SC - Re: sca-cooks SCA-ck Lard Preservation

[Terry Nutter]

Hi, Katerine here, responding to Adamantius, responding to me.

>> Depends what you call confit.  There are confit recipes in English cuisine
>> going back to the 14th C -- but they fall into three distinct categories,
>> and none are meat stored in fat.  Eel and pork in confit are both simply
>> dishes with sauce, and the indications are that they are to be served
>> directly from the kitchen.  Pears or quinces in confit are fruit stewed
>> in sweet wine syrup; they may have also been used for preserving, but
>> it isn't clear that they were.  And anise (and similar nuts and seeds)
>> in confit is a nut or seed surrounded by a hard sugar shell.
>> 
>> So what is it that people think originates in Savoy (and who are they,
>> and why do they think it)?
>
>Yes, I realize that the word "confit" has numerous definitions. I
>believe the clue to eel and pork confit might be this: are they served
>cold? I'll have to check. The possibility exists that they were served
>like some galantines in a jellied sauce made from the cooking liquid. I
>don't know this, not having looked at the recipes, but I'd be surprised
>to see a use of the word without some preservation connotation.

Nope.  These confits couldn't gel, and aren't served cold.  Looks like
a different dish.

>However, we were speaking in terms of goose, duck, or pork confit. The
>Larrouse Gastronomique (a resource I have learned to implicitly distrust
>EXCEPT in a case where French cooking is concerned) says that confit du
>canard/oie/porc originated in the province of Savoy. Also, Savoy says
>so, for what it's worth. Third, and most telling, is the fact that
>confit of bird or beast is generally made using the same set of
>ingredients, with changes made only to reflect the meat being used, and
>the herbs used to accompany them. Standard issue is garlic, salt,
>garlic, other herbs, and garlic. Considering the fact that the cuisine
>of Savoy is now characterized by precisely these ingredients (with goose
>fat being the preferred frying fat and shortening), I'd say this is a
>possibility worth looking into. 

Looks like an entirely different dish from English brawn in confit, then.

>                                Bear in mind, I only asked about
>Chiquart. Is Chiquart full of references to eel, anise, caraway, or
>quince confit?

Don't know, offhand; but "French confits of pork, goose, and duck originate
in Savoy" is rather a different claim from "confits originate in Savoy",
or even from "confits of pork, goose, and duck do."   The former may
well be true (whether or not they turn up in Chiquart); the latter two,
I think, are not.

Cheers,

- -- Katerine/Terry