Patate Confit all'Aglio e Timo (Italian Confit Potatoes) Confit is a cooking method before it is a dish. A potato submerged in olive oil and held far below frying temperature will never brown, never absorb water and never go grainy. It simply softens from the outside in until the whole piece has the density of set custard. Garlic and thyme sit in the oil the entire time and hand their perfume to the fat, which hands it to the potato. What comes out of that oil is not finished