Rillettes and pates

[shroomgirl]

I thought lardo was preserved back fat ala Italian. Nope not made it yet....
For the past 4+ months I've been butchering pigs and using all the pig...well sometimes the skin gets pitched and I'm still working out what the heck to do with the ear....supposedly there are ways to cook/bread/fry but usually I leave them on the heads while they boil away for pate de tete or rillettes or cabeza tacos.

Lots of fat on these piggies CC.....Kuan posted one of the pics of the last 400# tammworth with the exceptional backfat on the photo site.

Got loads of feet/shanks too....wanna make zamponis.

[thetincook]

I've used it in the basic pork rillets. Used it in a duck terrine for a holiday party a couple years ago. Gratin-style farce (I think we through some gran marnier in with the degalze along with the madiera etc) with the legs and thighs (seared), pork butt, and the fat clumps from the duck. Duck breast inlay. I think it also had dried cherries or cranberries and pistachios.

I also use it northern european and german style meatballs and in meatloaf.

I don't make a lot of pate since I've left culinary. Unless you count meatloaf.


Shroom, I use something like this:

8 parts black pepper, 1 part each of mace, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, 1/2 part each black cardamon, ginger (add fresh to the farce if I don't have dried powder).

In a pinch, I have used garam masala, but the anise flavor throw me off a little.

Black vs Green: black almost always wins out for this kind of thing. I like how the green works with orange zest, but I've only done it with sweets.

[thetincook]

Zampone! Hurray!

When ever I hear that I think of Chris Rock's "athelete pig's foot bit"

If I ever make it to Germany, I'm going for the roasted pig shank/trotter.

I heard of the ear being added to sauasage after having been boiled. Wonder if it work ala fried pork rind.

[cape chef]

Shroom,

I have an old Bocuse book from the mid 70's, he in-fact tells you to heat them in a bain marie for 25 minuets for extended shelf life (rillettes)

[shroomgirl]

nope meatloaf doesn't count because it's not weighed down, and normally pate does not have tomato base sauce slathered all over the top.....last time I checked meatloaf is not set in a water bath either. Do you put liver in your meatloaf.....or celery/peppers in your pate?

Got a windfall of dehydrated tart cherries and have been serving them with the pates/rillettes.....yummmmy! coarse mustard, funky pickled vegs....add some cheeses, crackers/breads and dinner does not get any better than that.

[shroomgirl]

The French split the foot/shank and slather mustard and bread crumbs on and bake.
The Italians, take the bones out of the fresh leg/foot and stuff with farce the ones I've seen have pistachios....which do not interest me, they just get mushy....but sew them shut....went and got some curved needles and 100% cotton thread from the sewing shop (almost made the semstress sick, well she asked......) Now supposedly it's tough boning out the foot without cutting through the skin. My buddy at An American Place cooks his feet then bones and stuffs them.

Got tons of bellies in the freezer too....it's really surprising to see how small the tenderloins are on these pigs....makes you wonder how big the pigs are when the tenders in the stores are .75-1.25 #.

Still working on the rib thing, right now I'm stripping out the meat and just leaving the spine and ribs attached....looks very Fred Flinstone when we have BBQ ribs.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

nope meatloaf doesn't count because it's not weighed down, and normally pate does not have tomato base sauce slathered all over the top.....last time I checked meatloaf is not set in a water bath either. Do you put liver in your meatloaf.....or celery/peppers in your pate?

I'd say meatloaf is a pate. It's not weighted because it's served hot. All the other elements match that of a cold pate; ingredients and sauce are a matter of personal preference.

When I feel like setting the front managers up for a letdown, I like to tell them the special is pate de campagne with sauce espagnole.

[shroomgirl]

would that be served with pomme de terre and haricot verte?

....

[Greg]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

would that be served with pomme de terre and haricot verte?

....

But of course.

Any leftovers are changed into a pate en croute for a lunch special the next day.

[shroomgirl]

um my favorite with aioli and extra red sauce.....

[shroomgirl]

we have some exceptional German butchers in STL....G&W is the first that comes to mind. Smoked Liverwurst that is the "gold standard"....this stuff is incredible, until a few weeks ago they would sell it in stomach pouches tied off with string. Their head cheese also is amazing....various wursts....

But I've never seen stuffed foot in the shop....what part of Germany and what kind of farce is in a German foot? spicing?

That's what info I'd love to know....how different countries make their pates/farce/sausages....spicing, panades, how they cook them....waterbath/casing/weighed.......various grinds.....

[kuan]

That's tomato aspic you put on top right?

[bluezebra]

Good god reading this thread is like reading porn to me. I'm over here panting with lust and envy and add a good measure of greed too.

I just keep saying to myself..."You will not go back into the business." and repeating like a mantra.

I also keep making up these scenarios of having a pork orgy at my place and inviting 12 of my best friends to come over and break down a whole hog with me and make sausage and pates etc with me! Sigh. Not gonna happen. I don't have 12 friends here in Houston that are as obsessed about cooking as I am...Maybe I need a 12 step program?

[shroomgirl]

nah, just come visit me in STL.....we'll spend a day breaking down a pig and cooking him up. Guess it's just the way I learn.....pornography at it's best, there is no substitute for self directed, self-motivated learning....unless it's with others.....guess that would be the orgy part.
Um....this would be the cult part of cooking for a living?

Ok...you guys are going to get a kick out of this, one of my dear friend's quit her job and moved to London to go to the Cordon Bleu Pastry Program (she was a food writer/tech writer).....this was her last e-mail....titled "ST. John's"

well i ate there. but at their sister restaurant, st johns bread and wine.

was superb. honestly. brilliant. i had a salad with little gem lettuce, spring onions, mint and lemon oil, incredible roasted shallots with mint and mustard and a creamy goat's curd that was a bit like fresh ricotta. incredible. and a beautiful dish of zucchini and broad beans in a luscious butter, parsley and mustard vinaigrette slow cooked. divine! tom had jellied pig's head and quail with aioli. barf.

he almost ordered the crispy pig's cheek but they sold out. then he talked about the ox heart and just by the look on my face decided not to order that.
i think he's your man


What can I say, so many of my food writing friends are totally grossed out when i talk about breaking down pigs or using bits and pieces or making crusts out of leaf lard, for heaven's sake Julie rillettes?.....so glad you guys are here.

[thetincook]

German stuffed foot....I don't think they stuff it. I think its just roasted on the bone. I can't seem to find it on the internets. Maybe it's in the Time-Life book... I hope its not just a product of my over-porked imagination.