Conton / Creton French Canadian Pork Spread Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What is Creton made of? ›

cretons, a cold pork spread with a texture that varies from smooth to chunky. The pâté-like dish is common in the cuisine of Quebec and first gained popularity with French Canadians. It is made by cooking ground pork and pork fat with water or milk, bread crumbs, onions, and spices.

In Quebec cuisine, cretons (sometimes gorton or corton, especially among New Englanders of French-Canadian origin) is a forcemeat-style pork spread containing onions and spices. Due to its fatty texture and taste, it resembles French rillettes.

Its texture is fatty, creamy and tender, and it is often served for breakfast, when it is paired with toast. If the spread is based on veal, poultry, or any meat that is not pork, it is then called a cretonnade.

Keep in refrigerator or freeze.

The link, linguistically, appears to be to the medieval French word creton, which according to the online Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500) means 'morceau de panne de porc frite', that is, 'small piece of fried pork fat'. If you fry a piece or pieces of pig fat, you get something akin to pork cracklings.

(krɛtɑ̃ ) plural noun. Canadian. a spread of shredded pork cooked with onions in pork fat.

"Creton is a french-canadian specialty; this type of "pork pate" is certainly not healthy, but really delicious! I like it spread on toast or crackers, along with hot mustard. Many in Quebec eat it at breakfast.

Cooked meats: 3-4 days. Confit meats: 2-4 days. Cretons: 2-4 days.

In 1940, Marius Barbeau, who was a famous Canadian ethnographer and folklorist, described how the recipe had its origins in the monasteries of the lower St. Lawrence River valley. One Father Wright, at the Collége de Sainte-Anne de la Pocatiére, had a reputation for making excellent cretons.

Directions. Stir the pork fat, ground pork, onions, water, cloves, and nutmeg together in a large pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the pork is tender, at least 1 1/2 hours.

What is the shelf life of Creton? ›

Creton should be refrigerated. Its shelf life in the refrigerator is three weeks. It freezes well for several months.

Pate freezes pretty well. You may notice a slight change to the taste and texture, but nothing too major. The best way to minimise the changes to frozen pâté is to properly store the pate in an airtight container and to defrost slowly in the fridge overnight.

Although it's possible to store French toast either cooked or uncooked, we don't recommend freezing uncooked ingredients. Prepare cooked French toast: The egg and milk mixture takes about 15 minutes to prepare, and freezing it with the bread would require more time to defrost and cook.

Cooked meats: 3-4 days. Confit meats: 2-4 days. Cretons: 2-4 days.

Pâté is often made of pig meat and parts, but wild game like snipe, partridge, venison or wild boar can be cooked into a pâté, as can farm-raised duck, rabbit or pheasant. Even vegetables can be made into pâté. Lean meats might require the addition of some pork fat to keep the pâté from drying out in the oven.

Lardo is the name for the fatty subcutaneous layer of the pig attached to the pork rind, from the back area, which is stored after salting or smoking. It is generally used as a flavoring or sliced like other salumi and served raw.