Confit to be tied!

[lsdesign]

Today at work the sandwich special was prosciutto and brie with a rosemary and fig confit on a baguette. We were all quized by the dining room manager to make sure we all knew what a confit was, she said, "like chutney". When I got home I looked it up in the dictionary, it said, duck or goose cooked in its own fat and then preserved.
So my question is are new meanings being dreamed up by the chef at work or are there other meanings that have been added in recent times.
If any of you know, I'd love to know too.:confused:

[Alisa]

Good Grief! I thought confit was in the jam/preserves/conserves family too! I am at work (in a library) and just looked it up in 3 dictionaries - they all say "duck in fat" (slight paraphrase). Yeesh.

[Ohioan]

Do you think she might have been thinking of "conserve" rather than "confit"?

Cheers,
Phoebe

[lsdesign]

I think that conserve is more correct but I dare not challenge the chef on this. Men are often so offended when you question them, in this case I am but a lowly waitress and what would I know any way?

[Alisa]

Ah come on.. at least write an anonymous note!!! And what's this JUST a waitress stuff?!?;)

[Svadhisthana]

confit is duck cooked in it's own fat. a conserve is a jam made with two or more berries/ friuts.

[emilycat]

Is it possible that she's using confit to describe the technique? I have heard it used as such on several occasions. At L'Ecole, a renowned restaurant in NYC, I had a dish that was complemented by a white bean confit, and in my French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking, there is a recipe for Lemon Confit. And I assure you, neither of those involve the use of any duck fat.

[Mamasue]

I don't know but boy this sounds real good. Is there a possibibility that you can get the recipe on the fig confit/conserve? Yummmm :D

[Dorothy]

I believe she is talking about a technique. In the Aug/Sep 1999 issue of Fine Cooking there is an article were the writer talks about preparing tomato "confit" (using quotation marks). The tomatoes are slow roasted in the oven with a generous coating of olive oil. Then they can be stored in the fridge for weeks covered with oil. I think the whole technique has to do with using some kind of fat.