SandwichShortOfAPicnic
Legendary Member
Rillette
It is IMO the perfect potted meat!
This is good stuff! Great for a picnic, packed lunch or a pre-dinner bite and worthy of all the internet pics showing it eaten with fresh baguette and a glass of crisp white.
It’s good if you don’t like paté because the texture or the offal puts you off, as this is just meat (no offal), it has a fairly solid texture and a great flavour.
It’s also good if you’re someone who’d rather avoid sulphates or other additives or aims for less processed food.
Don’t be put off by the verbose recipe, it is very simple to do. You take pork, marinade it for 24 hours and then cook it submerged in fat, a quick beat with a hand or stand mixer and voila!
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs (approx 1kg) Boneless pork shoulder, cut into one-inch cubes
1/2 cup (125mls) dry white wine or 125mls white wine stock cube or other stock
4 large cloves garlic
1-2 shallots or one small red onion
1-inch (a fat generous inch) peeled ginger
1/4 tsp chinese 5 spice or star anise or allspice berries or juniper berries
1 tsp. coriander seeds
20 white peppercorns (or 10 black)
5 sprigs fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
1 Bouquet garni
800g-1kg of any meat fat, dripping or lard will do. I use lard as lard is pig fat and that seems fitting. You need enough to cover the pork so it is submerged.
Grind the coriander, peppercorns and allspice/juniper berries (if using) in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Add the ground spice to a food processor or blender with garlic, shallot, ginger and wine/stock. Pulse until you have a cohesive paste. Season the pork chunks with salt, and place in a freezer bag.
Add the marinade, and mash around to coat all the pork, then seal the bag and refrigerate for 24 hours.
When you're ready to cook, melt the lard in your slow cooker until liquid (if you have a saute/sear function you can melt it faster). When fully liquid, add the thyme sprigs, bouquet garnet and bay leaves.
Tip away any excess water from the pork (I had none) and add the pork to the melted fat. Make sure it’s fully submerged in the fat.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until the meat is tender and breaks apart easily.
Remove the thyme sprigs and bouquet garnet. Place the meat in mixing bowl. Strain the fat and reserve it in a glass measuring cup or pour into a fat separator and allow any juices to settle to the bottom.
Use a hand or stand mixer on low speed to break the meat into shreds.
Add in just one cup of the fat, mix to combine, then taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper to your liking.
Go strong with the seasoning as you will be eating this at cool-room temp, salt and pepper tastes less intense when cold.
Place in containers or jars, leaving 1/2 inch room on top.
Carefully spoon rendered fat over the rillettes to completely cover by 1/4 inch (1/2cm) with no meat showing through the fat.
Let it cool, to room temp then cover tightly with lids and store in the fridge for up to a month with the fat cap undisturbed (keep for one week after you break through that seal), or in the freezer for up to six months.
To serve, let come to room temp for about an hour, then carefully scrape off the fat to reveal the rillette.
My notes -
I would only bother with the fat cap if you’re not planning to eat it straight away as pouring fat on only to scrape it off the next day is a bit silly - the dogs were happy though
It is possible to cook this low n slow in the oven and on the hob but the slow cooker simplifies things a lot and allows a lot of leeway timewise for when you want to finish the dish
I read about ten different rillette recipe’s and decided on my own combo but a recipe from ‘The Take Out’ was the only one suggesting slow cooking and I did use a lot of that recipe so credit where it’s due - The Easiest Way To Make Rillettes Is In Your Slow Cooker
There’s a nice pic on there of how it turns out texture wise if you’re interested.
It is IMO the perfect potted meat!
This is good stuff! Great for a picnic, packed lunch or a pre-dinner bite and worthy of all the internet pics showing it eaten with fresh baguette and a glass of crisp white.
It’s good if you don’t like paté because the texture or the offal puts you off, as this is just meat (no offal), it has a fairly solid texture and a great flavour.
It’s also good if you’re someone who’d rather avoid sulphates or other additives or aims for less processed food.
Don’t be put off by the verbose recipe, it is very simple to do. You take pork, marinade it for 24 hours and then cook it submerged in fat, a quick beat with a hand or stand mixer and voila!
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs (approx 1kg) Boneless pork shoulder, cut into one-inch cubes
1/2 cup (125mls) dry white wine or 125mls white wine stock cube or other stock
4 large cloves garlic
1-2 shallots or one small red onion
1-inch (a fat generous inch) peeled ginger
1/4 tsp chinese 5 spice or star anise or allspice berries or juniper berries
1 tsp. coriander seeds
20 white peppercorns (or 10 black)
5 sprigs fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
1 Bouquet garni
800g-1kg of any meat fat, dripping or lard will do. I use lard as lard is pig fat and that seems fitting. You need enough to cover the pork so it is submerged.
Grind the coriander, peppercorns and allspice/juniper berries (if using) in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Add the ground spice to a food processor or blender with garlic, shallot, ginger and wine/stock. Pulse until you have a cohesive paste. Season the pork chunks with salt, and place in a freezer bag.
Add the marinade, and mash around to coat all the pork, then seal the bag and refrigerate for 24 hours.
When you're ready to cook, melt the lard in your slow cooker until liquid (if you have a saute/sear function you can melt it faster). When fully liquid, add the thyme sprigs, bouquet garnet and bay leaves.
Tip away any excess water from the pork (I had none) and add the pork to the melted fat. Make sure it’s fully submerged in the fat.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until the meat is tender and breaks apart easily.
Remove the thyme sprigs and bouquet garnet. Place the meat in mixing bowl. Strain the fat and reserve it in a glass measuring cup or pour into a fat separator and allow any juices to settle to the bottom.
Use a hand or stand mixer on low speed to break the meat into shreds.
Add in just one cup of the fat, mix to combine, then taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper to your liking.
Go strong with the seasoning as you will be eating this at cool-room temp, salt and pepper tastes less intense when cold.
Place in containers or jars, leaving 1/2 inch room on top.
Carefully spoon rendered fat over the rillettes to completely cover by 1/4 inch (1/2cm) with no meat showing through the fat.
Let it cool, to room temp then cover tightly with lids and store in the fridge for up to a month with the fat cap undisturbed (keep for one week after you break through that seal), or in the freezer for up to six months.
To serve, let come to room temp for about an hour, then carefully scrape off the fat to reveal the rillette.
My notes -
I would only bother with the fat cap if you’re not planning to eat it straight away as pouring fat on only to scrape it off the next day is a bit silly - the dogs were happy though
It is possible to cook this low n slow in the oven and on the hob but the slow cooker simplifies things a lot and allows a lot of leeway timewise for when you want to finish the dish
I read about ten different rillette recipe’s and decided on my own combo but a recipe from ‘The Take Out’ was the only one suggesting slow cooking and I did use a lot of that recipe so credit where it’s due - The Easiest Way To Make Rillettes Is In Your Slow Cooker
There’s a nice pic on there of how it turns out texture wise if you’re interested.
I'll have to work on that for 
