Rilettes

Recipe Description:

Rilettes are real food heaven. Also, they’re versatile to use and really easy to make. Thank the French! You can use rilettes both cold and hot. Cold they’re delicious as a pâté on toast or bread (or just as is); hot from the oven they’re exquisit as an appetizer or meaty side dish.

They provide plenty of healthy fats, protein and any variety of herbs you like. Also, you can make this in advance and keep it up to 3 months in the fridge (but here it never lasts that long).

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 4 Hours

Servings: 8 servings (easily adjustable)

Difficulty: Easy

Recipe Ingredients:

You can make this dish with either porc, veil, chicken, duck or goose - as long as the animal has been able to live and eat like it's supposed to.

Equal parts animal fat and fatty meat (let's say 500 grams fat and 500 grams belly meat)

3-5 tablespoons water

Sel de Guerande - to taste (but probably less than you think you should use)

1-2 Bay leaves

2 cloves of garlic

Any combination of herbs you like, for instance:

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 teaspoon Rosemary

(or simply 2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence)

But keep the herbs subtle!

Recipe Instructions:

Rub the herbs and salt into the meat and put it aside.

Dice the fat and render it over low heat in a cast iron skillet or anything else with a thick bottom.

Take out the remaining pieces of skin, unrendered fat etc.

Rub the meat with the herbs and gently place it in the skillet.

To keep the heat from rising too high, add a little water.

Please note: the water needs to be able to evaporate completely in order for the dish to last!

[b]Alternatively[/b], use a crock pot or adjustable temperature skillet. Since the temperature won't rise over 90C in these, you don't need any water.

Leave the meet and fat for about 4 hours on low heat, turn the meat every hour.

When the meat is overdone, take two forks and pull it apart into strings. Modern techniques often use a blender to soften the meat. This is possible, but you'll end up with a soft pâté. Personally, I like the rough stuff better :-)

Pour it into molds, like cupcake molds or a large cake tin.

The Rilettes will develop a thick layer of fat on top that will seal them from air. They'll stay fresh for weeks on end. To use them, simply mix the fat and the meat and put it on whatever you like, or put the whole tin in the oven and make it hot and melty!

Author: DeGroeneVrouw

I'm a herbalist and natural nutritionist, trying to find my way around WAPF and writing a book in Dutch about fats and their health benefits. In my practice I daily come across people who are in need of simple, effective and healthy recipes, so I try to either make those or forward them to EatNourishing :-) View all posts by DeGroeneVrouw

Recipe Description:

Recipe Ingredients:

Recipe Instructions:

Author: DeGroeneVrouw

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