Pork Rillettes

The colder it gets outside, the more time I spend in my kitchen cooking and baking. Nothing warms the house better than the heat from the running oven and stove.

This Wednesday I was heating the house by cooking a batch of rillettes. I’ve been making them every fall and winter for several years now, so it’s become a tradition.

Rillettes is a pate made of meat or poutlry braised in its own fat with addition of stock and aromatics and then minced and preserved under a layer of fat. This layer of fat protects the meat from spoiling by blocking oxygen penetration and because of that rillettes can be stored in the fridge for a long time.

After it has matured and developed more complex flavor (which takes a minimum of 1-2 weeks and up to half a year), it is brought to a room temperature and served as a pate along with grainy mustard, fresh bread and cornichons or other pickles. 

Rillettes are a perfect chilly day treat and make a terrific Christmas gift. That’s why I prefer to make a batch of them in October or early November – they develop the perfect flavor after a couple of months.

Like all braised meats, rillettes are a bit time-consuming, but very simple to make and a great pleasure to eat. I’ll give you two recipes of pork rillettes, one with tarragon and dried porcini, and the other with rosemary, sage, and garlic.

I’ll start with Pork Rillettes with Porcini and Tarragon:

• For 2 lb fatty pork shoulder you will need:
• 0.5 oz/15 g dried porcini mushrooms
• A bit more than a cup of water, hot
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 generous pinches of dried tarragon
• 1/3 cup beef stock
• Black pepper and salt to taste
• A twig or two of fresh tarragon
• 2-3 Tbsp oil for frying
• About 1/3 cup melted pork fat (I buy back fat in Uwajimaya and render it myself)

Soak mushrooms in hot water for about half an hour. Scoop the mushrooms out, gently squeezing out the water, and finely chop. Strain and reserve the soaking water.

Cut the pork into 1.5-2 inch pieces. Heat oil in a braising pot and brown the pork on all sides. Add the mushroom soaking water (reserve the mushrooms for later), beef stock, dried tarragon, bay leaf, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to a low and cook on top of the stove or in 200-225F oven for several hours or until the pork is very tender. About half an hour before the end of cooking, add the porcini and fresh tarragon. You can either chop tarragon or put a whole twig and discard it afterwards.

Let the contents of the pot cool to room temperature. In the meantime, render the fat. I cut pork back fat into 1 inch pieces and put them in a skillet in one layer. Then I put it on a medium heat and wait till the fat starts to melt. As the fat melts, I spoon it out to a bowl which I keep next to the skillet. At the end you will have a bunch of brown crispy pieces which you can munch on now or later and a small bowl full of rendered fat.

With a slotted spoon, take out the meat from the pot and transfer to a large plate or a cutting board. With your hands or two forks, tear the meat into small pieces. Meanwhile, simmer the cooking broth down until it reduces significantly and gets thicker. Add as much of it to the meat so the meat becomes thoroughly wet, but not soupy. Distribute the meat between the jars or ramekins, packing the meat lightly and leaving about ½ inch from the top.

Pour the fat over the rillettes, cover with lids or plastic wraps and put into the refrigerator. Let the rillettes mature for at least a week or two before serving.

Take the rillettes out at least half an hour before serving so it has enough time to warm up to room temperature. If you don’t like too much fat, scrape away the top layer of fat. Don’t through it away - it can be used later for sautéing potatoes or such. Serve the rillettes with crusty bread or little toasts, Dijon mustard, cornichons or pickled onions.

Remember, that once the top fat layer has been disturbed, the rillettes should be finished within a week.

The next recipe is Pork Rillettes with Sage, Rosemary and Garlic. The cooking process goes along the same lines as for the porcini and tarragon rillettes recipe with some minor differences.

• For 3 lb fatty pork shoulder you will need:
• 1.5 cups beef broth (12 oz)
• ½ cup melted pork fat
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-2 whole cloves
• 1/8 – 1/4 cup cognac
• 1 twig rosemary
• 1 twig of sage
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• Black pepper and salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp oil for browning

Cut the pork into 1.5-2 inch pieces and brown it all over in hot oil. Pour in cognac or brandy and let it simmer down a bit. Add stock, cloves, bay leaves, fat, salt and black pepper and cook the meat until tender. Half an hour before the end of cooking add fresh sage and rosemary. Add garlic after the broth has been reduced and let it simmer for about a minute.

The rest of the cooking process is the same as for the porcini and tarragon rillettes.