Cretons

Ingredients

Spread

• 700 gminced pork, about 25% fat
• 2onions, chopped very fine
• 3 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 500 mlwhole milk
• 60 gfine dry breadcrumbs
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• ½ tspground cloves
• ½ tspground allspice
• ¼ tspground nutmeg
• ½ tspblack pepper

To serve

• toast
• mustard, if you like it

Directions

1. Put the pork, onion, garlic and milk in a heavy pan and break the meat up thoroughly with a fork before you turn on the heat. Lumps formed now will still be lumps in two hours.
2. Bring to a bare simmer and cook uncovered over low heat for about 90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until the milk has almost entirely cooked away and the mixture is thick and pale.
3. Stir in the salt, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and pepper and cook another 15 minutes. Adding the spices at the start would dull them over two hours.
4. Stir in the breadcrumbs and cook a final 10 minutes until the mixture holds together and comes away from the side of the pan.
5. Taste and adjust the salt. It should taste slightly over-seasoned while hot — cold fat mutes seasoning, and a cretons that tastes right in the pan tastes flat on toast.
6. Pack into small ramekins or a terrine, smooth the top, and press clingfilm onto the surface. Chill at least six hours, or overnight.
7. Serve cold, spread thick on hot toast, with mustard alongside.

Technique

• The milk is the point. It cooks away and leaves the pork pale and soft, which is what separates cretons from a French rillette browned in its own fat.
• Do not let it catch on the bottom. A scorched patch stirred back through taints the whole terrine and there is no fixing it.
• It sets firm in the fridge because of the fat, so use pork with real fat in it. Lean mince gives a dry, crumbly spread.

Substitutions

• Rolled oats in place of breadcrumbs, which some Quebec families use and which gives a slightly softer set.
• Ground veal for a quarter of the pork, for a milder version.

Variations

• Gorton, the Franco-American cousin, is coarser and often has no milk at all.
• Some households add a splash of cider or maple syrup in the last ten minutes.

History

A spreadable pork pâté, seasoned with onion, cinnamon and clove and traditionally served on toast for breakfast, developed among French-Canadian communities in Quebec, with roots tracing back through French rillettes and pâté-making traditions carried to Canada by French colonists beginning in the 1600s, adapted over subsequent generations with the specific warm spicing that distinguishes Quebec cretons from its French ancestor dishes. Its smooth, spreadable texture, achieved by cooking the pork slowly with milk or cream until it can be mashed into a coarse paste, made cretons a practical, filling breakfast food particularly associated with rural Quebec farming households historically. It remains a traditional Quebec breakfast staple, commonly found on menus at casseroles, or Quebec diners, specializing in traditional French-Canadian home cooking.

Frequently asked questions

What is Cretons?

Cretons is a charcuterie & cured from Canada: cold spiced pork and onion spread eaten on toast at breakfast. A spreadable pork pâté, seasoned with onion, cinnamon and clove and traditionally served on toast for breakfast, developed among French-Canadian communities in Quebec, with roots tracing back through French rillettes and pâté-making traditions carried to Canada by French colonists beginning in the 1600s, adapted over subsequent generations with the specific warm spicing that distinguishes Quebec cretons from its French ancestor dishes. Its smooth, spreadable texture, achieved by cooking the pork slowly with milk or cream until it can be mashed into a coarse paste, made cretons a practical, filling breakfast food particularly associated with rural Quebec farming households historically. It remains a traditional Quebec breakfast staple, commonly found on menus at casseroles, or Quebec diners, specializing in traditional French-Canadian home cooking.

How long does Cretons take to make?

Cretons takes 20 min plus 6 hours chilling of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 700 g. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Cretons?

Yes, within limits. Rolled oats in place of breadcrumbs, which some Quebec families use and which gives a slightly softer set. Ground veal for a quarter of the pork, for a milder version.

What is the most important thing to get right in Cretons?

The milk is the point. It cooks away and leaves the pork pale and soft, which is what separates cretons from a French rillette browned in its own fat.