Update from yesterday evenings shopping trip after work (HOW far did I have to park away from the doors? 
). My friend at work said I needed to look in the area they sell all the meat for chou-croute so I returned to Auchan and found the palette that @vero said was good. Slightly sad as no fat to do ham criss cross on. Anyway I bought it and also spotted some counne rolled up that I thought I can maybe make crackling with. Then thought I’d try GF again, looking in the different section and they had jambonneau which was much bigger than the previous Jarrett that I tried last week. It also had fat and skin attached, excellent I thought! Then today did some searching and seems its kind of the same thing as the Jarrett so really doubt it will allow me to do any nice slices, grrr! Anyway we will see on Monday! No time for another trail run!
Another thrilling installment of one woman’s mission to find …the perfect Porc Saumure…to be continued 
Its probably a bit late but if you go to a real butcher could they not cut the exact piece you require?
It’ll be ugly but taste very good. You can get it in Germany called ‘Schäufele’ so maybe via Lidl or Aldi (and it’s much bigger and utterly delicious, trad Christmas meal in the Black Forest, along with Sonnenwirbelesalat aka lamb’s lettuce, and potato salad).
Probably, but as you say too late, and really can’t afford butchers prices atm.
I’ll make it during the week, going to try the jambonneau on Monday. How do they cook it in Germany?
Anyone know if / how I can turn my couenne into crackling?
I did some pork scratchings from couenne a few days ago for OHs birthday. She loves them with a passion and its so cheap and easy to make. I got 400g for about €1 from intermarche and did half. Other half is in the freezer.
It’s boiled in some liquid then when you buy it it’s in a bag usually and you just heat it up, in its bag, in simmering water.
There’s also something called Schäufele in Bayern but it is quite different.
Locally jambonneau varies wildly can be something rather fine traditionally made in a mould(?) or sad bits of meat in a polythene cone whose contents fall apart when you remove the plastic. Caveat emptor!
As above, you can turn it into pork scratchings. Here’s how for 200g of couenne. Scale up if needed.
- Cut the couenne into largeish squares, pat it dry with kitchen paper or a towel and place on a baking tray, fat side up.
- Sprinkle over 1/2 to 1tsp of salt over the couenne. Don’t put too much on.
- Put it in the fridge overnight.
- Next day, take the pieces off the tray and dry them with kitchen paper or towel.
- Cut the squares into 1cm strips.
- Put 2tsp of ground fennel seed (use a mortar and pestle, I have a spice grinder) and 1/2 tsp of sweet paprik in a bowl. If you like your scratchings salty, add 1/2 tsp of salt, but I don’t.
- Toss the couenne strips in the mix and put them on a rack over a baking tray.
- Put them in a preheated oven at 130C (120C fan) for one hour.
- Drain the fat from the tray (really … do this) and increase the temperature to 200C (190C fan) for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool.
- You now have really crunchy (and curly) pork scratchings.
You can probably do something similar to do crackling, just using larger pieces of couenne. Haven’t tried this though, so you take your chances 
Never imagined a female OH going for pork scratchings, my super skinny one even throws away the beautiful crisp skin on my confit de canard du maison. I’m allowed to eat the skin on mine, but anything more and it’s “I don’t want to be a widow!”
. That’s the best bit of confit de canard for me. Super, super tasty.
Whilst we’re on the theme of pork, did araignée de Porc with pepper sauce this evening. I’d never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago when I had it in a local restaurant. Thought I’d try to do it myself and it was very successful. You have to be very careful to not overcook it, just lightly pink inside. It’s a strange piece from the upper thigh of the pig and is not at all expensive. I enjoyed it very much.
Used to buy it a lot when we first moved here, but before I discovered that most of our local pork (12/15/46) is élevage intensif… Now it’s difficult to find the cheap cuts of élevage traditionelle that I’d love
to buy - joue, araignée, jarret, etc.
Heresy
You get araignée on beef animals as well as pigs, delicious - traditionally it’s a butcher’s bit that they keep for themselves. My lovely (alas now retired) wonderful butcher Monsieur Lézin could give masterclasses on such cuts and what to do with them.
Thanks for that, I’ve never seen it , but I’ll ask my butcher about it.
Agreed, but I really, really wouldn’t want her to be burnt at the stake.
Best I ever made was in the halogen cooker AKA an air fryer, tender and crispy.