French-Canadian Spiced Pork Spread (Gorton)

When Marie Griffin of Los Angeles lost a cherished family recipe during a move, she contacted Milk Street for help. Three of her grandparents were from Quebec and moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, in the early 20th century, bringing their culinary traditions with them. During the holidays when she was growing up, Marie’s grandmother, and later her mother, prepared gorton, a rich spiced pork spread resembling classic pork rillettes that originates with French settlers in Canada. (The dish was called cretons in Quebec, but the name evolved into “gorton” in New England.) With the family recipe now lost, Marie tried to re-create the dish using recipes she found online, but they just weren’t the same. Many included other types of meat in addition to pork, but her family’s version used only pork and pork fat, she recalled. She thought that pork in two forms, ground and chunks of shoulder, went into the gorton. These days, however, ground pork can vary greatly in fat content, and we learned through testing that if the ground pork is very lean, it will give the gorton a less-than-pleasing texture. Therefore our recipe calls for only boneless pork shoulder. If possible, purchase Boston butt, which is cut from a specific area of the shoulder and contains more marbling. The seasonings for the gorton were a bit of a mystery. Marie told us it was an herb or spice that she couldn’t quite pinpoint. We settled on cinnamon, allspice and cloves, spices that were often used in traditional recipes for gorton. This pork spread is excellent on toast for breakfast or as an appetizer slathered on baguette slices with Dijon mustard and sliced cornichons. The gorton can be kept, covered and refrigerated, for up to three days.