One of my favorite restaurants in Fredericksburg, Vaudeville, offers Chicken Confit in a few different varieties. You can get it on top of a salad, in a sandwich and sometimes even in a flavorful quiche. I always wanted to try to make it at home but never had done so, until recently.
I guess I should back up. Let’s discuss exactly what the word confit means. Confit means to slowly cook and preserve in fat. You might of heard of duck confit, typically duck legs cooked in duck fat. I have made garlic confit and even tomato confit. I decided it was time for me to tackle the bird.
Since I am not a huge fan of duck, duck fat yes, duck legs are a no, I decided to work with chicken instead. I had the idea of what I was looking for in the end result. I want a very flavorful, moist chicken that could be served on its own. Creating dishes that can a bit elevated and done in advance is something I love to do. When entertaining, preparing something in advance and reheating the day of the event, is a match made in heaven.
I started by making a very herb heavy salt to dry brine the chicken. I prefer breast meat (I know, thighs. have more flavor) and legs, because that is my husbands favorite. You also could cut up a whole chicken and use all the pieces. This recipe uses 3-4 pounds of chicken so that would work perfectly.
I dry brined them over night then rinsed and dried them before I started the cooking process.
I filled the dutch oven with the chicken, more herbs, shallots, garlic and a ton of oil. It slowly cooked for 4 hours. I then let it set until it cooled. I separated the oil from the drippings and made some beautiful gravy to pour over mashed potatoes and the chicken.
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