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At one point I lived in Montreal. I hated it. But I did learn about one amazing thing called cretons (kray-tahn), and I'm here to share it with all of you. Cretons is, like the link says, very similar to a rilliette or a pate - It is pork cooked down in fat and pureed until spreadable. Despite a somewhat... less than appealing appearance (it looks like greyish-pink cat food) cretons is one of my favorite snacks; salty, rich, and with a warming combination of spices. A thin layer spread on some generic white bread is the perfect way to start the morning, and served with crackers it makes a nice accompaniment to any hearty or rustic meal. Positives of cretons? Tasty, tasty pork! Relatively easy to make! Lasts a good minute in the fridge! Negatives of cretons? Fatty, fatty pork, with bonus dairy to boot. Looks completely and thoroughly disgusting. Good luck not eating all of it in the first two days like the fatass goony bastard you are. A few things to note: To my knowledge there is no One True Cretons recipe. I've looked up a bunch, heard a bunch more, and all of them are different in some fashion. Salt pork instead of bacon is more traditional. Some people add bay leaves & black pepper (I do not). As many recipes call for ground pork as call for chopped pork shoulder/butt. Like most regional culinary traditions there's a billion ways to make cretons, and almost all of them are tasty. I've tried several variations by now and this recipe is the one I usually go for just because it's what I like to make, but I wouldn't say any of them are bad - Just differences in texture and flavor that all end up in the same basic idea of spreadable meat, which makes all of them winners in my eyes. Let's get started, shall we? Our cast of characters:  * Bacon, four slices. I'm using an applewood smoked bacon in this that I think added a nice smokey/sweetness to the cretons, but it's up to you. You can also use salt pork here, or otherwise just use lard/bacon grease/some other fashion of fat. * Ground pork, one lb: Nothing special here. You can either use ground pork or pork shoulder, and each lends its own unique taste/texture. Overall I highly recommend experimenting with your choices in meat, just to see what sort of taste and texture you end up preferring. * Bread crumbs, 2/3rds cup: Generic bread crumbs, nothing special. * Milk, whole, 1.5 cup: I took these pictures over a year ago so ignore the expiration date. * An onion, medium, yellow: It's an onion. * Spices: ** Cinnamon (1/2 tsp) ** Cloves (1/2 tsp) ** Ginger (1/2 tsp) ** Nutmeg (1/4 tsp) ** Salt: Yes ** Pepper: Eh. I don't think it needs it but do what you wanna do.  Slice your bacon and your onions. Set the onions aside and add your bacon into a big pot on med-high heat, rendering off the bacon fat.  Keep an eye on your bacon. Right before it would start to get crispy use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon from the fat, setting the bacon aside and leaving the grease inside the pot.  Now toss in your onions and saute until starting to turn clear.  Once your onions have gone translucent you can add in your ground pork, letting it cook through.  Now that your pork has started to turn grey it's time to add your bacon back into the pot, along with your seasonings. I like the blend I have listed above but feel free to add more or less depending on your tastes.  Stir and continue to cook for a few minutes longer before adding in your milk. Bring to a simmer and drop the heat to low. Cover and cook for the next hour, making sure to stir occasionally.  Look appetizing yet? I hope so, because appearance-wise it's all downhill from here.  After the hour has passed add in your bread crumbs and cook for another fifteen minutes. Texture is important here - The mixture should be thick and something akin to paste when it's ready, pulling away from the pot fairly easily. If it's not getting there, feel free to add in more breadcrumbs until it's 'right'; this is also when you'll want to taste it and add in any salt or additional spices you may want.  Now remove from the heat and place in your favorite food processor. Blend the gently caress out of it.   Yeah, that's what daddy likes.  You're aiming for as smooth a spread as possible but you'll never get it completely smooth; that's good, the textural variation adds a lot to the end result.  Once you're done, pack it densely into the storage vessel of your choosing and let refrigerate. Tada! You just made cretons! Traditionally this would be packed into an earthenware container and 'sealed' with a layer of melted bacon fat/lard poured on top before being refrigerated, but when I make this stuff it usually doesn't last long enough to warrant the extra effort. Still, if you wanted to give some away to friends/family, it's a neat way to add some additional pizzazz to their new jar of pork paste. And there you have it! Hopefully this helps inspire you to make your own delicious goonspread. I would love to see what others can come up with, so if you decide to give it a go please share! Cretons is a wonderful cold weather treat, and now is the perfect time to crank out a big batch for snacking on into the spring. Enjoy! 
Correnth fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Jan 6, 2016 |
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Jan 6, 2016 18:20
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 17:49 |
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This sounds equal parts horrible for you/delicious, which is usually the best kind of flavor. About that color though: have you ever tried adding something like Kitchen Bouquet or a natural food coloring to change the color to something more appealing? I'm assuming this is a food that has a "once you try it you really don't care what it looks like" quality to it, but for people new to the experience (especially if given away as a gift), it might be more appetizing. If you have tried that, I'm curious as to your opinion on the results. EDIT: if you could also provide the measurement of salt that you personally use in this recipe? 
Sole.Sushi fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Jan 7, 2016 |
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Jan 7, 2016 13:33
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I would imagine you could get it quite smooth in a Vitamix or equivalent. Would that be a bad idea for any reason?
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Jan 7, 2016 15:47
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I've made a bastardized creton/rilletes before (no milk in mine, but a shot of basalmic vinegar, kinda winged it), and it's quite good! Just looks gross. It's allllllll in how you plate it. I made rilletes poutine with sweet potato fries and Dubliner, it was amazing. Also good mixed in with jook. Also good on a sandwich with spinach. And I also made a kind of fishermans/hogmans eggs. If you plate it with nicely arranged crackers and colorfull veg slices, it looks fine. Eating it straight from the tub is a little off-putting.
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Jan 7, 2016 15:59
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Correnth posted:At one point I lived in Montreal. I hated it.   Sorry you didn't like the best city in North America. That said, I really like my Cretons spread on toast with a thiin smearing of mustard on it. Yellow works best for some reason.
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Jan 7, 2016 16:24
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Sole.Sushi posted:This sounds equal parts horrible for you/delicious, which is usually the best kind of flavor. Some coloring agent might work and be a good idea if you're giving it to someone who's particularly picky but the smell usually helps sell the concept (as it does smell p awesome even when chilled). The coloration also changes depending on what you're using as ingredients; part of why mine has such a distinct pinkish hue is due to the bacon, and using something like lard or salt pork would help maintain a more solid greyish color. For salt, I left it vague because whatever you use for your fat base (bacon, salt pork, lard, etc.) will have a massive effect the overall saltiness of the end result. When using something like bacon I'd recommend starting at a teaspoon or two and going from there, but it's something that's very much "to taste" depending on what you use to make the cretons with. Once it's been through the hour boil with the milk it's safe to take a little taste and see what you think. Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I would imagine you could get it quite smooth in a Vitamix or equivalent. Would that be a bad idea for any reason? I think a bit of textural variation helps add to the end result, particularly if you're using whole/shredded pork over ground, but I've never actually *tried* blending it perfectly smooth so I don't know how it would differ or if it would even be that different at all. If you're looking to make some and have a high-end blender, maybe try doing it in two batches (one super smooth, one less so) and see what you think? I'd be very interested to hear the results! Suspect Bucket posted:rilletes poutine with sweet potato fries and Dubliner  ok yea thats something im gonna have to try And serving method does tend to help. I like doing little hors-d'oeuvre finger sandwiches (white bread, cretons, maybe a weeeee thin spread of mustard) if I'm taking it to a family gathering or whatever, because most people won't question what's between two slices of bread until after they've already eaten it. Then they start going after the tub with a spoon and a sleeve of saltines. Nine of Eight posted:
It'd been better if I'd known better people. Living in a first floor apartment behind a night club on St. Catherine W. didn't help much either. But yes, a little spread of yellow mustard + cretons = good, good times.
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Jan 7, 2016 17:54
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Oh hey thanks for giving me a good idea of what to do with this ground pork I picked up at the store because it was 89 cents a pound. And I even have all the ingredients! Well, 2 percent milk not whole milk.. and also no bacon in the house though I do have some fatty ham pieces I could try it with. Would that work or should I venture forth in search of bacon/salt pork/fatback? Otherwise perfect, a nice fatty meat spread to put on my bread in my poor person home, and still tasty sounding!
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Jan 11, 2016 03:46
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I feel like it needs 'cured' flavor of the salt pork/bacon to help round out the taste but I've never tried without before. If you're willing to experiment you can give it a go, but if at all feasible I'd recommend taking the trip to the store and picking up some bacon.
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Jan 11, 2016 21:03
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Oh its certainly not hard to get some decent bacon. I just wanted to be sure since I do have most of a ham chilling in the freezer right now and if it could be used I'd be foolish not to. But this first go around I'd best stick to the basics. And if this comes out nicely I shall be in a great place to experiment since the grocery down the street seems to wind up with tons of marked down ground pork. Bacon and pork are in, shall report results hopefully tomorrow.
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Jan 12, 2016 02:45
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I had some house smoked end bits of bacon around and was throwing some pork shoulder in the smoker at work anyways, so I made a batch. It's chilling now. Definitely tasty. I don't know if I would just do white bread -- I think it might just be a little too "soft," texture-wise. Does remind me of rillettes, just maybe a little less unctuous?
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Jan 12, 2016 03:31
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 17:49 |
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q: does this have anything to do with thetans y/n
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Jan 12, 2016 04:28
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