Un goût de “salmon rillettes”? Oui, Merci!

This is third recipe from what we might call my “Bastille period,” a dish discovered during my quest last month to prepare something worthy of the French holiday. First Salad Nicoise, then a potato cake actually baked in a cake pan, and now “salmon rillettes” (pronounced ree-yet).

It’s not a difficult dish, but I had a bit of a time getting a solid idea of how people liked it. My first taste straight from the bowl nearly blew me away. I really loved it. MT thought it was really good too, served to her on a toasted baguette slice. My brother Jay gave it little more than a shrug, noting it was good but not particularly outstanding among salmon preparations. The next day, after another sampling, MT said she could barely taste the smoked salmon.

Stumped at the shifting reviews, I sought opinions from our reliable pool of co-worker taste testers.

“Quite delicious,” Jen Learn Andes said. When I asked if she could taste the smoked salmon, she gave a very confident affirmative. She also suggested it would be good on crackers, not just on the untoasted baguette slices I had pre-spread for sampling.

I agree. This works by itself and on French bread toasted or untoasted, but would likely work as well on a cracker or pita wedge. It’s rich, so I wouldn’t suggest slathering it on a piece of regular bread or half a bagel.

A self-professed fish fan, Patrick Kernan said he could taste the smoked salmon and liked the texture compared to thinly sliced lox. Bill O’Boyle and Kevin Carroll both gave it a “very good.” But the real test may have been page designer Lyndsay Bartos, who confessed to not being “really a big salmon person,” yet offered a thumbs up. “I thought this was very good.”

Lyndsay also picked up on a recent trend: MT and I have provided a string of non-entree samplings at work. “I like it that you guys are bringing in a lot of appetizers,” she said.

She’s right, this has “appetizer” written all over it. It would also make a good choice in a tapas selection. But thanks to the smoked salmon, I think it would work well as a breakfast spread option you could prepare the day before and put out with, say, bagels, toast, lox, onion slices, cream cheese, butter, jam and marmalade as a mini buffet for guests.

As for the origin of “rillettes” it is usually defined as a meat preservation method, slow-cooking slices of the meat (pork in particular) in its own fat, then sealing it with a layer of fat for future use, often as a spread. Clearly this dish doesn’t cook in fat and is meant to be eaten right away.

Merriam Webster says rillettes is diminutive of old French “rille,” a slice of pork, and a variant of “reille,” a board or lathe, which ultimately connects to “rail,” as in train tracks.

Gotta love language, but you can’t live off it, so might as well love food too.

Dobru Chut!

Salmon Rillettes bonappetit.com

2 cups dry white wine

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 pound skinless salmon fillet (preferably wild), cut into 1-inch pieces

3 ounces smoked salmon, cut into 1/4’ pieces

½ cup (or more) mayonnaise

2 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh chives

1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice

Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

1 baguette, thinly sliced, toasted

Bring wine and shallot to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to low; add salmon. Gently poach until salmon is barely opaque in center, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Strain poaching liquid through a fine-mesh sieve; set aside shallot and discard liquid. Place salmon and shallot in a large bowl; cover and chill until completely cooled.

Add smoked salmon, mayonnaise, chives and lemon juice to salmon and shallot. Gently mix just to combine (salmon will break up a little, but do not over mix or a paste will form). Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more mayonnaise and lemon juice, if desired. Serve rillettes cold with toasted slices of baguette.

Rillettes can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.