Pate Maison Recipes

Steps:

• Combine cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl to make spice mixture.
• Place pork shoulder, duck meat, chopped bacon, chicken livers, onion, shallot, parsley, cognac, salt, garlic, pepper, 3/4 teaspoon spice mixture, and pink curing salt in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly until evenly distributed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours.
• Whisk cream, bread crumbs, and eggs together in a bowl.
• Transfer pork mixture to a rimmed baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment. Freeze for 15 to 20 minutes to facilitate grinding the meat.
• Grind pork mixture into a bowl using the meat-grinder attachment of a stand mixer. Add dried cherries and pistachios. Add the cream mixture; fold gently until just combined.
• Arrange bacon strips crosswise in a 9x5-inch loaf pan, letting ends hang over the edges of the pan. Trim some strips to fit the ends of the pan.
• Fill pan to the top with the ground pork mixture; smooth the top. Cover surface with strips of bacon. Fold side bacon piece edges over the top. Cover with a piece of parchment cut to fit the top of the pan; wrap tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Transfer pan to a deep pot or Dutch oven. Pour in hot tap water to reach 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the side of the pan. Cover.
• Bake in the preheated oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 155 degrees F (68 degrees C), 1 3/4 to 2 hours.
• Transfer pan to a paper-towel lined surface to absorb any moisture. If mixture has risen above the top edge of the pan, press it down with a heavy pan. Remove the aluminum foil, leaving the parchment paper on top. Transfer pan to a paper-towel-lined baking dish. Cut a piece of cardboard to be slightly smaller than the top of the pan. Wrap with aluminum foil and place on the parchment paper. Press down with weights like canned food.
• Refrigerate at least 8 hours to chill and compress the pate.
• To unmold the pate, pour very hot water into a large bowl. Dip mold into hot water for 1 to 2 seconds. Turn out onto a paper-towel-lined dish; chill again before slicing.

Steps:

• Assemble and marinate terrine:
• Cook onion in butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Transfer to a large bowl set in a bowl of ice.
• While onion cools, pulse salt, peppercorns, allspice, nutmeg, and bay leaf in grinder until finely ground. Add to onion mixture and whisk in cream, eggs, and brandy until combined well.
• Pulse chicken livers in a food processor until finely chopped, then add to onion mixture along with ground pork and veal and mix together well with your hands or a wooden spoon. Stir in ham cubes.
• Line bottom and long sides of terrine mold crosswise with about 6 to 9 strips of bacon, arranging them close together (but not overlapping) and leaving a 1/2- to 2-inch overhang. Fill terrine evenly with ground-meat mixture, rapping terrine on counter to compact it (it will mound slightly above edge). Cover top of terrine lengthwise with 2 or 3 more bacon slices if necessary to cover completely, and fold overhanging ends of bacon back over these. Cover terrine with plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours to marinate meats.
• Bake terrine:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.
• Discard plastic wrap and cover terrine tightly with a double layer of foil.
• Bake terrine in a water bath until thermometer inserted diagonally through foil at least 2 inches into center of terrine registers 155 to 160°F, 1 3/4 to 2 hours. Remove foil and let terrine stand in mold on a rack, 30 minutes.
• Weight terrine:
• Put terrine in mold in a cleaned baking pan. Put a piece of parchment or wax paper over top of terrine, then place on top of parchment another same-size terrine mold or a piece of wood or heavy cardboard cut to fit inside mold and wrapped in foil. Put 2 to 3 (1-pound) cans on terrine or on wood or cardboard to weight cooked terrine. Chill terrine in pan with weights until completely cold, at least 4 hours. Continue to chill terrine, with or without weights, at least 24 hours to allow flavors to develop.
• To serve:
• Run a knife around inside edge of terrine and let stand in mold in a pan with 1 inch of hot water (to loosen bottom) 2 minutes. Tip terrine mold (holding terrine) to drain excess liquid, then invert a cutting board over terrine, reinvert terrine onto cutting board, and gently wipe outside of terrine (bacon strips) with a paper towel. Let terrine stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving, then transfer to a platter if desired and cut, as needed, into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

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.