Confit Chicken with Thyme

Serves 6-8 | time 4-8 hours (plus marinating time)

Prep 15 minutes | Cook 4-8 hours

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Ingredients

500g chicken legs or thighs

bunch of thyme

2 x cloves of garlic

500ml vegetable oil (check)

200ml olive oil (check)

salt

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Method

Part 1

Put all the chicken in ziplock bags, layer garlic and herbs and salt them liberally as you layer the chicken. Place in the fridge overnight.

Part 2

Warm your slow cooker (or pre heat your oven) and take the chicken out of the bag, separate the herbs and garlic and rinse or wipe the chicken removing any excess salt. The meat will always be a touch salty due to the dry brine but the more you wipe off the better. If you do rinse – be careful about splashing raw chicken water all over the place.

Mix your oils together. Definitely do use a mix of olive and veg / rapeseed oil. Olive oil is luxurious and tasty but can be overpowering in large amounts – also incredibly expensive. So mix it. Obviously if you want to be super traditional about it, use animal fat (chicken or duck is best for chicken as pork will naturally make the meat taste porky).

Pour a bit in the warmed slow cooker so it’s coats the bottom and lay your chicken in rows. Leave gaps between each piece if you can. Then lay some garlic and herbs from the brine on top of the chicken and begin laying more chicken on top. Top up with oil as you go making sure all the chicken is submerged. This is super important as the whole point of confit is to preserve the meat and if it’s not submerged oxygen will get to the meat which will result in bacteria forming.

Part 3

For a slow cooker put it on low for 6-8hours and if you are in a rush on high for 3-4 hours (although I would recommend longer and lower).

If using an oven cook it at 100 degrees C for 6-8 hours.

Once cooked, either transfer chicken and fat to a container or pan fry to crisp the skin and eat right away

I use this chicken in tacos, crispyed up with pancakes and plum sauce in the place of duck, you can use it in salads, croquettes. Tons of stuff.

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