Potjevleesch

Four meats packed raw in layers and set in their own jelly, which comes from the bones rather than from gelatine.

Chicken, Pork, Veal, Rabbit. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, pork, rabbit, veal.

Ingredients

• 400 g chicken thighs, boned, bones kept
• 400 g rabbit, boned, bones kept
• 400 g pork shoulder
• 400 g veal shoulder
• 2 pig's trotters, split
• 500 ml dry white wine
• 300 ml water
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• a few thyme sprigs
• 1 teaspoon juniper berries
• 6 cloves
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 150 g streaky bacon, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper

Method

1. FOUR MEATS GO IN RAW AND THE JELLY IS MADE BY THE BONES, NOT ADDED. The trotters and the chicken and rabbit bones go in with everything else, and five hours at a low temperature draws out enough collagen to set the whole pot firm when it cools. No gelatine, no packet, nothing to measure. Which also means the bones are not optional: leave the trotters out and you get a terrine sitting in cold liquid, and no amount of reducing afterwards will rescue it.
2. AND THE MEAT IS CUT INTO LARGE STRIPS, NOT DICED OR MINCED. You are supposed to see and taste which meat you have on the fork -- that is the whole idea of a pot with four in it. Diced small they become one thing.
3. THEY ARE PACKED IN LAYERS AND NOT MIXED, upright and tightly, so a spoon through the finished pot cuts across all four.
4. THE VINEGAR IS NOT FOR FLAVOUR. A tablespoon helps draw the collagen out of the bones, and you will not taste it in the finished jelly.
5. IT IS NOT TURNED OUT. This is eaten from its pot, cold, and the jelly is part of it rather than a coating. Three days in the fridge before eating, like the terrine on this site.
6. The four meats cut into strips about 2 cm wide and 6 cm long. Seasoned generously with salt and pepper.
7. A deep earthenware pot or casserole lined across its base and sides with the bacon slices.
8. The meats packed in in four distinct LAYERS, upright and tightly, with onion, bay, thyme, juniper and cloves between them.
9. The chicken and rabbit bones and the split trotters pushed down the sides and into any gaps.
10. The wine, water and vinegar poured in to just cover.
11. Covered tightly with a lid or a double layer of foil.
12. Into a 150C oven for 5 HOURS.
13. Lifted out and LEFT TO COOL in the pot, uncovered, 1 hour.
14. The trotters and loose bones picked out carefully, with any meat from them returned. The surface tasted and seasoned while the liquid is still warm.
15. Into the fridge, covered, for 3 DAYS. It will set firm. Served cold from the pot in spoonfuls, with chips and mustard. Keeps a week.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes