Rillettes

Appears in
Professional Cooking
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2014

  • About
In France’s Loire Valley, the first thing customers are likely to be served in a typical neighborhood restaurant, whether they order it or not, is a crock of rillettes and some country bread to spread it on. Variations on this unpretentious dish have become widely popular and are served even in elegant North American restaurants.

Rillettes (ree yet) is a dish made of pork cooked slowly until it is very tender, then shredded, mixed with its own fat, seasoned, and packed into crocks or terrines.

Variations of the classic dish can be made by using other meats in addition to or instead of pork. Items rich in fat, such as duck and goose, are especially appropriate. Rillettes of lean meats, such as chicken, turkey, and rabbit, can be made, but some pork fat or other fat must be added to them when they are cooking.