French potted pork

Course:

Snack or Appetizer

Practical information

Prep time

10 min
Cooking

4 h
Ready in

4 h 10

Difficulty
Price

Recipe
Comments (0)

Recipe's Ingredients

salt
pepper
lean and fat of pork
white wine

gelatinous liquid
peppercorns
bread
900 g belly of pork

Recipe preparation steps
1

Scrote came across Rillettes several years ago in France, and they are still relatively rare in English shops. They are a sort of potted, shredded meat paste, common as muck in France, but unlike paté Rillettes are made with meat rather than liver. Rillettes are usually made from pork, but any fat meat will do, and you do sometimes see Rillettes made of duck. Scrote was deeply impressed with the ingredients listed on pots of the stuff at the hypermarket at Calais. The entire list of ingredients (in French) is: lean & fat of pork, salt, pepper. That's it- the whole lot, not an additive or number in sight, and basically that's also the recipe too.
2

To make Rillettes you simply need about a kilogram (2lbs) of belly of pork- quite a big piece of meat really, but usually a fairly cheap cut. You also need a good metal saucepan with a close-fitting lid and a ring on your stove that can go very low, to barely a simmer. This is because you are going to cook it for a very long time. In theory it should be poached in a tightly sealed casserole in a very low oven, but it works very successfully on the top of the stove if you have a ring that goes low enough, and you are much less likely to end up baking it into a brown mess of meat.
3

All the preparation that is needed is to cut the rind, the skin, off the meat carefully leaving the fat on, and to dissect out any unpleasant bits of gristle or soft bone. The meat should have quite a lot of fat. Rillettes won't work properly if the meat is too lean.
4

Chop the meat into rough cubes, and pack it into the bottom of the pan. Add some salt and just a little pepper. Pour over it one (only one) glass of white wine. This should be just enough to moisten the meat so it will stew gently without starting to fry, but we don't want any more than is needed. The Rillettes have to set at the end, and it's not gravy we want here.
5

Cover the pan tightly and put it on the lowest possible heat, so it gradually comes to an imperceptible simmer. Cook it very gently for four hours, stirring it from time to time to ensure it is not sticking or drying out.
6

After 4 hours, the chunks of meat will be very tender, swimming in a small amount of thick gelatinous liquid, and starting to break up. At this point, take it off the heat and simply mash the contents in the pan very thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Mix in a few extra peppercorns to provide the odd moment of excitement in the final product.
7

Finally spoon the mixture (while it is still very hot) into pots and cover with an air-tight seal (cling film will do). Don't worry if the mixture still looks a bit like glutinous stew at this stage, and smells odd- it is meant to. Set the pots aside and allow them to cool down, then transfer them to the refrigerator where they will keep for several weeks while they are still sealed. When the Rillettes are cold, the fat-content will set the mixture solid, and you will have a lovely rich, moist, fibrous meat-paste you can spread thickly onto chunks of bread. Try it- although Rillettes are not a good idea if you are trying to lose weight, Scrote loves the stuff.
Ready !