This recipe is an interpretation of Elizabeth David’s Rillettes de Porc, found in her classic cookbook French Provincial Cooking. David describes this dish as ‘a soft, melting kind of potted pork’, one of the mainstays of a Norman hors-d-oeuvre, classically served with a duck pate.  This is such an easy dish to make, it is worth making in the large quanities given below as it keeps very well, covered and refrigerated for up to three weeks.

It is perfectly delicious and makes a thoughtful gift for a dinner host. I like to have it on hand as an easy snack with a drink with family and friends. It is also ideal for picnics, slathered over a crunchy slice of French baguette. It is also excellent served with small cornichons.

Prior to cooking:

• Order 1.5kg fresh pork belly, ask the butcher to bone it, skin it and cut it into small dice for you.*

Preparation time

• 5 minutes preparation time; stand either 4 – 6 hours or overnight.

Cooking Time

• 4 hours

Ingredients

• 1.5kg pork belly, bones and skin removed, cut into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bayleaf
• A large sprig of thyme
• 3 pepper corns
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup water

Method

• Place the diced pork into a bowl and rub the salt into it
• Cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 4 – 6 hours or overnight
• When you are ready to cook the pork, preheat the oven to 150C
• Secure the bay leaf, peppercorns and thyme with some string and tie into a small piece of muslin, making a bouquet garni (if you don’t have the muslin and string, they can be added loose but you need to take care to remove them from the pot at the end of cooking).
• Place the pork into an oven proof dish or pot that has a firm fitting lid. Do not use a dish that is too big for the amount of pork.
• Bury the garlic and the herbs into the centre of the pork, pour over the water and add some fresh grindings of black pepper
• Place in the oven and cook at 150C for 4 hours.
• The cooked meat should have softened and be swimming in its own fat and juices.
• Check and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper; the success of your rillettes depends upon good seasoning
• Stand a wire strainer over a bowl large enough to collect the drained juices.
• Turn the contents of the oven dish into the strainer and allow the fat and juices to collect in the bowl. Reserve these and set aside
• Discard the boquet garni or the loose herbs and peppercorns.
• Place the pork onto a large plate and using two forks, shred the pork finely and mash the garlic into the meat (don’t be tempted to use a food processor, it renders entirely the wrong consistency).
• Pile the shredded pork loosely into glass or earthenware jars or bowls. Pour the reserved fat and juices over these, completely filling the containers
• Cover with foil securely and store in the refrigerator.
• The rillettes should be of a soft texture, so need to be removed from the refrigerator one or two hours before serving.
• Serve on thin slices of toast or baguette and garnish with thyme and cornichons.

*Ask the butcher to keep the rind for you and cut it into 10cm squares. You can freeze these and pull them out individually to add to a beef stew for which they are an excellent enrichment and lubricant.

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