Author Notes
There is a particular taste that has stayed with me since very early childhood- my gran’s chicken confit! Or as they non-posh-ly call it in the village she came from: “jar chicken” – “kokoshka v burkan”) The taste is actually amazing – the meat -even the white bits- just melts in the mouth. And with that you have the fatty, spreadable tasty bit on the top and the juicy, jelly bits to scrape from the sides and bottom of the jar and gulp down…oh..my mouth fills up just thinking about it!
It is amazing how the brain never forgets a taste and how fast your tongue can recall it, many of years later, sending your whole soul into salivation, into “I have to have this” mode!
This is a method that people in the Med still use to preserve meat and it's still wonderful, even though old fashioned. —Greedy Foodster
Ingredients
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3
whole chickens
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1/2 cup
sea salt
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whole black peppercorns
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bay leaf
Directions
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Cut the chickens in 8-10 portions each
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Sprinkle with the sea salt, masage well and put in a colander to drain overnight (or at least for 12 hrs)
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Sterilize your jars and at the bottom of each put a few black peppercorns and a bay leaf
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Add a layer of chicken, pushed down properly, knuckles working hard. Then a sprinkle of sea salt, a bay leaf and a few more black peppercorns on top. Repeat till the jar is full (3-4 layers max) Finish with 3-4 peppercorns and a last bayleaf
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Close the jars tightly and put on a rack in a large pot. Fill with water up to a cm above the jars. Bring to boil and let them bubble away for 2 hrs
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Take out of the pot and let them rest overnight before opening and enjoying. They will keep up to a year in a dark cupboard (as long as the lids are closed airtight)
Ones opened, refrigerate and eat within 3 days
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