Olympics - what’s on your table?

Legume

Some good friends of ours have a tradition of getting together with friends for the opening ceremony of the Olympics to watch and eat food from the host country. Of course this year it’s France and I’ve just never really dipped into that cuisine before. I like the research part with so many interesting dishes to choose from. At the same time, we really don’t have an idea what others are making.  It’s usually too much food, so I’m going to skip any big entree type things, heavy apps and finger foods work well.

I settled on pork rillettes with pork butt and belly, so making that tomorrow so it has a full 24h to rest, and I’ll pick up some nice baguettes to toast up for the rillettes. My wife is going to make a tomato and eggplant gratin. That’s all I know we’ll have at this point, it’s always fun seeing whatever other people bring. I have no idea what rillettes are supposed to taste like - but nobody else will either.

If anyone is familiar, I’m open to any advice or insights.

GrateEggspectations

Sounds like a fun tradition. 

I have never made rillettes, but it is very common at fine food stores and in many grocery stores around these parts, as it is a bit of a staple for French Canadians (a regional Quebec version is known as Cretons). Rillettes often gets served as part of a charcuterie board. Pairs well with bread, sweet toppers and cheese. Also gets along great with bubbly. 

It’s very rich and tender. Think duck confit, but with shredded pork rather than whole pieces of duck (though duck rillettes exist as well). Very filling, so a little dab’ll do ya. 

Do you have a recipe in mind? I looked some up out of curiosity. 

I always associate David Lebovitz with ice cream, but this recipe looks good and I would expect it to be, given he now lives in France. Don’t think it meets your timeline, but you could adjust accordingly. 

https://www.davidlebovitz.com/pork-rillettes-recipe/

There is also an easy-looking Kenji recipe. 

https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-pork-rillettes-recipe

I now feel like making this. 

Let us know how it turns out. 

Legume

Thanks @GrateEggspectations. I did see those when researching.  Also the Bourdain recipe and several others. I'm using one of the recipes from NYT as a place to start, there really is a huge variation in both seasoning and process, but I'm going to try to keep it simple and ensure there's enough fat.

I did forget to mention that my wife is also making fromage fort from Jacques Pépin's recipe to go along with it all.

Gulfcoastguy

Pomme Frites?

Legume

Gulfcoastguy said:

Pomme Frites?

It certainly came up, but we decided against freedom fries - we've all had them and we try to stretch to things we've never made.  If you've ever seen the movie Better Off Dead (80's classic), that's the kind of conversation we had about what to make before we got a little more serious.

JohnInCarolina

I love the Olympics and enjoy watching most of the events themselves.   So many young people who have worked tirelessly for years to become elite competitors, the vast majority of which will never see fame or fortune.  

I also enjoy the feel good stories that come out in support of them.  This one is kind of great, in lots of ways:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/26/how-girl-dad-flavor-flav-became-hype-man-for-the-us-womens-water-polo-team