauce to heat through and serve a couple of large chunks per person with the sauce poured over, scattered with chopped parsley.
This Traditional Boeuf Bourguignon recipe recipe was supplied to francethisway by Peter Chapman, chef and joint proprietor of Le Bignon, a restaurant and chambre d'hote in a beautiful manor house in the Pays de la Loire. You can purchase their recipe book with further delicious recipes if you visit their website.
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Creme brulee recipe from France
For years I was put off creme brulee, for reasons that I have long forgotten. But after years of pressure from my family I was eventually persuaded to try it. Perhaps we were in a restaurant where everything else was 'off the menu'. To cut a short story even shorter, it was great and I have enjoyed it many times since. It still took a while before I was brave enough to make it myself, having seen it made on television using something like an flamethrower for the finishing touches.
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
300ml whipping / double cream
vanilla pod
1 tablespoon caster sugar
demarara sugar
Method
- Heat the cream gently in a saucepan with the vanilla pod
- Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together, then slowly pour in the warm cream, stirring continuously
- Remove the vanilla pod and divide the mixture between the ramekins (little creme brulee dishes)
- Put the ramekins in a roasting tin, and pour water into the tin until it is 2/3 of the way up the edges of the ramekins. Make sure water does not splash into the ramekins.
- Put in a preheated oven (160-170 degrees C) for 30 minutes
- Allow to cool (you can put them in a refrigerator to speed this up). They should be completely cold before the final stage.
- Sprinkle a thick layer (3mm) of demarara sugar on top of each one. Put them under a high grill, close to the heat, until the sugar has melted together. Watch attentively! If the sugar is melting unevenly turn them around. Should take less than 5 minutes.
- Or use a propane blowtorch if you have one to hand.
- The creme brulee should now have a 'crunchy' top. Eat within 30 minutes or the crust will start to go soft.
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