pork rillettes

I've been wanting to make this ever since I bought Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook over a year ago. Finally got around to it last weekend. I served it with toasted baguette and sour cornichon pickles as a starter for Valerie and Roger. Of the five kids also eating, four loved it and the one who didn't doesn't like anything. It's ridiculously easy to make (as advertised) and insanely good. Even better than...get this... cretons.

Cut into 2 inch chunks and put into a heavy-bottomed pot (still lovin' that Creuset I got for my 30th birthday) the following:

• 1 lb. pork shoulder
• 2 lb. fresh pork belly (this cut is used to make both bacon and salt pork, but you want neither of those things; for me, getting this requires a trip to a good butcher, as it isn't the kind of thing supermarkets stock)
• 4 cups of water
• 1 bouquet garni (spigs of parsley and thyme and a bay leaf tied together)

Simmer for six hours, stirring from time to time. When it's done, there will be no water, an abundance of beautiful, golden brown liquid fat and chunks of meat that readily fall apart into shreds and some of which has browned a bit in the hot fat. You add a teaspoon of salt to this and pull the meat apart with forks. Pour everything into a terrine-like dish. Bourdain covers with thinly sliced pork fat, but I didn't have that so I just used plastic wrap. It's supposed to be better if you let it age for three days before you eat it, but I can't say I've noticed a difference between the taste the day after making it and today, which is three days after. So damn good!