chicken liver pâté

2014-01-29

Liver pâté is also a traditional dish around the world. Some people love it; others hate it, because they can’t stand the taste of liver. This is a recipe with other meats which makes it a bit more like a country pâté (Pic11-13) than a pure liver pâté or mousse, but the liver flavor still comes through quite strongly.

Very important:
This pâté has an extremely short shelf life: merely 3-4 days in the refrigerator after opening. Either don’t make very much, or cook it in smaller ramekins that can be individually sealed for storage of up to 2 weeks. The pâté can be frozen and stores quite well that way.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 3 lbs.:

1 lb. livers (chicken, duck, …)
The greater the amount of liver, the smoother the pâté will be
1 ½ lbs. mild Italian sausage meat
or 50-50 ground beef & pork
1 lb. bacon, half of it chopped fine
¼ cup port wine
1 onion, chopped small
2 tbsp. butter
1 whole egg
S&P
2 tsp. garlic powder
nutmeg
2 tsp. red chile powder

Pic1: chicken liver pâté
internet picture

Directions

Pic2: onions
Pic3: liquid liver
Pic4: load the pot

Refrigerate and marinate the livers overnight in the port in a covered container.
Briefly pulse the liver and port in a food processor to make a smooth paste.
Fry the chopped bacon and onion in the butter. (Pic2)
Stir the fried bacon and onions into the livers in a large mixing bowl.
Add all the sausage meat, egg, S&P and spices to taste.
Mix briefly until you get a smooth regular consistency. (Pic3)
Transfer the mixture into an oven-proof bowl.
Instead of using one large bowl, preferably use at least 4 smaller containers.
The freezable quarter- and half-pint mason jars are excellent for this purpose. (Pic1)
Leave at least ½” headspace for heat expansion and for the fat layer later.
Smoothen the surface.
Optional:
- Lay out the remainder of the bacon on top of the pâté mixture
- and/or cover with jalapeño preserves. (Pic4)

Pic5: au bain-marie
Pic6: bake
Pic7: all done

Cut away the connective tissue between the liver lobes.
Cut the liver in small pieces.
Place the cooking bowl into a larger au bain-marie bowl or tray. (Pic5)
Place a lid on the cooking bowl or cover with aluminum foil.
Preheat the oven to 300 ºF.
Place the nested bowls in the oven. Fill the au bain-marie bowl with hot water.
Bake for 3 hrs. at 300 ºF. When done, remove the hot containers from the oven.
The jalapeño marmalade may burn a bit because of high sugar content, but that does not affect the pâté.
Allow to cool until safe to handle.
The pâté may still be semi-liquid at this time. It needs to cool to stiffen up.
Optional:
- Some sources recommend weighing down the pâté to make it firmer. (not with fat seal)

For longer storage:

Melt and heat 1 cup of salted tallow, lard or duck fat.
Open the lid.
Pour a layer of hot melted fat to completely cover and seal the pâté.
With mason jars, close the lid finger-tight after pouring the fat.

Traditionally this procedure was used for months-long storage in a dry cool cellar.

USDA recommends refrigerated storage up to 2 weeks while the fat seal is intact.
I have stored preparations like this for over a year in the freezer.

pâté on the internet

Pic8: fat seal
Pic9: gelatin seal
Pic10: no seal

Pic11-13: different country pâtés

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more and avemariasongs.org

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more
and avemariasongs.org