Curing belly pork

Author
Discussion

escargot

Original Poster:

17,110 posts

218 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
Just been on my weekly trip to the butchers and picked up a lovely looking piece of belly pork. A recipe from HFW's River Cottage cookbook has been firmly lodged in my mind for a number of months regarding curing the belly and essentially creating a pancetta style of bacon.

Whilst the recipe looks good, I'm sure I've also read something on here that inspired me slightly more - can't find it now though. Any suggestions?

calibrax

4,788 posts

212 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
Rillettes? (MC makes them on occasion and has posted stuff about it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rillettes

Edited by calibrax on Saturday 24th July 11:59

Pete Franklin

839 posts

182 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
The hfw recipe produces an over salty product in my opinion try the sausagemaking.org forum for curing recipes

Mobile Chicane

20,844 posts

213 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
I add Herbes de Provence and a clove of crushed garlic to the basic 'Hugh' drycure mix. Works a treat.

As said, the resulting bacon is very salty and needs a soak before using.

escargot

Original Poster:

17,110 posts

218 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
Oh go on then.



Rillettes de porc done my uncle in laws way.

Mobile Chicane

20,844 posts

213 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
^^^ Recipe please!

You can't keep that to yourself.

escargot

Original Poster:

17,110 posts

218 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
I'll post it once this rather significant hangover departs.

Mobile Chicane

20,844 posts

213 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
Incidentally pork belly is on offer at Waitrose at the moment for £4.23/Kg. I've got a 750g slab to make rillettes.

A tasty snack for just a couple of quid. Apparently rillettes will keep for ages in the fridge, although it invariably doesn't last long around here.

Mobile Chicane

20,844 posts

213 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
Mobile Chicane said:
Incidentally pork belly is on offer at Waitrose at the moment for £4.23/Kg. I've got a 750g slab to make rillettes.

A tasty snack for just a couple of quid. Apparently rillettes will keep for ages in the fridge, although it invariably doesn't last long around here.
UPDATE: Be warned that the on offer Waitrose pork belly isn't of the same quality as that which is normally stocked at £5.99/Kg.

It felt rather 'wet' when cutting, and spat like fury in the frying off stage. Having conducted extensive rillettes R&D with pork belly at various price points, I know the difference between them.

Incidentally, cheap pork belly still makes good rillettes (with a bit of care to avoid burning) but I certainly wouldn't use it for curing or roasting.

escargot

Original Poster:

17,110 posts

218 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no 'definitive' rillettes recipe. This is a good thing; I hate recipes.

For example;

Her father uses liver & onion as well as brandy.

Her uncle doesn't use any of that, just marc.

In common though, they essentially confit the meat in a very low oven (could do this in the slow cooker).

Mobile Chicane

20,844 posts

213 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
escargot said:
I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no 'definitive' rillettes recipe. This is a good thing; I hate recipes.

For example;

Her father uses liver & onion as well as brandy.

Her uncle doesn't use any of that, just marc.

In common though, they essentially confit the meat in a very low oven (could do this in the slow cooker).
I'm sure there are as many variations on 'rillettes' as there are départements of France (no doubt each claiming the original).

My current batch has a sautéed shallot, bacon and (lots) of white wine in it.

Sacré bleu!

BatterseaV8

574 posts

186 months

Tuesday 27th July 2010
quotequote all
O/T though an interesting fact is that pork belly is a traded commodity

http://www.bellycommoditytrading.com/tips-on-tradi...

escargot

Original Poster:

17,110 posts

218 months

Tuesday 27th July 2010
quotequote all
Mobile Chicane said:
escargot said:
I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no 'definitive' rillettes recipe. This is a good thing; I hate recipes.

For example;

Her father uses liver & onion as well as brandy.

Her uncle doesn't use any of that, just marc.

In common though, they essentially confit the meat in a very low oven (could do this in the slow cooker).
I'm sure there are as many variations on 'rillettes' as there are départements of France (no doubt each claiming the original).

My current batch has a sautéed shallot, bacon and (lots) of white wine in it.

Sacré bleu!
Nice. Have you tried it with an ungodly amount of goose/duck fat?

Mobile Chicane

20,844 posts

213 months

Tuesday 27th July 2010
quotequote all
That'll be going in as well smile

Even fatty pork belly isn't quite fatty enough. I must try and get hold of some Gloucester Old Spot - that'll sort it

escargot

Original Poster:

17,110 posts

218 months

Tuesday 27th July 2010
quotequote all
I mean actually cooking it a la confit purely in fat (obviously with the obligatory bay leaves, salt & pepper etc).

The good thing is, you won't destroy the fat either so you can reuse it.