Confit Potatoes. Twice.

South or southwest 3 or 4, increasing 5 at times.

Slight, occasionally moderate at first.

Fair.

Good.

I mentioned my love for potatoes before and if I hear about a new preparation method I normally cant wait to try it out.

Quite a few restaurants serve now “confit potatoes”, a preparation method I know from duck confit or vegetable confit. Basically you cook duck on low temperature in extra duck fat, and once it is done, leave it in the fat (make sure it`s fully submerged), put into a cold place so the fat hardens and preserves the goodies underneath. 

But somehow these restaurants don’t seem to do a confit, from what customers describe, it sounds more like poaching in fat, letting drain, press, cool and deep fry when needed.

The internet is no help here; despite extensive search I did not get a proper recipe. I set out to make my own take on it. And I must say I was very pleased with the outcome, but I was more pleased with the “leftovers” (which I served with my radishes). The latter is a dish you need to try; you have not lived if you have never tried potatoes that way. And the original take makes a very impressive and unusual side dish for a celebration meal for one or a dinner for two. Just a bit more work and more elegant tasting than the more rustic simple dish. Which I image is also great on its own, just a bit of aioli to get by. And if you cook the potatoes in advance, you have a super quick and tasty meal or snack if you come home very tired.

I used New Jerseys for it, for no other reason than that Aldi had a special offer on them that day. But I am sure any all-rounder or a simple White will do. Potatoes for mashing or baking however wont do.

As poaching fat I used a jar of goose fat which was still lurking about and needed using up. Feel free to use that, duck fat, beef drippings or lard, and I am pretty sure olive oil works like a dream as well.

Confit potatoes

Both methods:

Scrub and dry 3 medium sized potatoes per person but leave the skin on. Put into an ovenproof dish, add one peeled clove of garlic (whole), a twig of rosemary and cover with fat or oil of your choice (see above). Heat the oven to 120C and put the dish in during the heating process. When it reaches 120C tiny bubbles should appear and the potatoes start to cook. If the bubbles get too big or the potatoes start browning, take the temperature down. Basically you want to cook the potatoes in the oil until soft, without a major colour change. This will take (depending on the size of the tatties) anything between 25-45 minutes. The potatoes are done when a sharp knife glides through, don’t overcook them. Drain (but keep the fat for another use) and let them cool down until still a bit warm but comfortable enough to handle.

The elegant dish:

Peel the potatoes and cut in slices.  Take a small dish and cover the inside generously with cling film, so the bits which hang over the edges can go on top of the potatoes and seal them. Fill the dish with potato layers; you ought to aim for at least 3 layers, so you might want to take a small dish.  Put the spare cling film over the potatoes, so you have a dish where the potatoes are fully enclosed with clingfilm. Press slightly down but don’t make a mash. Basically you want to encourage them to “bond”.  Cover it with something heavy (as you can see I used a second dish which I filled with coins from my “empty the wallet of coins jar”)

and put in the fridge for up to three days, but they are firm after 8 hours (see top photo).

Once you are ready to proceed, heat your frying oil (rapeseed, peanut or olive oil) until you reach deep- frying temperature. Take your block of potatoes out and cut them in squares (about 6). Fry 2-3 of these cubes at a time, (keep them warm while you do the next patch), sprinkle with salt and serve as a side dish.

The rustic dish:

Cool potatoes completely and wrap each potato (still whole and with the skin) in clingfilm. Just squash them a tiny bit with the palm of your hand, they should still look like whole potatoes but with a few sides sprung open. Put in the fridge until ready to proceed.

Once you are peckish, heat your frying oil (rapeseed, peanut or olive oil) until you reach deep- frying temperature. Fry the three potatoes at the same time until they are golden brown, not only at the spilled sides, but also on the skin. Sprinkle with salt and serve with aioli or the radishes from the previous post.