Pork Rillettes

This is my recipe from Australia. It is so simple we never used a written recipe.

Note:  You certainly can chop up the vegetables and include them in the rillettes spread.  This is a country French recipe and you can do with it what you please.


5 lbs. Boneless Pork Butt
1 lb. Mirepoix. (2 parts onion, one part each carrots and celery) I estimate about 2 onions and 2 carrots and 4 stalks of celery. Doesn’t matter that much.
3 cloves garlic, mashed, no need to peel
1 tsp. Thyme
2 or three bay leaves
12 cups beef or chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Here’s how to do it:
Cut up your meat into about 10 more or less equally sized portions. Put in a pot with all the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat immediately to a simmer. Cover and let is gently do it’s thing for about 8 hours. At very low heat. Test a piece, it should fall apart with very little encouragement. Refrigerate it overnight.

Next morning skim off all the fat and save it. Remove the meat and set it aside. Save the broth because it makes a luscious soup base. No need to save the vegetables, but you can eat them if you like.

Now the real work: Remove all the fat and any other waste from the pieces of meast, then squeeze, mash, and if necessary chop and stir until the meat is fairly smooth enough to tolerate being spread on a cracker or slice of bread.

If you feel you need to do so, add some of the broth to make it spreadable.  You can make it ultra-smooth by buzzing it up in the processor.

Pack the spread into a pot, or pots of some kind, melt the fat and pour it over the meat, that will seal from oxygen and help preserve it. Refrigerate. When ready to serve remove the fat and spread on crackers, toasts etc. I like bread and butter pickles, onions, chopped eggs etc. on mine.