The Temperature Tip You Need To Make Tuna Confit

There comes a time in every home cook's life when they level up. They start mincing vegetables faster. They're able to season food instinctively. And they begin to master interesting techniques like sous vide, bain-marie, and confit cooking.

Confit cooking, in particular, yields melty, butter-like textures and rich flavors within foods like egg yolks, goose legs, and duck (via Great British Chefs). Think of this as a giant fat or oil bath for such foods, where they gently cook over very low heat for a lengthy period of time, per Science of Cooking. This process helps to break down all that tough collagen, which makes the meat silky and perhaps even detached from the bone.

MasterClass explains that there are two major aspects of confit cooking: the salt cure and slow-cooking the meat in olive oil or meaty fats like chicken, duck, or goose fats. Salting and massaging the meat before its low and slow fat-based bath will take all that internal moisture out, which helps to make the finishing textures ultra-tender. After its massage, the meat should be completely covered in fat and left to simmer over low heat for a few hours.

Aside from meat, you can also confit herbs, spicy peppers, vegetables, and even fruit. But we suggest starting with fish because, as Science of Cooking explains, fish doesn't have as much collagen as land animals, so making something like tuna confit won't take as long.