Chicken Confit

EASIER

GLUTEN-FREE

Makes 4 to 8 servings

Chicken confit is one of the richest dishes around. It’s savory and very satisfying, a wonderful treat. Best of all, the chicken confit can be stored in the freezer for quite a while. If you don’t want to make a meal out of the leg quarters (with a salad on the side), you can crisp one quarter and shred the meat to serve on crackers for an easy, fancy snack with cocktails.

4 bay leaves

4 fresh thyme sprigs

4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and halved

4 small skin-on bone-in chicken thigh-and-leg quarters (10 to 12 ounces each)

2 tablespoons kosher salt

About 2½ quarts olive oil

1. Make four piles of a bay leaf, a thyme sprig, and two halves of a garlic clove on a large lipped baking sheet. Set one chicken quarter, skin side up, on top of each pile of aromatics. Sprinkle the skin of each with ½ tablespoon salt. Cover the tray loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.

2. Rinse the salt off each chicken quarter; pat dry. Transfer all the bay leaves and half of the garlic halves to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. (Discard the remaining garlic and the thyme sprigs.) Lay the quarters skin side up in the cooker. Pour in enough olive oil to cover the meat by 1 inch.

3. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until the meat is quite tender.

4. Use large tongs and a spatula to transfer the fragile quarters, skin side up, to a large baking dish. Make sure they lie as flat as possible. Fish out and discard the bay leaves and garlic. Ladle the oil from the cooker over the chicken quarters, submerging them fully. (You may need to add even more oil, depending on the size of the baking dish.)

5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 days or up to 2 weeks. Afterward, remove the chicken from the solidified oil, scrape off as much as possible, and freeze the quarters in sealed plastic bags for up to 1 year.

Test Kitchen Notes

• You’ll need the full thigh-and-leg quarters of a chicken, not just drumsticks.

• Look for small, 10- to 12-ounce chicken quarters, not the giant, 1¼-pound ones that are common in supermarkets. The larger ones will end up tough and stringy with this technique. You may have to ask the butcher for the correctly sized quarters.

• Don’t be afraid of the amount of salt. It cures the chicken, keeping it tender and allowing it to poach in the oil without falling apart.

image To serve, thaw one or two quarters, then unwrap if necessary. Set them skin side up on a large, lipped baking sheet and bake in a 400°F oven until crisp, about 20 minutes. Serve them whole or shredded on a warm lentil salad, a crunchy green salad, or on their own with toasted bread and a spicy, fruit-laced chutney.