Country French Pate Recipes

COUNTRY PâTé

Steps:

• Prepare ground meat Heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add shallots and cook until translucent, stirring constantly to prevent browning, about 6 minutes. Place in a large mixing bowl to cool. Meanwhile, grind the meats on medium speed with the fine die, making sure not to put too much meat into the feed tube at once. Grind the fatback first, before it becomes too warm, followed by the chicken livers, then the raw meats. Grind the cooked ham last (it has the firmest texture and least amount of fat and will be able to grind well even though the grinder parts are no longer as cold).
• Add shallots and garnishes Stir in the shallots, along with all of the garnishes, except the bay leaves. Add 2 teaspoons salt and mix to evenly distribute. To test for seasoning, heat some oil in a small skillet and cook a small amount of pâté mixture thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasoning, if desired.
• Prepare mold Heat oven to 400°F with rack in center. Line a 1 1/2-quart, 4 by 13-inch terrine with bacon, slightly overlapping the pieces and leaving an overhang of about 4 inches on one side (most likely you will need to use one whole piece and a half piece laid end to end, in order to have a piece long enough to line mold with desired overhang).
• Fill mold Bring a medium pot of water to a boil while you fill the mold. Spoon some of the meat mixture in the bottom of the mold and press firmly into the corners. Continue with remaining meat, making sure to distribute it firmly and evenly as you work so there are no gaps or air bubbles. When all meat is in the mold, press to flatten meat evenly. Fold over bacon, beginning with the long sides first, then the short ends. Arrange bay leaves on top. Cover with terrine lid.
• Bake Place terrine in a roasting pan and add boiling water until the level reaches halfway up the sides of the terrine. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted near the middle registers 165°F, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Compress pâté Cut a piece of cardboard to fit the interior of the terrine mold. Wrap cardboard tightly in aluminum foil. Remove terrine from roasting pan. Remove lid, and place terrine on wire rack set on a rimmed baking sheet. Place prepared cardboard on top of the terrine. Weight with canned items or other heavy objects. (This will allow excess fat to spill over the sides of the terrine as the pâté compresses.) Refrigerate terrine for 8 hours. (Terrine can be refrigerated up to 3 days; remove cardboard and weight after 8 hours, then cover tightly with lid or plastic wrap.)
• Unmold pâté Unmold terrine by inverting onto a platter or cutting board. If necessary, dip terrine in warm water and run a paring knife around edge to loosen before inverting.
• Serve With a serrated knife, cut pâté into 1/2-inch-thick slices, and serve with toasted baguette slices, grainy mustard, and cornichons.
• You will need a 1 1/2-quart terrine that is about 4 by 13 inches. The terrine is lined with bacon in the recipe below to add another layer of flavor; be sure there is adequate overhang on one long side of the dish, so you can wrap it over the top of the mixture, covering the entire surface.

PATE DE CAMPAGNE (COUNTRY-STYLE PATE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Combine the meat, liver, onion, garlic and parsley in a mixing bowl and blend well. Add the mixture, one-quarter at a time, to the container of a food processor and blend well. As each batch is processed, scrape it into a bowl. When properly blended, the mixture will be finer than hamburger. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Combine the eggs, flour, cream and Cognac in a small mixing bowl and blend well with a wire whisk. Add this to the pork mixture and blend thoroughly.
• Select a pate mold large enough to hold the pate mixture (a mold with a two-quart capacity and measuring about 11 1/2 by 4 by 3 1/2 inches is suitable). Line it with very thin slices of fatback, letting the slices overlap the upper edges of the mold.
• Pour and scrape the pate mixture into the prepared mold. Smooth it over. Fold the overlapping slices of fatback over the top of the pate. Add additional thin slices of fatback so that the top is completely but not excessively covered.
• Cover the pate with a lid and place it in a heatproof baking dish. Pour warm water around the pate mold and place it in the oven. Bake one hour and 50 minutes to two hours or to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
• Remove the pate from the oven and remove the mold from the water bath. Leave the lid on top of the pate. Let stand overnight at room temperature. When cold, serve sliced with cornichons.

RUSTIC FRENCH PORK AND CHICKEN PâTé

Steps:

• Make sure the meat is quite cold, then cut it in 1-inch strips. Grind .75 of the pork shoulder and chicken, plus half the pancetta, to a medium grind. (Or have your butcher do the grinding for you.)
• Grind the remaining pork, chicken and pancetta to a coarse grind, or cut by hand with a sharp knife into small cubes about 1/8 inch.
• Combine all the meat in a large bowl. Add the salt, garlic, sage and thyme. Pour the wine and Cognac over it, then knead seasonings into the mixture with a wooden spoon, your hands or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer.
• In a spice mill or mortar, grind the peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and cloves to a fine powder. Add to the mixture, along with nutmeg, cinnamon and cayenne. Mix again.
• Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Pat the seasoned pate; mixture into a 2.5-quart loaf pan. Press the bay leaf on the surface, then cover the pan tightly with foil. (Refrigerate overnight if desired; bring to room temperature before baking.) Place in a deep-sided roasting pan and add hot water to reach half way up the dish. Bake on the middle shelf for about an hour, or until the internal temperature of the pate is 160 degrees.
• Carefully remove from the oven and cool in the loaf pan, then wrap well and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving. Keeps a week or more.