Smoked Chicken Thigh Confit

 

Some months ago, a recipe from Texas Monthly, came across my desk.  As soon as I read the title, Smoked Chicken Thigh Confit; I was intrigued.  Daniel Vaughn, the T.M. BBQ Editor was the author of the recipe.

What was this?  Smoked Chicken Thigh Confit?  I am familiar with duck leg confit and it is one of my favorite dishes.  But smoked chicken thigh confit?  Being a fan of smoked items and confit, I had to try it.

I make duck confit for a few reasons.  1. It tastes very good.  2. The duck legs become very tender. 3.  The confit keeps for a long time in the refrigerator.  4. As the confit is kept the flavor mellows becomes even nicer.

But duck legs are not readily accessible to me.  I have to make an approximate 25-mile round trip to buy duck legs at a local Asian market.  Where duck legs are not readily available to me, chicken thighs are at my local grocery. 

 The 1st time I made the smoked chicken thigh recipe, I made four thighs.  I then made the recipe a 2nd time with 4 thighs but changed it up by using curing salt on half of the thighs.  This time I made double the original recipe by using eight chicken thighs. 

Why no curing salt on the latest batch?  Honestly, I could not tell much difference between the batch with and without the curing salts.  And, confit has been prepared for decades without curing salts. If I was preparing this dish for a high-risk population, I would add curing salt just for added food safety.

One of my favorite ways of serving duck confit is on a bed of lentils with potatoes fried in the confit fat.  So, I thought this basic method would work well with this version of confit.  I have exchanged white beans for the lentils.   

Over the last three years or so, I have changed how I fry potatoes.  Classically we are taught to fry a potato in two stages.  But, I have found I can consistently produce a very nice fried potato by starting it in cold fat.  I did not create this method but really do endorse it.

In the case of fried potatoes to accompany confit, I use the confit fat to cook the potatoes.  This adds a very nice unctuousness to the finished fried potato.

This basic dish, of confit with white beans and confit fat fried potatoes is utterly delightful and very rich.  It is nice to be able to transform a pedestrian chicken thigh into something that so flavorful and tender enough to fall off the bone.

#LifeLongLearning #LifeLongTeaching #FamilyFood



As always, your questions or comments are welcome.

Until next time.

Bon Appetit Y’all

Leslie Bartosh


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