Rillettes, anyone?

Rillettes
[ree-YEHT, rih-LEHTS]
Meat, usually pork but also rabbit, goose, poultry, fish, etc., that is slowly cooked in seasoned fat and then pounded or pulverized (along with some of the fat) into a paste. This mixture is then packed in small pots, RAMEKINS or other containers and covered with a thin layer of fat. Rillettes can be stored for several weeks in the refrigerator providing the fatty seal is not broken. This mixture, resembling a smooth PÂTÉ, is served cold, usually as an appetizer spread on toast or bread.

~ © Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

Rillettes, lovely and homey, and always reminiscent of a picnic in the French countryside. Although I live in a neighborhood (Silverlake) of a city (Los Angeles) where there are plenty of gourmet purveyors out there that carry rillettes (let's see, Say Cheese, Silverlake Cheese, The Gourmet Market at the Alcove Cafe, among others), I decided that as a self-proclaimed foodie, I had to make them myself. Come on, it's not like I don't have half a dozen cookbooks that have them listed in them.

Well, my take was to look at a couple (Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, and Brian Polcyn and Michel Ruhlman's Charcuterie) and to compose one for myself.

Right off the bat, I hit a snag... the recipes call for pork belly. Puppy-white-boy , my long-term house guest just got a job as a butcher at Virgin Grain High-End Food Emporium so I thought I'd drop him off for work and pick up a couple pounds.
Apparently, gourmet market or not, it's not likely I'm getting pork belly here. Fine, if that's not going to work, I'll Plan-B it.

Off to Glorious Filipino Mart that popped up in the basement of Eagle Rock Shopping Center a little while back. I know I can get it there, and for cheap at that. Sure enough, I walk in, and there's the pork belly staring right up at me. And at $1 per pound, I'm not about to complain. I pick up a pork shoulder roast for good measure, and off we go.


Rillettes:

Makes quite a bit, so have a lot of ramekins or containers to put them in!

2 lb Pork Belly
1 lb Pork Shoulder
4 Cups Water

Herbs (I made my bouquet garni out of thyme, oregano, sage, and bay leaf along with a handful of peppercorns)

Salt and Pepper to taste
1 TblS Veal Demi-Glace
Pork Fat, cut thin


Cube up the pork. Line the bottom of your slowcooker/Dutch oven with the pork. Cover with water. Add the herbs.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Remove pork from the slow cooker and place in a large bowl. Carefully shred the meat with forks until no chunks remain. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add in demi-glace and some of the cooking liquid and mix until it holds together.

Separate out pork into ramekins, top with fat, cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for 3 days.

If you've made a lot, you can freeze the extras. According to most all sources, rillettes will keep for about a month in the fridge as long as the fat covering is intact.

When you're ready, just bring the rillettes up to room temperature, and smear it on some bread and munch on. Add some cornichons and we're definitely in business!

As Anthony Bourdain put it in his cookbook:

Jesus, this dish is easy. Don't tell your friends. Let them think you're a genius, a master charcutier, while they're busy cooing and gaping.

Happy Cooking!

Speechless

As much as I'm often critical about food, I just had an experience where I was left speechless. Both my dining companion Jose (also notorious foodie and cook) and I had nothing to say and could only make strangely orgasmic noises. As Jose put it, "I finally understand the reason why the old woman said 'I'll have what she's having' in the diner scene in When Harry Met Sally.

The restaurant in question? Daniel in New York. Yes, Daniel that occupies the old Le Cirque space on E. 60th Street, and where the chef, Daniel Boulud, has proven to me that he is a God... And yes, he was in residence that night in the kitchen.

All I can say is, go. You won't be disappointed. It was the best meal of my life. Truly. This foodie now has another bar to compare everything else to.

And for once, the food was so good the inside of my brain just went fuzzy with static. Every scent, texture, flavor... overwhelming and just brilliant.

Daniel
60 E. 65th St.
New York, NY
Tel: 212.288.0033

Giving up on Mac&Cheese

I've been trying to perfect my Mac & Cheese technique. For some reason, it seems that no matter what I try, I just can't get it right. Well, I did get it right the other day, but I found out the hard way that baking the dish even to get a little crust can mean the difference between velvety smoothness, and well, an overgrown hockey puck. Dammit, I should have taken it and just eaten it out of the pot, but no, I had to get a crust on it. Well, live and learn. At least I salvaged deep fried mac-fromage out of that one, which actually, wasn't bad once you melted more cheese on top. Mmmmmm

In an effort to redeem myself here, I went back to my roots. I pulled out a dish that I grew up with in Japan that really is similar to a good 'ole American Mac & Cheese although the technique is really much more traditional French.

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Macaroni au Gratin

1/2 lbs. Macaroni or other tube shaped pasta

5.5 oz Chicken or Shrimp
1 medium Onion
1/4 cup White Wine
optional 6 Button Mushrooms

1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter and 1 cup Grated Cheese for topping (I like a combination of parmegiano-reggiano, mozzarella, and gruyere, but anything with flavor that melts is fine)

Mornay Sauce:

3.75 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
3.75 tablespoons Flour
3.75 cups Milk or Half-and-half

1/2 cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

Freshly grated Nutmeg and White Pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Chop up chicken or shrimp into bite-sized pieces and salt and pepper them. Dice the onion and thinly slice the mushrooms if using. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt. If you decide on the shrimp, skip the instructions for chicken and add it once you fold all the ingredients together before baking.

In a large saute pan or skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat, and saute the chicken until it is nicely colored. Remove the chicken and reserve. Add more butter to the pan and saute the onions (and mushrooms) until translucent. Return the chicken to the same pan and add the white wine. Stir and cook until the wine is almost completely gone.

Add pasta to the pot of boiling water at this time. Because of additional baking in the sauce later, you will want to slightly under cook the pasta. If the directions give 9-10 minutes, take them off at 8. The pasta should still be slightly hard in the middle, but not quite al dente yet. If the pasta is done before the sauce, drain and add a little butter to prevent sticking.

Meanwhile, make the sauce mornay. In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat, being careful not to burn it. Once all the butter is melted, remove the pot from the heat and slowly sift in the flour. Both sifting the flour and mixing off the heat help prevent the formation of lumps. Cook the mixture (roux) over low heat while stirring to make sure that the roux is completely cooked through. Do not allow the roux to brown. Once the roux is cooked through and the flour is completely incorporated (it will smell less like flour) remove from the heat and bring the milk or half-and-half to a scald. Placing the roux back over low heat, add in the heated milk and whisk vigorously until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take approximately 4-5 minutes. Remove the white sauce from the heat. In small batches, add in the grated cheese, making sure it is completely melted before adding more. Place the pot back over low heat if necessary. Once all the cheese is melted in, add in a small amount of freshly grated nutmeg and white pepper.

Fold the components together. Place pasta, chicken and sauce mixture into an oven safe baking dish that has been buttered or sprayed. Top with the reserved grated cheeses and add dots of butter. Place in the oven and bake until bubbling and nicely browned, about 10 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes (important, it's like napalm right out of the oven!) and serve up.

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Now, folks, I may not be able to make a great American Mac & Cheese that's better than the blue box, but this... just try it once. It's gooooooood. Just don't complain to me when your cholesterol figures go up. :D

Happy Cooking!