Travel France from your kitchen: rillons de porc

French recipes for grattons (ie scratchings) date back to the Middle Ages and can be made of goose, chicken, or duck as well as pork.

This recipe uses pork and white wine to make rillons - a favourite finger food in the Pays de la Loire - which can be served with bread and cornichons (gerkins) as an apéro snack, or with salad as a main course.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

• 1 kilo fat bacon (lard in French) - look for whole pieces which you can cut into large chunks (keep the rind on)

• 250g lard (saindoux in French)

• 1 litre of white wine

• 1 soup spoon of caramel

• salt to taste

• chives or spring onions to taste

Method

Chop the fat bacon into chunks about 2cm square, and fry them in a quarter of the lard (saindoux).

When they are golden, add the rest of the lard and the wine, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat, cover, and leave to simmer for two hours.

At the end, turn the heat up, add the caramel and coat the rillons with it. Serve with crusty bread.

Garnish with chives or spring onions.