The word confit gets thrown around a lot, to the point where it's technical meaning sorta gets lost.  So, actual confit is both a means of cooking and a preservation technique - meats are cured and cooked in their own fat, making them storable (in fat) for a long time.  Fruit is cooked with sugar, infused and covered to the point that it, too, can be stored for a long time.

 

When i hear "confit" i think duck - tasty, tasty duck.  Discovering that Don and Joe's sells duck confit at $10 for 2 legs has made me a very happy man.  But discovering that i could buy a few pounds of pork shoulder and turn it into pork confit, at least temporarily, has made me even happier.

 

2 quarts lard

a 3 pound pork shoulder roast

1 tablespoon juniper berries

1 tablespoon (whole) allspice

2 bay leaves

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt

pepper to taste

a shallot

a couple of cloves of garlic

 

Bash up the juniper and allspice in a mortar and pestle, or grind in a coffee grinder.  Crumble the bay leaves, and add along with the salt, pepper.  Mix/bash/whatever a bit more.  Mince the garlic and shallot and add them, and mix/bash/grind very briefly.  Rub the spice mixture into the pork, and leave (refrigerated) overnight.

 

Remove the pork from the fridge, remove as much of the garlic/onion/berries mixture as you can, and dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Preheat your oven to 300.  Find a pot that is just barely wider than the pork shoulder but somewhat taller.  Melt the lard, and add to a pot with the pork - you should have enough lard to submerge the pork completely.  Cover the pot (i left the lid slightly ajar), put in the oven (over foil to catch any bubbling over, just to be safe), and cook for 4-6 hours, checking occasionally to make sure that your oven's not on fire.  Remove the pot carefully, and leave undisturbed for an hour or so, to cool.  Remove the pork, and savor it's fatty goodness.  If you're eating immediately (or within the next few days), you're done - drain off more fat with paper towels, if you like, and serve whole or shredded.  The confit can be reheated in an oven or saute pan.  To store for longer, jar it under a layer of lard.

 

After the pot of lard has cooled, strain it a couple of times and put it back in jars, saving it for the next time you want to make yummy, yummy pork confit.