by Julia Child
Sheets of pork fat to line pâté dish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in middle level. Set pâté dish in pan to check water level: it should come ⅔ up outside of dish. Remove dish and place pan of water in oven. Line bottom and sides of pâté dish with strips of pork fat ⅛ inch thick. (See notes preceding this recipe as well as illustrations.)
1 lb. fresh pork fatback or fat from outside a loin roast (2 cups)
12 ounces liver (pork, beef, or calf) (1½ cups)
1 cup rice panade
A meat grinder
An electric mixer with large bowl
2 eggs
2 Tb Cognac
2½ tsp salt
Either 1 tsp épices fines;
Or ½ tsp pepper and big pinches of allspice, nutmeg, and cayenne
Optional: A 1-ounce truffle, minced, and its juice
Put the pork fat, liver, and rice panade through the finest blade of meat grinder and into the bowl. Beat in the rest of the ingredients. Sauté a spoonful and taste; correct seasoning as necessary. Turn mixture into pâté dish.
A piece of fresh pork fat to cover the meat
1 imported bay leaf
A branch of thyme, or ¼ tsp dried thyme
Sufficient aluminum foil to cover pâté with 1 inch extra all around
Cover with the fat, lay the thyme and bay leaf on top, and then the foil. Cover, and set in pan of water in oven. Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours or longer; pâté is done at a temperature of 160 degrees, or when juices and fat surrounding pâté are clear yellow with no trace of rosy color (press pâté with a spatula to check on this).
A cover for the dish, or a pastry sheet and weight
Useful: a meat thermometer
When done, remove pâté dish from pan, discard water, and return dish to pan. Cover with board, or pan and weight (to press meat together and prevent air pockets) and let cool to room temperature. Remove board and weights and refrigerate.
Serving
Pâté will improve in flavor after 2 to 3 days. Cut slices ⅜ to ½ inch thick directly from dish; or heat bottom of dish gently, run a knife around between pâté and dish, and unmold on a serving plate or board.
Storage
Pâté will keep nicely for 8 to 10 days under refrigeration. It may be frozen, and results are more successful for liver pâtés than for meat pâtés.
VARIATIONS
Pâté de Campagne
[Pork and Liver Pâté with Veal or Chicken]
These pâtés vary in content and flavor throughout France, but always contain pork liver, pork, and sometimes other meats, as well as pork fat, a binder, and the usual seasonings. The following formula is one we like; whether you serve it in its baking dish or unmold it, the name is always pâté de campagne and never terrine.
For a 6-cup baking dish
8 ounces (1 cup) fat-and-lean fresh pork (such as shoulder butt or loin, or the chair à saucisse)
8 ounces (1 cup) fresh pork fatback or fat from outside a loin roast
8 ounces (1 cup) raw lean veal, or raw chicken meat
8 ounces (1 cup) liver (pork, beef, or calf)
½ cup rice panade
⅓ cup minced onions cooked until soft in 2 Tb pork fat or butter
1 egg
2 Tb Cognac
1 medium clove of garlic, mashed
Either 1 tsp épices fines;
Or ½ tsp pepper and big pinches of ground allspice, thyme, bay leaf
½ tsp additional pepper
1 Tb salt
Be sure all gristle, bones, skin, or other extraneous matter have been trimmed from meat before weighing. Pass meats, fat, and liver through finest blade of meat grinder along with the panade. Beat in rest of ingredients. Sauté a spoonful and taste. Correct seasoning as necessary. Pack into a fat-lined dish, and bake as in the Master Recipe.
Pâté de Foie et de Porc en Brioche
[Pork and Pork-liver Pâté Baked in Brioche Dough]
This is a pâté baked in brioche dough in a round pan. It is always dramatic because the dough rises luxuriously and the whole effect is one of effulgent gourmandise. The pâté is served cold, and it must be baked at least a day ahead of serving so that the meat will settle, which means that you will probably need to make the dough a day before baking.
For a 9- by 1½- to 2-inch round mold, serving 12 to 16 people
1) The pâté ingredients
The pain brioché dough mixture, chilled and ready to form
8 ounces (1 cup) fresh pork fatback or fat from outside a loin roast
A 12-inch frying pan
2 cups minced onions
8 ounces (1 cup) fresh pork shoulder or loin
1 lb. (2 cups) liver (pork, beef, or calf)
1 medium clove of garlic, mashed
Either 1 tsp épices fines;
Or ½ tsp pepper and big pinches of ground allspice, thyme and bay leaf
¼ tsp additional pepper
2 tsp salt
¼ cup (pressed down) dry white crumbs from homemade-type unsweetened bread, moistened in a small bowl with 3 Tb heavy cream and 1 Tb Cognac
Prepare the dough the day before baking. Put the pork fat through the medium blade of the meat grinder. Place half in bowl of electric mixer and heat other half slowly in frying pan until fat has rendered. Add onions to pan and cook slowly about 15 minutes until tender and translucent. Meanwhile, grind the pork and set aside, then the liver, and set aside separately. When onions are done, add the pork and cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until meat is gray rather than rosy. Add the liver and cook for several minutes until somewhat stiffened and puffed, and beginning to look grayish-ruddy-brown. Scrape into mixing bowl and beat in all the rest of the ingredients. Sauté a spoonful and taste; correct seasoning as necessary.
2) Forming the pâté en brioche
A buttered 9- by 1½-inch (6-cup) false-bottomed cake pan or fluted mold; or a flan ring set on a baking sheet
The chilled dough
A piece of floured waxed paper on a small baking sheet
The hot meat mixture
A pastry brush
Cold water
A 2-inch chimney, such as a small, buttered metal funnel or the metal tube from a pastry bag
On a lightly floured board, roll ¼ of the dough into a circle the diameter of your pan or mold, set on floured paper, and chill until needed. Rapidly roll out the rest of the dough into a circle about ¼ inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Lightly press it into the pan or mold, letting edges overhang all around. Turn the hot meat mixture into the dough-lined pan; fold the edges of the dough over onto the meat. Paint dough lightly with cold water, and unroll reserved circle of dough on top, pressing edges lightly with your fingers to seal. Make a hole in the center top of the dough and insert chimney. (You will probably have enough dough left over for a small loaf of bread.)
3) Rising—about 1 hour
Set the pâté in a draft-free place at a temperature of no more than 75 to 80 degrees until top of dough feels spongy-springy when touched and the whole structure has risen half an inch or more up from the rim of the mold. Preheat oven in time for next step.
4) Baking—about 1 hour in a preheated 425-degree oven
Egg glaze (1 egg beaten in a small bowl with 1 tsp water)
Sharp-pointed scissors
Useful: a meat thermometer
Just before baking, paint top (not sides) of dough with egg glaze; in a moment, paint it again. Make scissor clips 1½ inches apart all around top circumference of dough, going in at a slant ¾ inch deep and 2 inches wide. Set pâté in middle level of preheated 425-degree oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until brioche has risen and begun to brown nicely. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, baking about 40 minutes more. Pâté is done when fat is bubbling up in funnel; temperature on meat thermometer should be 160–5 degrees.
5) Cooling
Remove from oven and let cool in mold for half an hour, then unmold onto a rack. When thoroughly cold, cover airtight and
refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving.
6) Serving suggestions
Serve as is, cutting it into wedges like a pie. When you wish an even more attractive dish, pour almost-set aspic into chilled pâté through chimney hole, and chill an hour or more before serving. (This is described in the pâté en croûte section.)
A PORKLESS VARIATION
La Terrine Verte—Pâté Sans Porc
[A Porkless Pâté]
Slice into this unusual pâté, and it is a beautiful green with decorations of white and brown. It has a meaty, hearty taste, yet is made without a trace of pork meat or pork fat: it is veal, chicken, and calf’s brains spiced with onions, garlic, herbs, and Cognac, garnished with chicken breasts and livers, and turned green with spinach. The fat is either veal- or beef-kidney fat, or goose or chicken fat. Bake the pâté at least 2 and preferably 3 days before serving, so that all the flavors may blend into perfect harmony.
For an 8-cup terrine, serving 12 to 16
1) The pâté mixture
The boned and skinned breast from 1 frying chicken
3 chicken livers
¼ cup Cognac
Salt and pepper
Cut the breast meat and the chicken livers into strips ⅜ inch wide; place in a bowl with the Cognac and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Let marinate while preparing rest of pâté mixture.
The terrine: an 8-cup mold, baking dish, or bread pan of any shape, although a rectangular one is easy for serving
1 lb. (2 cups) fresh veal-kidney fat, beef suet, or goose fat or chicken fat
A meat grinder
An electric mixer with large bowl
Chill terrine in freezer. Trim off any filaments or extraneous matter, and put fat through fine blade of meat grinder. Place half in large bowl of mixer and render the rest of the fat. (See directions.) When strained, cooled, and almost congealed, spread ¾ of it inside the chilled terrine. Refrigerate terrine until you are ready to fill it.
½ lb. (1 cup) boneless raw light or dark meat from a frying chicken
½ lb. (1 cup) raw, lean veal
1 lb. (2 cups) brains (calf, beef, or lamb), blanched and peeled (they need not be trimmed of tubes and extraneous matter)
1 cup minced onions
Either 2 cups blanched, chopped fresh spinach;
Or 1½ packages frozen spinach, thawed (squeezed dry)
1 medium clove garlic, mashed
2 eggs
1 Tb salt
Either 1 tsp épices fines;
Or ½ tsp thyme, ¼ tsp allspice, and ¼ tsp nutmeg
¾ cup dry white crumbs from homemade-type unsweetened bread moistened with ¼ cup chicken broth or milk
Grind the chicken, veal, and brains into the mixing bowl along with the ground raw fat. In 2 Tb of the rendered fat, cook the onions for 8 to 10 minutes over low heat until tender and translucent, then blend in the spinach and stir several minutes to evaporate excess moisture. Add spinach and onions to mixing bowl, along with the eggs, salt, seasonings, and bread crumbs. Beat vigorously to blend all ingredients. Sauté a spoonful until cooked through, taste, and correct seasoning.
2) Filling the terrine and baking—preheat oven to 350 degrees
The marinating strips of chicken breast and chicken livers
The pâté mixture
The chilled, fat-lined terrine
The remaining rendered fat
1 imported bay leaf
1 branch thyme, or ¼ tsp dried thyme
2 sheets of aluminum foil
A cover for the terrine (or pastry sheet and weight, such as a brick)
A pan of boiling water in middle level of pre-heated oven
Beat the Cognac marinade into the pâté mixture. Spread ⅓ of the pâté mixture in the terrine, cover with half of the chicken meat and livers in alternating strips. Spread with half the remaining pâté mixture, then with the remaining strips of chicken and liver, ending with the last of the pâté. Spread reserved and rendered fat over the pâté, and top with the bay leaf and thyme. Fold the foil closely over top of terrine to enclose it completely; set on the cover, and place in pan of boiling water in oven. Bake for about 1½ hours, or until pâté starts to shrink from sides of mold, and when pressed with the back of a spoon no rose-colored juices exude. (Temperature on a meat thermometer should be 160–5 degrees.)
3) Cooling and serving
Cool under a board or pan and weight, then refrigerate, covered, for 2 to 3 days before serving as described in the Master Recipe.
PTÉS BAKED IN PASTRY CRUST
Pâtés en Croûte
When it appears in pastry dough, any pâté mixture becomes a pâté en croûte, certainly one of the great visual delights of French charcuterie. A hinged metal pâté mold provides the most professional as well as the easiest system for pâté en croûte, and you can buy a variety of shapes in most import stores. The mold, which sits on a baking sheet when filled, has neither top nor bottom, only 2 sides hinged at one end and closed by a removable pin at the other. It is a kind of corset, which actually molds the pâté dough in its decorative embrace, and holds it tight while it bakes and cools. If you have no mold, the workable alternative described produces an equally attractive result; it is a baked bottom case of dough, which you fill as though it were a pâté mold and top with a decorated cover of dough. A third alternative is the free-form shape, pâté pantin, baked on a pastry sheet like the sausage in brioche. The first two methods are outlined in the following directions.
TIMING
A pâté always develops more taste 2 to 3 days after baking. Allowing 2 days for the maturing process, you will need at least 1½ days for baking, cooling, chilling: start the pâté, then, 4 to 5 days in advance of any date you wish to serve it. The finished pâté will keep 7 to 10 days under refrigeration.
THE PTÉ MIXTURE
Although you may use any of the preceding pâtés for pâté en croûte, the more traditional mixture is the all-purpose pork and veal stuffing in Volume I, page 565, and a garniture of strips of veal and ham, or of game such as rabbit, hare, partridge, or pheasant, or of duck, turkey, or chicken. Follow one of the recipes in Volume I, starting on page 566, and including the duck pâté on page 571. For an 8-cup mold you will need approximately 4 cups of stuffing and 2 cups of garnishing strips. You will also need sheets of fresh pork fat for lining the dough.
THE DOUGH FORMULA
For pâtés molded in a hinged form, use the pâté à croûstades, Formula Number 6, which contains flour, butter, lard, and egg yolks. When you are forming the dough on an upside down case, use Formula Number 7, with whole eggs. These are both excellent doughs for pâtés; they hold their shape through the long baking, and are also good to eat. Either one is easy to make in an electric mixer as described in “Electric Mixer Pie Dough”; it is best to prepare the dough several hours ahead or the day before forming and baking, so that it will be well chilled, rested, and easy to roll.
FORMING AND BAKING PTÉ EN CROÛTE IN A HINGED PTÉ MOLD
1) Lining the mold with dough
Your first step is to line the bottom and sides of the mold with an even ⅜ inch layer of dough. An ingenious professional method is to form ¾ of the dough into a pouch, the bottom and sides of which fit neatly against the mold with a minimum of wrinkles while the open top falls around the outside leaving the mold open for filling. In French this is a calotte, a skull cap. (The following illustrations are for an oval mold; adapt the same system for rectangular and round molds.)
A hinged 6- to 8-cup pâté mold
A piece of heavy paper to serve as a pattern
Sheets of fresh pork fat ⅛ inch thick, enough to line bottom, sides, and top of mold
Using pâté mold as a guide, cut a pattern out of the paper to fit the opening of the mold. Cut 2 pieces of pork fat, using pattern, and set aside; these will line bottom and top of pâté later. Reserve pattern for dough cover, later.
Chilled pâté à croustades dough made with 1 lb. of flour
A pastry brush and cup of cold water
Place ¾ of the chilled dough on a lightly floured marble or board and roll into a circle about 1 inch thick and 2 inches larger in diameter than the long side of the mold—dough must be very thick at this point so that when you are through rolling and forming it you will still have a ⅜-inch layer lining the mold.
Paint a 1-inch strip down each side, right and left, with water.
As the first step in making the pouch shape, dough is to be folded in half and corners are to be bent down as follows. Except at the 2 sides, sprinkle circle of dough liberally with flour to prevent sticking when folded in half.
Bring top down to bottom, making a semicircle with its curved side facing you. Gently press two sides, right and left, together to seal them, then pull the two corners (right and left at top of fold) down toward you as illustrated. Now, rather than a semicircle, you have a pocket, or the beginning of a pouch.
Starting with open side facing you, and making several passes with your pin, roll dough away from you to deepen pouch, so that when it is spread into the mold you will have an overhang of 2 inches: for a mold 4 inches high and 5 inches across, the pouch should be 8½ to 9 inches deep.