Loire Valley France

The Loire Valley in France is known for its high quality fruits. Cherries, pears, strawberries, melons are all famously exported throughout Europe from the Loire Valley but are difficult to obtain in America. Loire Valley cherries range from extra large and luscious for eating to the smaller ones grown for the liquor Guignolet.

Besides its fruits this sylvan area of France’s epicurean offerings typically contain wild game, fish, lamb, specialty cattle and fowl and goat cheeses. The Loire Valley is known for its rustic culinary innovation and so there are very few dishes that can’t be obtained outside the region, but there are a few specialties that it’s much easier to get only within it.

Rilletes are one such delicacy known especially within the Loire Valley. Originally a farmer’s delight, produced from the fatty pork belly or shoulder, Rilletes is sort of a pork paté. The traditional dish is still served today–and it is a rich, overly indulgent delight–on crackers, bread or toast. As will happen with any food left in French hands, the salty table centerpiece has evolved and modernized, now being created as often from wild rabbit, fowl, beef and even fish.

In the traditional pork version you have the flavor of old French hospitality: warm, luxurious but not presumptuous, comfortable and relaxed. Try the original rilletes with a sweet wine to contrast the salty pork, or with brandy late after supper in front of the fire. The innovative forms of rilletes tend to be lighter and more delicate in flavor, perfect for a sauvignon blanc before the meal proper and garnished with the local specialty mushroom, the champignons de Paris.

Rilletes are one of those simple but labor intensive recipes that are better left to others to cook, and you to enjoy.