Rillettes can be made at home (Delia Smith gives a nice recipe for the duck variety in her Winter Collection) but frankly, I don't want my heart to be stopped merely by seeing, in print, how much fat and salt go into the authentic pork recipe as produced in Touraine. I save up my calories from when I'm on the spot to fill the boot with goodies from Hardouin, Vouvray's über-traiteur. Fortunately for my health, I don't visit that often. My usual haul includes tubs of rillettes under a blanket of snowy fat, jars of rillons, or confit pork, to crisp up in the oven and, for one of my five-a-day, a hearty portion of their rémoulade, that outrageous French concoction of grated celeriac in mustard mayonnaise.
Rillettes should be served in a scoop with toasted sourdough bread and a few little cornichons, or caperberries. Try one of the secs or demi-secs with this.
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Janet Wynne Evans
November 2016