Ian's Pate -

Chuck, would you post that recipe as I cannot locate.

dick

Salut/Hi Chuck Reid,

le/on Mon, 13 Oct 2003 09:46:03 -0400, tu disais/you said:-

I suppose I'd better post the "real" recipe, if only to give credit where credit is due.

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Title: Pate Maison (Chicken Liver) Categories: french, offal, poultry, starters Yield: 8 servings

Chop the onion and garlic finely and soften in 1/4 of the butter until just turning colour. Add the liver, herbs (bay, thyme parsley) and seasoning and fry together over highish heat for about 3 minutes. The livers should be well stiffened and slightly coloured, without becoming leathery. Cool a little then chop very finely, or mince if the quantity is large. (I do this in a blender - IMH). Pass through a fine sieve (not if blended) and work in remaining butter, well creamed (in blender, just add and whirl a bit). Add the brandy, check the seasoning and then fill into a china pot. Smooth over the top and cover with a layer of clarified butter.

Recipe "Cordon Bleu cookbook" Hume & Downes Mmed IMH c/o Golam BBS Fido 2:320/116.14

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Thanks for that. Approximately a month ago, shortly before my last expedition to Burgundy, you mentioned having bought a shoulder of pork at your local market with the intention of making a humungous amount of terrine. While accepting fully that this is the wine NG and not any of the food ones, I wonder whether you'll be good enough to post the recipe either here or in e-mail? I love a good terrine but haven't yet managed to make one. Regards, John

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Sojourner wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

make that 2

Food? At first I thought this was about a bald spot on Ian's head, and now it begins to look like a discussion of a small furry canine?

Seriously though, we've been doing a wonderful quick pate with chicken livers for years. Quick saute chicken livers, place in a blender warm then add about two sticks of melted butter, a dollop of cognac and maybe a sprig of fresh parsley. Chill and enjoy.

Ed - good quick recipe. but I use a shot of Calvados - the flavour works very well with the pate, and grind coarse peppercorns on top.

Salut Ian;

I really liked the more free form version :>)) Gives me lots of room to swing my elbows.

Salut/Hi Chuck Reid,

le/on Tue, 14 Oct 2003 09:59:12 -0400, tu disais/you said:-

I guessed that might be your response! Makes no odds to me if anyone wants to very/improve/play with any recipes I post, though when it's a recipe of my own, I'd prefer it if people would try it _exactly_ as writ just once. The terrine that John and Josh have asked for the recipe of is a case in point. I've been fiddling with this for about 6 years now, first getting the types and proportions of the meats right to my taste, then the seasonings and finally the texture. I'm pretty happy with it now, and all I ask is that if anyone passes it on as "Ian's", they respect the recipe as it is - by all means adding "Chuck's comment - add more pepper and use cider insteads of wine " or whatever.

The only point I get twitchy about is if I post a recipe for a great classic. As I said one in another place "You can cook shoe leather in axle grease if you like, and call it what you like. BUT if you post the recipe under the name of "Coq au Vin", I will point out that with neither c*ck nor wine, it _isn't_ "Coq au Vin"." So if I post a recipe for a great classic dish, if you don't want to try it unchanged, fine, but don't call it by the classic name.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed my "free form version."

Salut/Hi John,

le/on Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:04:30 +0100, tu disais/you said:-

Yes, it was for a club to which I belong and it was their "start of the new year" party.

wonder whether you'll be good enough to post

I don't think with the [OT] flag anyone minds the odd really good recipe. As it happens, I made it again last week to eat today, though in smaller quantities.

First rule, get decent quality pork (not those obscene battery farmed things sold off cheap).

Second rule. Don't skimp on the fat. Like decent sausages, terrines _must_ have a modicum of fat. My recipe is right at the lower end of what's acceptable.

Third rule. Watch out for the texture. If the ingredients for a terrine are "worked" together too much they turn into a wodge, and make a heavy terrine. When I mix seasonings etc, I do it with a chef's fork.

Fourth rule. To avoid over workng, while keeping uniform seasoning. Powder all the initial flavourings with the salt, in a coffee grinder, and sprinkle over the _mixed cubed meats_. Mix very thoroughly and THEN mince.

These rules apply to all terrines with some texture, rather than smooth pates like the chicken liver one.

OK, here's the recipe. It's long, but not particularly hard to do. I use the coarse blade on the kenwood mincer (single pass) to mince the meats myself.

----- Now You're Cooking! v5.62 [Meal-Master Export Format]

Title: Pate De Campagne - Basic Pork Terrine Categories: french, patties, pork, starters Yield: 36 servings

------------------------------AMERICAN UNITS-------------------------------

-------------------------------METRIC UNITS--------------------------------

-canning

-less if canning

-----------------------------------COMMON-----------------------------------

---------------------------SEASONINGS ANY FROM----------------------------

----------------------------------OPTIONAL----------------------------------

If the butcher won't cut the back fat into thin slices, and you can't do it without slicing yourself, cut it as thin as you can safely manage, then beat it out with a wooden mallet. Salt & pepper lightly, leave in the cool. Caul fat, softened in tepid water is a good substitute. Using bacon, the rashers should be as thin as possible, and de-rinded. If using, cut the magret into strips, (to be marinated separately) and have the rest of the meats minced very coarsely. Mix in the seasonings you have chosen, and the alcohols, and leave to marinade overnight.

Next day, cook the chopped onions gently in the butter or lard until they are a golden hash, do not brown them. Beat the flour and eggs together to a smooth paste, and add with the onions to the meat mixture. The seasoning of pâtés is a personal affair, but allow for the fact that foods to be eaten cold need more seasoning than foods to be eaten hot. It's prudent to take a small tablespoonful of mixture, and fry it, pressed down flat, in a little oil in a frying pan. Taste for seasoning and correct if need be, before irrevocably committing the pâté to the oven. (Tip. Before frying to check seasoning, touch a finger against meat mixture and lick finger. If the mixture is correctly seasoned, you can tell, without really consuming any raw meat. Wash finger before re-tasting! IMH)

Grease one or more terrines and line with pork strips. Up to you how you organise them but the volume should be about that shown in the ingredients list. Line terrine with strips of pork fat, or bacon rashers, in such a way as they overlap the sides enough that they will meet when folded over the top. Fill the terrine absolutely full with the meat mixture, layering in the optional magret strips, and mound over the top - it will shrink in the cooking. Fold the fat/bacon strips over the top and lay a further lattice of fat pork/bacon strips over the top. Cover with foil. Stand the terrine in a larger pan of hot water, which should come halfway up the side, and bake in a slow (325°F ) oven for 1 1/2 to 3 hours according to the depth of the dish. Small but deep dishes of pâté take longer than wide shallow ones. Several small dishes take less time than one large one.

The pâté is done when it appears to swim in fat, quite free of the sides of the terrine; you can also test it with a metal knitting or larding needle

- if it comes out clean the pâté's cooked. You can also cook pâtés liked steamed puddings, on top of the stove. If you want an addition to the store cupboard, try bottling the pâté in preserving jars like fruit. It needs 2 hours cooking (plus 1 1/2 hour to come to boiling IMH). This is widely done in France. Pâté can be served straight from the cooking dish. If you do this remove the foil 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time so that the top can brown appetizingly. Cool for an hour, then weight it gently. Remember that it will taste better the next day. If the pâté is to be the main dish of a meal, serve a green salad with it, and some small pickled gherkins. In France, crusty bread is served too, but English factory bread is flabby and needs toasting, or, better still, baking in thin slices to a golden brown crispness.

Although bottling is the best way of keeping pâté, it also keeps well under a half inch layer of lard, in a cool dry larder. A month is a safe length of time. To do this, allow the pâté to cool for an hour, then weight not too heavily (a dish with a couple of tins on top, or a foil covered board). Next day melt plenty of good quality lard and pour it over the pâté, so that it is completely covered to a depth of a full half inch. When the lard has set, cover it with aluminium foil, smoothing it on right close to the fat. then put another piece of foil over the top as if you were finally covering a jam pot. Store in the fridge if possible.

Recipe after Jane Grigson "Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery"

Contributor: IMH

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I always try a recipe in its original form first and only make changes _if_ I think that'll help it match my tastes and preferences better. Even then, I only do so by adding my notes at the bottom of the recipe. The most recent example of this was with a recipe for salt cod I found in Leith's Cookery Bible. Couldn't resist making this a couple of times during our last visit to Burgundy where every poissonerie had lovely morue. Why, oh why don't we have good fish shops in every town in Britain any more? Regards, John

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