Serves 4

Confit is one of the age-old techniques of curing and storing meat for long periods of time. It is first salted then cooked in fat and stored in the fat until it is used. The main meats that are used are duck, goose and pork, although rabbit is also becoming popular. This procedure does take a couple of days so make sure you have the time set aside. If you decide to use farmed rabbit over wild then it will cook in half the time.

2 wild rabbits (about 800 g/1 lb 12 oz each) or 1 farmed rabbit (about 1–1.4 kg/2 lb 4 oz–3 lb 2 oz)

200 g (7 oz) pure sea salt

2 bay leaves

½ bunch fresh thyme

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

4 French shallots, peeled and sliced

5 purple garlic cloves

3 large waxy potatoes, such as pink-eye, cut into 5 mm (¼ inch) slices

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) rendered pork fat or use 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) duck or goose fat

Find a large stockpot or saucepan that will hold the rabbit and have enough depth to cover with fat, which can also go in the oven — cast-iron is best. If you have to cut the rabbit into bits so be it, you will be taking the meat off the bone once it is cooked anyway. Place the rabbit into a non-reactive bowl and cover with the salt, turning to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 135°C (250°F/Gas 1). Remove the rabbit from the refrigerator and rinse it under cold water. Pat dry with kitchen paper and place in the pot with all of the remaining ingredients, except the fat.

In a separate saucepan, melt the fat until it is pouring consistency, then pour it over the rabbit in the pot.

Put the rabbit over low heat and bring almost to the boil — try not to boil it as it will be tough if it cooks too quickly. Transfer the pot to the oven and cook it for 5 hours, checking it each hour after the first 3 hours have passed — when cooked the meat should fall easily from the bone. (If you are using farmed rabbit you will only need to cook it for 2–3 hours.) Once the rabbit is cooked then remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Take the rabbit and strip the meat from the bones, discarding the bones and placing the flesh into a non-reactive bowl. Strain the fat and vegetables, and remove and discard the bay leaves. You can keep the fat for future confit and also for roasting meat and vegetables. (If you are making the confit rabbit and potato pie you will need to add the vegetables back to the rabbit meat and stir to combine before filling the pie.)

To serve, heat the confit rabbit and potatoes in a hot oven until warm and crisp, then shred the meat through a salad or serve simply with vegetables.

NOTE: If making a duck confit, follow the recipe above but omit the potato and French shallots if you are not making the pies.