Tim's B'rillette

Dawn this morning,

the rising sun turning the hills to rust-red.

It was stunning.

Anyway....

comment posted by Tim

upon my request as to what to do with the pig's head

in the blog I wrote a couple of days ago:

"Anyone know how to make pâté?

Found a pig's head down the bottom of the freezer,

spent two days slow cooking it,

so that it disintegrated into a mush of meat and bones,

that way one cannot distinguish exactly what bits go where,

which makes the task of sorting everything out easier,

makes me less squeamish.

Anyways,

I have one pot of bones, one pot of meat for the dogs, one pot of meat for us.

Thought I would have a go at making pâté.

Anyone know how to do that?

Or else I can mince the meat up,

and lose it in a pie or something."

And Tim said:

"Get a block of Saindoux [lard] and stir your meat and "shut up and eat it" into the lard...

simmer in the lard for around twenty minutes and season to taste. 

Pull any big lumps of flesh apart with two forks and stir it back in...

hey presto! You have B'rillette...

half way 'twixt Brawn and Rillette.

Use as rillette"  

"Righty-o Tim", I thought,

"will give it a go".

And I have, 

and this is what I did:

From the fridge, I took bowl of chunks of head meat from a cooked pig's head:

Cut / shredded the meat into smaller pieces:

(Boolie pretending he is not interested in the meat related activity going on above his head)

One packet of lard.....

...from which I took a third....

....and that went into a saucepan to melt,

my thoughts being melted fat would be easier to mix with the meat...

Also added two chopped onions, two cloves of garlic, and some spices...

When all softened down, tipped the lard mixture back into head meat,...

and gave it a good mixing...

Another third of lard put into pan and melted,

but over a low heat,

as didn't want a burnt bottom,

which is something I have a tendency to have quite frequently,

because I do have the habit of wandering away from the stove

when I should stay and attend to what is cooking.

So I kept turning over the mixture,

then flattened it to see how much lard there was in proportion to the meat.

I thought that the melted lard should sufficient to almost cover the meat,

but not be enough to drown it. 

When the lard gets cold and sets,

it should glue the meat together,

I think.

The mixture looked on the 'dry' side, 

so I added some more dollops of lard.

I have now used up all the packet of lard.

At fifteen minutes simmering, the bottom was sticking,

so I stopped cooking the mixture. 

Gave it a pat.

Decided not to add any more lard.

Had a nibble on a bit of meat. 

Was as bland as anything,

so in went some allspice, salt, pepper, and mustard,

and then some more.

Then into lined tin...

and done!

It will go into the fridge once it is cooled down.

Two hours later:

Now in fridge.

Not set though.

I think that I should have got the pieces smaller,

and perhaps I should have put the mixture into jars,

rather than a tin.

Not to worry,

all will be revealed in the morning when I get up,

because I am off to bed now.

Clean sheets, electric blanket, and my husband,

all in a heap,

what could be better!

So thanks, Tim, for giving me an idea to experiment with!

Lester will either be having B'rillette on toast for breakfast,

or the dogs will be having B'rillette on dog biscuits,

at least it will not be wasted.

And leaving you with a last look at that stupendous dawn:

Vx