I made a last-minute 2 day work trip to Paris earlier this week (not as much fun as it sounds). The upshot was that I had a bit of free time, and wandered down the main drag of the Ile St-Louis and bought some duck confit from a producer called Le Petit Scierie. It's 2 legs in a mason jar with the fat and it says it is good until 2010.

Now, what the hell do I do with it? I am a huge confit fan when I eat out, but have never actually tried to do anything at home with it. Do I cook it? Just take it out of the fat and eat it?

Any suggestions, help?

Take it out of the fat, toss in a hot cast iron pan for a few minutes to brown, then the whole thing into an oven until heated through.

Or shred the meat, put it a food processor with a tablespoon or more of the fat, and briefly chop until you have rillettes. Spread over toasted country bread with plenty of pepper.

Or shred the meat and make duck confit burritos.

Mmm, I just made myself hungry and fortunately enough I have some duck legs I confited a month ago sitting in my fridge.

Make a cassoulet? Mmm... and throw some panko crumbs on top and broil it at the end... Although throwing it in a pan will really make it sooo good....

You can shred some meat and top a frisee salad with it. Add a poached egg to make it really yummy. I made duck confit tamales not long ago, but that's a LOT of work. You can, however, make a delicious duck taco.

Let it sit out until it reaches room temperature. Sautee it slowly until crisp. In the mean time, make pommes persillade. Mix some of the duck fat with soy sauce and sherry vinegar and toss it on a salad. Pull the cork on a tasty but inexpensive Cotes du Rhone.

Thank you all! As I was sitting on the plane on the way back I was thinking "Gee, the Don Rockwell folk will know exactly what to do!" The crowd here never disappoints!