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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.

360K 2 27 4.0

Last modified on: October 3^rd 2019

Keywords for this recipe:Potted meat Rillettes Pork Slow cooking Red wine Pickles Toast Bread

For 1 kg 800 g, you will need:

1 1 kg belly (streaky) bacon (unsalted)
2 500 g ham
3 200 g lard
4 18 g coarse salt
5 4 g pepper
6 50 g lard
Total weight: 1,772 grams

Change these quantities to make: 600 g 900 g 1 kg 800 g 3 kg 600 g 5 kg 400 g

Change measures: Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
33 min.	6 hours 13 min.	6 hours 46 min.

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 10 min.

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #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) : Photo of step #2

Cut 500 g ham into pieces.

Stage 3 - 3 min.

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #3

Melt 50 g lard in a large pan over high heat.

Stage 4 - 10 min.

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #4

Add the pieces of pork, and leave to colour a few minutes.

Stage 5 - 1 min.

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #5

Turn the heat down to minimum and add the pieces of ham and 200 g lard.

Stage 6 - 1 min.

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #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:

Stage 7 - 6 hours

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #7

Cover the pan and leave on very low heat for 6 hours.

Stage 8

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #8

After 6 hours, the meat will be reduced to a conserve.

Stage 9 - 3 min.

Potted meat (rillettes) : Photo of step #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) : Photo of step #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) : Photo of step #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.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
9,335 Kcal or 39,084 Kj	193 gr	15 gr	945 gr
467 %	74 %	1 %	143 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
527 Kcal or 2,206 Kj	11 gr	1 gr	53 gr
26 %	4 %	<1 %	8 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 1 kg 800 g : 11.71 €

Change currency:

Note : These prices are only approximate.

Some recipes that use this recipe

Rillettes stuffed mushrooms

In this recipe, the mushroom caps are first sautéed, then filled with fried onions and a spoonful of rillettes, then baked in the oven. Here they are served with a quick pickle made from brunoise radishes with tarragon.
18K3.8 58 min.

Fried rillettes

Rilletes formed into thin cakes and fried. This allows the fat to drain off during cooking and leaves crunchy and tasty discs of lean meat which can be served with mashed potato (purée).
97K4.9 29 min.

See all recipes that use it

Source

Home made.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Belly (streaky) bacon: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Pâté de campagne, Sausagemeat, Bacon and cabbage omelette, Roast beef "like they do it in Santa Fe", Confit of carrots with bacon, ... All
	Ham: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Stuffed tomatoes and courgettes, Breton galettes (pancakes), Purple artichokes in a cheesy gratin, Involtinis, Rice à l'italienne, ... All
	Lard: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Bacon rolls, Truffade, Flamiche, Cured Pork Belly With Lentils, Rillons de Tours, ... All
	Coarse salt: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: How to prepare spinach, Foie gras cured in salt, Roast potatoes "à la provençale", French bean salad with vinaigrette , Preserved lemons, ... All

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Post your comment or question

Your 2 comments or questions 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 12^th 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 11^th 2011 at 19:51 (n° 1)

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