Rillettes
A French meat spread from the Loire Valley (the best known are the rillettes of Tours and of Le Mans), easily mistaken for pâté and in fact something quite different. The meat is not minced — it is pulled apart with forks into threads, and those threads give rillettes their characteristic stringy texture. The second difference: pâté is baked, while rillettes are simmered four hours in fat with a little water, until the meat collapses under pressure on its own.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Simmering 240 min
- Shredding 20 min
- Potting 20 min
- Chilling 50 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneEverything into the pot cold
Put the meat cubes in a heavy pot with the lard, water, wine, salt, onion, garlic and herbs. Nothing is browned here — in this version the rillettes stay pale and delicate, like those of Le Mans. The darker rillettes of Tours come about when the meat is allowed to colour lightly towards the end.
Ingredients: 1500 g pork shoulder · 300 g lard · 200 ml water · 25 g salt
Simmer four hours on the lowest heat
Bring to a boil and lower the heat until the surface barely trembles. Simmer 4 hours with the lid ajar. The water and wine gradually evaporate, and by the end the meat is cooking in fat alone.
Ingredients: 1500 g pork shoulder · 300 g lard · 200 ml water · 25 g salt
A barely trembling surface for four hours.Check that the meat collapses
The meat is ready when a cube falls apart under a spoon with no resistance. If it resists, give it another 30 minutes. There is no risk of overcooking here — the longer it goes, the better the texture.
Ingredients: 1500 g pork shoulder · 300 g lard · 200 ml water · 25 g salt
Lift out the meat, keep the fat
Lift the meat into a large bowl with a slotted spoon, discard the herbs, onion and garlic, and strain the fat into a separate container. You will need it for the next two steps.
Ingredients: 1 pcs onion · 5 cloves garlic · 5 pcs thyme · 3 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp peppercorns · ¼ tsp nutmeg · 150 ml white wine
Shred the meat with two forks
Pull the meat apart with two forks into fine threads, working piece by piece. Do not use a processor: it grinds the meat to a uniform paste and rillettes lose what defines them, that stringy, uneven texture.
Ingredients: 1500 g pork shoulder · 300 g lard · 200 ml water · 25 g salt
Forks into threads — a processor would make pâté.Work in fat and season
Stir in enough strained fat to make the mixture moist and glossy but not swimming — about two-thirds. Season with salt, freshly ground peppercorns and nutmeg. Taste while warm and salt further: once chilled, the fat mutes the salt.
Ingredients: 1 pcs onion · 5 cloves garlic · 5 pcs thyme · 3 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp peppercorns · ¼ tsp nutmeg · 150 ml white wine
Pack into jars and seal with fat
Spoon into sterilised jars, pressing down to drive out air, and cover with the remaining fat to 5 mm. That layer shuts out air — without it the paste dries and greys.
Ingredients: 1500 g pork shoulder · 300 g lard · 200 ml water · 25 g salt
Packed without air, sealed to 5 mm.Chill and wait three days
Cool the jars at room temperature (about 50 minutes), then refrigerate until the fat has set completely. Rillettes are edible at once but at their best after three days, when the flavours merge. Unopened, under an unbroken seal of fat, they keep in the fridge up to 3 weeks; once opened, eat within a week. For longer, freeze (up to 3 months).
Ingredients: 16 pcs country bread · 150 g cornichons · 3 tbsp mustard
Before you start
Serve at room temperature
Straight from the fridge rillettes are hard and greasy on the palate. Take the jar out 40 minutes before serving — the paste softens, spreads and the flavour returns. The only serving rule that matters here.
Duck and salmon rillettes
The same technique works with duck (use ready confit and duck fat) and in a fish version: smoked salmon shredded with poached salmon, bound with butter and lemon. That last one needs no simmering at all.
The fat determines the keeping
If the layer of fat cracks or the meat protrudes, the paste greys there and starts to spoil. After each serving level the surface and, if necessary, top up with melted fat.