The cuisine of the Périgord region of France is characterized by several unique features - use of duck, goose and pork as the staple meats, the use of walnut oil and duck fat as cooking fats and the relative absence of bovine products such as beef, veal, butter and cheese in the diet.  Game meats including rabbit, game birds, and venison are to be found in abundance even today and cooks have devised numerous recipes over the years.  Garlic is another common component of many dishes. 

Confit is a common method in the Périgord of preserving meats. The meat, whether it be goose or duck legs or pork, is cooked slowly in rendered fat and then put up in its fat in crocks or jars.  It may then be stored in a cool dry place for a lengthy period of time.  When a piece of confit is needed, the crock may be warmed a bit to soften the fat and a piece of confit removed.  The remainder is covered back up and the jar returned to storage.  The meat ages while suspended in fat, rather like a fine wine, gaining character as time goes on.

Garlic is a very important ingredient in many dishes.  It can be made into soup made deliciously thick with fava beans, pounded in a mortar with walnuts to make a pungent sauce or braised with spring lamb.  It is the flavor of the southwest.

Walnuts are a common to the cuisine of the area.  In traditional Périgordin cooking they are most commonly encountered as walnut oil, the fat that along with that from ducks is signature flavor of the area or as green walnuts which are often put up as sweets. Walnut trees are not overly tolerant of heat so they are not found further south or in the mountains to the east.

Chestnuts are the other staple food of the region.  In times of want peasants would subsist on the starchy nuts.  Chestnuts are exceedingly versatile.  They can be served savory or sweet and may even be dried and ground into flour.