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Goose Rillette – A tasty French classic (Rillettes de canard)

In this post I’ll show you how to make goose rillette yourself.

A goose rillette is a classic French spread and part of charcuterie. It almost makes itself, all you need is a little time and a few ingredients.

The goose rillette goes great with an apéritif, picnic or supper. It also makes a great gift.

You can find the full goose rillette recipe as video or to read through.

Have fun and good luck making it!


Making goose rillette – what you need for it

Goose rillette-all ingredients

Ingredients for 500g  

  • 1 kg goose leg
  • 400g extra goose fat

Spices per KG meat

  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 sprig of rosemary
  • 1 bay leaf 
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • water to fill up if necessary


You will need this equipment:

Grease separation can

This is suitable to get to the liquid as well as possible.

Jars 

Fill the jars with the goose rillette. 


Make your own goose rillette- step-by-step instructions

1. Put some goose fat in a pot and fry the legs on medium heat on the skin side for a few minutes. 

Goose rillette-fat

2. Add the remaining goose fat and turn the legs. 

Goose rillette-fry

3. Add the herbs and salt. I add about 1% of the weight of the meat in salt at this step (10 g per kg) and season again later.

Goose rillette-herbs

4. Optional: Add a little bit of water if your goose leg is not at least ¾ covered with fat.

Goose rillette-water
  1. Cover the pot and cook on low-medium heat for 3 – 3.5 hours. The goal is for the meat to separate from the bone.

Important: The fat should not be too hot and also not too cold. I would say a maximum of 80 °C (176 Fahrenheit).

Alternative: You can also do this step in the oven at about 130 °C (266 Fahrenheit). It is best to use an ovenproof pot for this.

Goose rillette-bubbles

6.  Check occasionally whether there is still enough liquid in the pot. The goose leg should ideally be completely covered. If it is not, I would turn it once every hour.

Goose rillette-pot

7. As soon as the meat falls off the bone, you can take out the legs and peel off the skin with a fork, separating it from the meat.

Goose rillette-skin

8. Separate the meat from the bone and place it in a bowl. Make sure that no cartilage, tendons or skin residues get into your rillette.

Goose rillette-bone

9. Now pick the meat apart with two forks. You can also use a food processor for this. I personally like the texture of “hand made” rillette better.

Goose rillette-pluck

10. Pour the liquid left in the pot into a fat separator. If you do not have such can just separate the liquid and fat with a method of your choice.

Goose rillette-fat seperator

11. Gradually add the liquid to the meat mixture until the mixture is nice and creamy. I usually add 3-4 tablespoons of fat (or more to taste) to the mixture in addition to the liquid. This ensures that the rillette is nice and creamy. The fat also makes it taste more intense.

Goose rillette- liquid

12. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. 

Goose rillette-salt

13. Now you can fill the meat mixture into jars. Finally, you can seal them airtight with the remaining fat. This extens the shelf life. Now cool and…

Goose rillette- fill

14. Your goose rillette is ready 😄. Enjoy it. 

Goose rillette-ready


What is the shelf life of the goose rillette?

The goose rillette can be kept for a few weeks in the fridge. It is best to store it in a cool and dark place. Once the fat seal is broken use it within a few days.


Tags

Pâté, Terrine & Rillette


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