Originally made of pork, rillettes were traditionally made with fatty pork belly or pork shoulder. The meat was cubed, heavily salted, cured for twelve hours and then cooked slowly over low flames until very tender. The meat was shredded and combined with the the warm cooking fat to form a rustic paste. Today this cooking style has been expanded to include game birds, wild rabbits and fish. This salmon rilette isn’t actually cooked in the fat but it is blended with fat to form the characteristic paste-spread. The soft, smooth texture is a deciding factor in deciding whether a rillette is well prepared or not. Most rillettes are served cold or as a spread 

- a little like a paté.  Pork rillettes from the Northwestern regions of Tours and Anjou are famous for their rich texture and bronze colour (achieved during the cooking process) and in the South of France rillettes from the La Sarthe province are distinguished by a more rustic texture with larger pieces of pork and less colour. Today’s recipe for rillette is a modern version of an old classic, far more suitable to the Parisian way of life and really great to serve at any dinner party. It can be made the night before and therefore perfect for busy executives.

Ingredients

250 g fresh of salmon – the best you can get, boned

125 g smoked salmon, sliced and cut into thin strips

100 g butter

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon zest only

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

a good pinch medium smoked paprika

salt

Method

• Season the salmon on both sides lightly with a bit of salt.
• Steam in a steamer basket until just cooked, about 8 minutes.
• Once cooked, remove from heat and let cool.
• In a medium-sized bowl, mash together with a fork the butter and the olive oil until very smooth.
• Stir in the lemon juice, then the chopped chives and smoked salmon.
• Remove the skin from the salmon and flake the cooked salmon over the mixture, then fold the pieces of salmon into the rillette mixture along with the chili powder.
• Season with salt, if necessary.
• Scrape into a serving dish, cover, and chill for at least two hours.
• Let come to room temperature before serving.
• The rillettes can be made up to two days before and refrigerated. They can also be frozen, well-wrapped, for up to two months.