In 1911, Alberto Soares Ribeiro founded two canned fish factories, one in Setúbal and one in Olhão. Both closed during the upheavals after 1974. Four generations later, the family started again.
Somewhere between the Anjou and the gates of Brittany, a copper pot has been simmering on a low flame for hours. What is slowly cooking inside is no mass-produced product, but what the French simply call "de bonnes rillettes" – good rillettes, so good that you would rather eat them by the spoonful straight from the jar. Behind it is a small company with high standards: Le Comptoir du Fougeray. From Paris to Brittany The story begins in 2014, when Pierre-Yves and Emilie leave Paris behind and settle in the small village of Eancé, right on the border between Anjou and Brittany. Instead of a company headquarters in an office tower, they choose a hamlet in the countryside – and build what is today Le Comptoir du Fougeray from there. Together with chefs and a food critic, they tinker with the first recipes until a whole philosophy emerges: making rillettes and aperitif spreads the way you know from your grandmother – only with the courage to occasionally add kaffir lime or Timur berries to the pot. Fifteen Hours of Patience Good rillettes need one thing above all: time. At Le Comptoir du Fougeray, meat and spices simmer for around 15 hours in heavy copper and cast-iron pots until everything falls apart on its own. Only then is it shredded by hand – no blender, no machine to cut corners where patience is actually required. The seasoning is deliberately restrained: salt from Guérande, a pinch of pepper, that's it. The company completely avoids additives and preservatives – "des fabrications 100% françaises, sans aucun additif ni conservateur", as it says on its own website. You can taste the result: meat, spices, nothing else. A Range for Every Occasion Under the name Le Comptoir du Fougeray, this has grown into a surprisingly diverse range. The basis is pork rillettes made from Label Rouge meat – sometimes with pepper, sometimes with cognac, sometimes with sage or lemon-ginger. In addition, there are poultry rillettes seasoned with garlic-thyme, red Kampot pepper, or even black lemon from Iran. For those who like it spicy, there is the Coc'hot line: poultry rillettes whose heat levels range from mild to a good 800,000 Scoville. For festive occasions, there is the Prestige range with poularde and truffle, foie gras, game, or duck with orange – and for everyone who likes it plant-based, vegetable spreads made from sweet potato, pumpkin, or green asparagus, as well as hummus varieties. Origin with Character That Le Comptoir du Fougeray does not skimp on ingredients is evident from a look into the pantry: Guérande salt, Kampot pepper from Cambodia, Piment d'Espelette from the Basque Country, Timur berries from the Himalayas. The main line of pork rillettes carries the Label Rouge, a part of the range – including the organic pork rillettes and some vegetable spreads – is also organic certified. That this level of care is also noticeable beyond the company's own website is shown by the awards: bronze at the Épicures awards in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020, most recently silver at a competition in Lyon in 2026 for the pork rillettes with Piment d'Espelette. A Name Worth Remembering The reason Le Comptoir du Fougeray is on our shelf is simple: craftsmanship instead of haste, origin instead of mediocrity – exactly what we stand for at Maître Philippe & Filles. Discover all products from Le Comptoir du Fougeray in our shop: Le Comptoir du Fougeray – Rillettes from the Anjou
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