It is that time of year. The weather cools and we start rummaging through our minds for new ideas. Wild game, chestnuts and dried fruits are the first ingredients to surface. Eventually we get to turkey. It is not an afterthought. A turkey is big. It is not difficult to work with. It's difficult to find a use for all the meat. We have found that preparing turkey confit allows us to have turkey on hand and be able to draw upon it as we want instead of serving it all at once. We cure the thighs with onions, parsley, garlic, smoked paprika, and salt for 2 days. We cook the turkey in lard in a 250°F oven for 4 hours, until fork tender. Then we transfer the thighs to a clean container and strain the cooking fat over them. Cool the meat and then refrigerate in a covered container for up to a month in buried in the fat. When we pull some turkey out we make sure the rest is still completely covered with the fat to prevent exposure to air during storage. We have pan roasted whole thighs for a quick dinner and shredded the meat for croquettes and rillettes. Of course we fold large chunks of the meat into pasta ragouts and combine them with beans and spices for a quick chili. Interestingly we have not brought turkey confit to the Thanksgiving table, yet. Maybe it's a project for this year...
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