Potted meat (rillettes)


Potted meat (rillettes)
Potted meat (rillettes) is cooked long and slow in fat. Rillettes can be of pork or duck. Here is the pork version.
459 K 3.9/5 (43 reviews)
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Last modified on: October 3rd 2019
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For 1 kg 800 g, you will need:
  • 1 belly (streaky) bacon 1 kg belly (streaky) bacon (unsalted)
  • 2 ham 500 g ham
  • 3 lard 200 g lard
  • 4 coarse salt 18 g coarse salt
  • 5 pepper 4 g pepper
  • 6 lard 50 g lard
  • Total weight: 1,775 grams

Change these quantities to make:
Change measures:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 35 min.
Cooking: 6 hours 15 min.
All in all: 6 hours 50 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - 10 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 1
Remove the rind and any hard parts of 1 kg belly (streaky) bacon (unsalted), cut into pieces.

Stage 2 - 5 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 2
Cut 500 g ham into pieces.

Stage 3 - 3 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 3
Melt 50 g lard in a large pan over high heat.

Stage 4 - 10 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 4
Add the pieces of pork, and leave to colour a few minutes.

Stage 5 - 1 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 5
Turn the heat down to minimum and add the pieces of ham and 200 g lard.

Stage 6 - 1 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 6
Add 18 g coarse salt and 4 g pepper.

Note that the good ratio is 12 grams of salt + 3 grams of pepper per kilo of meat.

If you use a different weight of meat, you can calculate a new seasoning with this little calculator:
Meats : grams

Stage 7 - 6 hours
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 7
Cover the pan and leave on very low heat for 6 hours.

Stage 8
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 8
After 6 hours, the meat will be reduced to a conserve.

Stage 9 - 3 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 9
With a skimmer or wooden spoon, mix the lot. The meat will fall apart into small shreds and form rillettes.

Stage 10 - 3 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 10
Mix until reaching desired consistency: not too much if (like me) you prefer to have bigger pieces in your rillettes, more if you prefer the rillettes smoother.

Stage 11 - 10 min.
Potted meat (rillettes) : Stage 11
Put rillettes into jars, removing meat with a skimmer, and cover the top with a little lard.

Leave to cool, then cover, then refrigerate overnight or longer.

Share with friends with a good bread, and pickles or mushrooms in vinegar.

The acid taste of pickles goes well the mildness of the rillettes, and if you also have a good red wine, then you will be kings of all the world...
Remarks
If you like to vary proportions, please try to respect: Half as much ham as fat pork (belly), 12 g salt + 3 g pepper per kilogram meat.

For the duck version, replace lard with duck fat, and ham with duck breasts. It's a very very good idea to use the fat from cooking a foie gras for this.
And to drink?
A good red wine, with plenty of tannins.
Source: Home made.
Nutritional information
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe190 RDI=70 %20 RDI=1 %950 RDI=140 %9,340 RDI=470 %39,080 RDI: 470 %
Per 100 g10 RDI=4 %050 RDI=8 %530 RDI=30 %2,210 RDI: 30 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman
How much will it cost?
  • For 1 kg 800 g : 11.75 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
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The 2 comments already posted on this recipe
  • 1) Yes, streaky bacon is 100% pork meat.
    2) No because real pork is not fat enough, and there is ham.
    3) Yes but instead of ham only, you should keep streaky bacon.
    Posted by jh december 12th 2011 at 14:49 n° 2
  • In this recipe you do not say how much pork to use. You say 1kg of streaky bacon - is that the pork you mean? Can you not use real pork untreated and unsmoked? And if you use duck do you just substitute a kilo of duck meat? Thanks.
    Posted by Lori december 11th 2011 at 19:51 n° 1

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