Where it comes from
Pounti comes from the Cantal-Aveyron border — Pays de Salers, Châtaigneraie. It is farm food turning a kitchen full of common things into one bake: leftover chard from the kitchen garden, a cured-but-fresh prune from the orchard, the household pork. The name comes from Occitan pount or pounti, related to the verb meaning to put together or pound. Lacking a single founding date, it belongs to the wider tradition of farçous, terrines, and pâté-cakes that fill the Massif Central rural repertoire.
On the plate
A slice the colour of pâté with green flecks of chard and a band of dark prunes through the middle. Texture is between meatloaf and cake — dense from the pork, lifted by the egg and flour, slightly cake-soft. The chard is mineral and grassy; the prunes are unexpected sweet shocks against the meat. Eaten warm at lunch or as supper. Cold, it firms up and slices like terrine — leftovers improve the next day.
How it works
The proportions are critical. Eggs and flour are the matrix that holds chopped meat and chard together; too little flour and it slumps, too much and it goes bready. The chard releases water during baking — drying the leaves before mixing keeps the slice cuttable. Prunes are macerated to soften them just enough that they don't stay leathery in the bake but don't disintegrate either; un-soaked, they turn to dry pellets in the centre.
Cantal-Aveyron border farmhouse bake — Pays de Salers, Châtaigneraie. The name comes from Occitan pount, related to put-together. Eggs and flour are the matrix; chard releases water during the bake, so leaves must be wilted dry first or the slice slumps.
Variations
Salers version (heaviest on pork); Châtaigneraie version (more chestnut flour in older recipes); Aveyron variant uses raisin instead of prune; modern Aurillac bistros sometimes serve a chilled terrine slice as a starter.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓30 min active · 50 min waiting
How it's made
5 steps · Show ↓- 120 min
Soak 150g pitted Agen prunes in 100ml warm Madiran or strong tea for 20 minutes. Drain, keep whole.
- 28 min
Wash 300g Swiss chard (leaves and small ribs); slice into 1cm ribbons. Finely chop 1 large onion and a small bunch of parsley (30g).
- 38 min
Whisk 4 eggs with 250ml whole milk, 150g flour (sifted), 5g salt, 2g black pepper, pinch nutmeg until smooth. Stir in 350g good-quality ground pork (20% fat) plus 100g ground pork belly.
- 45 min
Fold in chard, onion, parsley. Pour half the batter into a buttered 25×11cm loaf tin. Push prunes evenly across the surface. Top with remaining batter — prunes should be in a horizontal layer.
- 550 min
Bake 50 minutes at 180°C until firm to a pressed finger and a skewer comes out clean. Rest 15 minutes; turn out. Slice 2cm thick. Serve warm with a salad of frisée and walnut oil.
Watch outEnsure the internal temperature reaches at least 70°C to guarantee the pork is fully cooked.
