Birthday rillettes

For my birthday dinner, Ali made a first course of rillettes, that wonderful French concoction which is like a kind of heavenly cross between pate, terrine and the very best brawn. She served them with bread and butter, tiny gherkins (cornichons) and her own feijoa chutney. Magnifique.
         She's very kindly given me her recipe, which is a well tried and tested blend of recipes by Lois Daish, Elizabeth David, Stephanie Alexander and Nigel Slater. 
          "Traditionally, rillettes were made with very fatty meat, and sealed with fat to preserve them. Nowadays pork is much leaner, and we have fridges - but for the recipe to work you still need some fat. If the meat looks too lean, ask your butcher for some extra pork fat. The recipe can also be used to make duck or rabbit rillettes. If using rabbit, add 500 gm of pork belly to provide enough fat."

Ali's pork rillettes

1.5 kg of skinned pork belly, cut into chunks

1 Tbsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2-3 bay leaves

2-3 sprigs of thyme

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 cup (250 ml) water.

1. Place the meat in a large bowl, with the salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. Mix well, cover and leave overnight in the fridge. 

2. Next day, transfer meat etc to a heavy casserole dish with a lid. Add 1 cup water, cover, and cook in a slow oven (140° to 150° C) for three hours or until the meat is very tender. Check occasionally, and adjust the temperature if necessary: the meat must cook very gently, otherwise it will develop an unpleasant sandy texture. (You can also use a slow cooker, but Ali hasn't tried that so can't say how long to cook it for. I would suggest about 5 hours, but check it carefully to see it isn't drying out or overcooking - you don't want sludge.)  

3. Remove casserole from oven (or ceramic pot from slow cooker) and allow to cool slightly. Strain the meat through a large sieve or colander over a bowl, to collect all the fat and meat juices. (There should be about 1½ to 2 cups of liquid.) Transfer the pieces of meat to a separate bowl, removing any bones, and the bayleaves and thyme, as you do so.

 4. Traditional method: Use two forks to tear the meat into fine shreds. Add the drained liquid and mix gently together. The resulting mixture should be quite soft and moist, though it will become firmer once the fat has set.  

OR, using a food processor: in 2 batches, ‘pulse’ the meat and liquid until well combined but still a little chunky.

5. Taste carefully, and add a little extra salt and/or pepper if necessary (it may not need any, as the meat has been well seasoned to start with). Pack into jars and seal. When cool, store in the fridge.

6. Bring to room temperature before serving with crusty bread or toast, little gherkins, and a fruity chutney. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to a week, or frozen.

Rillettes are hard to photograph so that they look as good as they taste, but I've done my best. This may look like a small helping, but (a) rillettes are very rich, and (b) it was the first of seven courses! Of which more later.