# Country Pâté at Home



## Aunt Bea

Yesterday I made a pâté using this recipe from Jacques Pepin.  Pork Liver Pâté | Essential Pepin

It is a very simple straight forward recipe for making a wonderful pâté using common inexpensive ingredients.

The recipe has started me thinking about variations or additions.  The use of different meats, seasonings and additions like strips of ham or chicken, pistachio nuts, stuffed olives, prunes etc...

I am hoping that some of you may be able to provide a TNT recipe or idea for homemade cold cuts.  

Thanks for your help!


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

I've made home-made pate's of different types.  Chicken liver pate' involves the use of cooked chicken livers (take care to leave a touch of pink so as to not overcook them), garlic, butter, sage, salt, and ginger.  Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth and silky.  Chill and serve.

Another cold-cut pate I made involved strips of chicken and pork.  I buttered a bread loaf pan and pressed strips of raw pork onto the sides and bottom.  I seasoned with S & P, onion and garlic powder, and thyme.  Then, I laid down strips of chicken, seasoning, pork, and continued layering to the top.  The pork had a bit of fat and connecting tissue attached to it.  These dissolved as I cooked the lunch loaf pate'.  When all was chilled, the collagen and fat held the loaf together as I sliced it for sandwiches.

As long as veggies are chopped fine, use any kind of meat/veggie combinations that you think would work.  Just remember that there has to be a bit of connecting tissue and fat to hold everything together when removed from the loaf pan.  If your meat is very lean, add a little dissolved gelatine to the mix.

I have also taken similar ingredients and processed until a smooth paste was made, then placed it into the loaf pan and baked it.  This makes a very tasty lunch meat loaf as well.  

You can add seasonings such as liquid smoke, cracked pepper, mustard seed, or powdered mustard, coriander, sage, thyme, basil, etc.  You can add chopped olives, capers, etc.  Just use your imagination.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Addie

Julia made pate' a few times on her show. But I have no idea where to find her recipes for it. I do remember in one she put in a row on hard boiled eggs right down the middle so that when you sliced it, it looked so pretty.


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## Aunt Bea

Addie, I think I saw that episode!

I think for my next experiment I am going to try making one using meatball mix and calf's liver or a James Beard recipe for Beach Pâté  .  I am just trying to find a couple of TNT recipes that I can use this summer for cold salad plates.  

In my house pâté is just a cold meatloaf with an attitude!


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## 4meandthem

I made a Pate from the Jaques and Julia cookbook if I remember and it was so strong in Cognac I couldn't eat it. It turned me off since I spent alot of money on quality ingredients and invested the time into it. I love pate in restaurants and should try again. BTW I love that cookbook and I could be mistaken since it was several years ago.Maybe I goofed or something.


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## taxlady

Julia Child pate Google search

I'll try to remember to post my Danish liver pate (leverpostej) recipe after tax season is over.

I have made this cold cut a number of times. I really like it: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/rullep-lse-danish-spiced-meat-roll-69389.html#post955198 I really need a source of fattier meat. It's better that way.


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## Addie

4meandthem said:


> I made a Pate from the Jaques and Julia cookbook if I remember and it was so strong in Cognac I couldn't eat it. It turned me off since I spent alot of money on quality ingredients and invested the time into it. I love pate in restaurants and should try again. BTW I love that cookbook and I could be mistaken since it was several years ago.Maybe I goofed or something.


 
Next time don't use so much Cognac. And like they say, if it is not to your liking, leave it out or substitute.


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## Aunt Bea

4meandthem said:


> I made a Pate from the Jaques and Julia cookbook if I remember and it was so strong in Cognac I couldn't eat it. It turned me off since I spent alot of money on quality ingredients and invested the time into it. I love pate in restaurants and should try again. BTW I love that cookbook and I could be mistaken since it was several years ago.Maybe I goofed or something.



I used 1/4 cup of Cognac for 2 1/2 pounds of meat and it tasted good to me.  You can also use white wine or even sherry.  It might be good to experiment with an American version using a shot or two of bourbon!

Addie is right though if you don't like it leave it out or cut back.


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## Aunt Bea

taxlady said:


> Julia Child pate Google search
> 
> I'll try to remember to post my Danish liver pate (leverpostej) recipe after tax season is over.
> 
> I have made this cold cut a number of times. I really like it: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/rullep-lse-danish-spiced-meat-roll-69389.html#post955198 I really need a source of fattier meat. It's better that way.



I will give the meat roll a try.  It reminds me of a recipe I have seen  for English Spiced Beef.

I use your bread pan method for pressing when I make pate or meatloaf.  I put three large cans of a legal beverage in the top bread pan to provide the weight.  I never thought of using twine, great idea!


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## buckytom

cognac, wine, or bourbon.

hey, that's a pate party!


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## Hoot

All of that sounds mighty good! I seem to recall that there is a recipe for pate in one of the books  I got around here written by Ms. Child. I reckon I oughta see if I can locate it.
I am very fond of pate made with turkey livers....however my favorite recipe for poultry livers was given to me by a friend from Rendezvous. It is her grandmother's recipe for chopped liver. A dish that, in my opinion, is severely underrated by most folks that I am acquainted with. Truth is that it is nothing fancy but mighty tasty!


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## buckytom

there's a small chain of steakhouses here in north joisey that feature a fantastic salad bar. after odering our entrees, i take a plate and make a small spinach salad with onions, olives, and pickled hot peppers on one side, and load a mound of chicken liver pate on the other half.

then i cap the entire thing with a couple of slices of their (restaurant baked) fresh whole wheat raisin bread.

the onions and pickled hot peppers really go well with the pate and bread.

by the time my steak comes to the table, i'm nearly already stuffed.


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## Addie

buckytom said:


> there's a small chain of steakhouses here in north joisey that feature a fantastic salad bar. after odering our entrees, i take a plate and make a small spinach salad with onions, olives, and pickled hot peppers on one side, and load a mound of chicken liver pate on the other half.
> 
> then i cap the entire thing with a couple of slices of their (restaurant baked) fresh whole wheat raisin bread.
> 
> the onions and pickled hot peppers really go well with the pate and bread.
> 
> by the time my steak comes to the table, i'm nearly already stuffed.


 
For my birthday last month my daughter and her husband took me out to dinner. He ate not only my salad, but a dish of calmari, his salad, some of his wife's scallops and a few other things they ordered. And those were only the appetizers. The both of them cleaned their plate when their dinner came. I was lucky to eat just a little less than half of my eggplant parm. 

I am always amazed when I see someone eat like that. Those are the kind of eaters cooks love to cook for. You would be a joy to feed.


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## buckytom

lol, addie. you have no idea. 

when i was a little boy, my best friend was a slight, kind of pale kid from a stereotypically male dominated sicillian-american family.

every weekend, we would play at each others houses, and often wished we could trade places permanently. 

he loved to eat with my family on saturdays, not being forced to eat anything that he didn't want, or too much of anything, all the while shyly smiling at all of my sisters who adored him with his polite little napkin on his lap and his perfect table manners. after the meal, he always thanked my mom, then took his plate and utensils to the sink and offered to help clean up.  




but on sundays after church, i got to eat at his house, waiting impatiently for the sunday gravy, pastas, salads, and an unbelievable array of delicious italian foods and desserts to be served. 

i ate each plate until i was stuffed, and then they'd bring out something else to eat while his mom, sisters, and aunts would pinch my cheeks, complimenting me about how i was such a healthy and hearty boy. his dad would brag to their visiting relatives about how i could catch any football or baseball that he threw at me, and he hoped i would rub off on his son, lol. 

those were great days.


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## Addie

bt, you should see what my Spike can pack away. After eating two very large subs that he makes and packs with steak and cheese, a couple of whole pickles, two or three pieces of fruit, he will then down two gallon containers of ice cream. All at one sitting. He only eats once a day and that is at night. Whenever I make mac and cheese for him, I cook the whole pound. I take just enough for one meal for me, and he eats the rest in one sitting.


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## Mad Cook

Aunt Bea said:


> Yesterday I made a pâté using this recipe from Jacques Pepin. Pork Liver Pâté | Essential Pepin
> 
> It is a very simple straight forward recipe for making a wonderful pâté using common inexpensive ingredients.
> 
> The recipe has started me thinking about variations or additions. The use of different meats, seasonings and additions like strips of ham or chicken, pistachio nuts, stuffed olives, prunes etc...
> 
> I am hoping that some of you may be able to provide a TNT recipe or idea for homemade cold cuts.
> 
> Thanks for your help!


"_Chicken liver pate' involves the use of cooked chicken livers (take care to leave a touch of pink so as to not overcook them), garlic, butter, sage, salt, and ginger. Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth and silky. Chill and serve_." (Chief Long Wind of the North) 

I can endorse the Chief's delicious recipe (quoted above) for chicken liver pâté. It's really important to heed his warning about not overcooking the livers when sautéing them in butter. (Yes, butter, folks, this is no time to be health conscious!). Pink in the middle is what you want. The other bit of advice I'd add to that is to pick over the raw livers carefully and cut off any discoloured (yellowish or greenish) bits. These stains are from contamination with bile and while they are not poisonous they will make your pâté very bitter and unpleasant. 

IIRC I used thyme where the Chief uses sage (although sage is fine and would go well with duck livers) and I used a couple of spoonsful of brandy - the posher the brandy the better it will taste but ordinary cooking brandy will still taste good. Again, don't overdo it - you want to taste "something" but not be able to immediately identify it. I used either a scraping of nutmeg or a pinch of mixed spice (can't remember which) in place of the chief's ginger. I'm not implying that the Chief's recipe isn't good.I'm just using my alternatives to point out that you can vary the recipe. I think I adapted my recipe from the one that Jane Grigson adapted from Elizabeth David's recipe.

It's very quick to make unlike the more traditional pâtés and terrines as it doesn't involve scads of ingredients and hours of cooking time and you can experiment and use whatever additions you like. I have used unsalted pistachios stirred in after the pate is cooked but I thought it was gilding the lily a bit .I think you could serve it with onion "marmalade" or cranberry jelly .

About 30 years ago when I was "resting" between supply teaching jobs I ran a small business making pates, terrines and pies and desserts for cafés, pubs and restaurants. I think most of my recipes started out with Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David. Sadly, the notebook that I kept my best recipes in got lost during one of my house moves.


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## Kathleen

Hoot said:


> All of that sounds mighty good! I seem to recall that there is a recipe for pate in one of the books  I got around here written by Ms. Child. I reckon I oughta see if I can locate it.
> I am very fond of pate made with turkey livers....however my favorite recipe for poultry livers was given to me by a friend from Rendezvous. It is her grandmother's recipe for chopped liver. A dish that, in my opinion, is severely underrated by most folks that I am acquainted with. Truth is that it is nothing fancy but mighty tasty!




How did I miss this???

Hoot, you are going to share that recipe, right?????


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## chrismcphee

One of our Christmas staples is our chicken liver pate. It's made very  simply, chopped onion gently fried in butter and then whizzed in the fp  with one hard-boiled egg. The chicken livers are broiled or fried in  (more) butter - depending on how guilty we're feeling that day - with  some salt & pepper, herbs and a small amount of port or brandy. 

It's  important to add the alcohol early so that it cooks through with the  livers. One time I added it late on, and the pate tasted bitter. Then  put the livers into the fp with the onions, and process until you get  your desired consistency. It tastes even better if left overnight to mature.


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## cave76

chrismcphee said:


> *One of our Christmas staples is our chicken liver pate*.



Smear that on a bagel and you have the Jewish version.


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## chrismcphee

cave76 said:


> Smear that on a bagel and you have the Jewish version.


Indeed, that's exactly what it is. I come from a Jewish/Catholic family, so we would get chicken liver pate on matzos for Christmas, and fish balls on a Friday! Traditions I've passed on to my kids. 

And you could watch all the Catholic families coming back from Mass on Sunday stopping at the Jewish deli to buy their bagels.


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## cave76

I *SO* miss a good bagel! I haven't had one since I left St. Louis many years ago!


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## taxlady

cave76 said:


> Smear that on a bagel and you have the Jewish version.


With the chicken livers and onions fried in butter?


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## cave76

taxlady said:


> *With the chicken livers and onions fried in butter? *



That's how  my Jewish friends cook it. I guess fried in chicken fat would be more 'traditional' or old time.


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## Mad Cook

cave76 said:


> That's how my Jewish friends cook it. I guess fried in chicken fat would be more 'traditional' or old time.


And more Kosher/Kasrut, which is what TL was getting at. Meat and dairy shouldn't be mixed. I had a Jewish friend whose _very_ orthodox parents had two of everything in their kitchen including dishwashers to accommodate this rule.


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## cave76

Mad Cook said:


> And more Kosher/Kasrut, which is what TL was getting at. Meat and dairy shouldn't be mixed. I had a Jewish friend whose _very_ orthodox parents had two of everything in their kitchen including dishwashers to accommodate this rule.



You're right about that being Kosher. My Jewish friends were not Kosher.


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