French Provincial Cooking (50 page)

Take them from the oven, being careful not to spill any of the fat, and leave them to cool. They will cut better if, when the fat has all but set, they are weighted. To do this, cover with greaseproof paper and a board or plate which fits inside the terrine and put a weight on top. However, if this proves impractical, it is not of very great importance. If the terrines are to be kept longer than a week, cover them completely, once they are cold, with a sealing layer of just-melted pure pork lard.

When cooking the pâtés remember that it is the
depth
of the terrine rather than its surface area which determines the cooking time. The seasonings of garlic and juniper berries are optional.

Serve these pâtés as a first course, with toast or French bread. Some people like butter as well, although they are quite rich enough without.

Lastly, the proportions of meat, liver and seasonings making up the pâtés can be altered to suit individual tastes, but always with due regard to the finished texture of the product. A good pâté is moist and fat without being greasy, and it should be faintly pink inside, not grey or brown. A dry pâté is either the result of overcooking, or of too small a proportion of fat meat having been used. And ideally all the meat for pâtés should be cut up by hand rather than put through the mincing machine, which squeezes and dries the meat. But this is a counsel of perfection which few people nowadays would care to follow.

 

Alternative proportions for those who like more liver and less meat
1 lb. 2 oz. pig’s liver, 1
lb. belly of pork,
lb. lean veal, a coffee-cup of dry white wine, 2 tablespoons brandy, 2 cloves garlic, 6 to 8 juniper berries (optional), 1 dessertspoon salt, 4 black peppercorns, mace, 4 oz. of back pork fat or 4 rashers of fat bacon.

The procedure is exactly as in the first recipe.

A wild duck (mallard), 1
lb. of fat pork,
lb. fat, mild bacon, seasonings and white wine as above.

The orthodox way to make a game pâté is to strip all the flesh off the bird in its raw state. It is a tedious, wasteful process until you have done it many times, so it is permissible to half roast the bird, let it cool, and then remove and mince or chop the meat.

Put your duck, therefore, to roast for 20 minutes or so in a medium hot oven. When cool remove all the meat and discard the skin, but be careful to preserve as much as possible of the juices which run out during the process. Chop or mince the meat, coarsely. Blend it thoroughly with the minced pork and 2 oz. of the fat bacon, cut into little cubes, and which supply the squares of fat characteristic in these home-made pâtés. Add the seasonings and the wine exactly as for the pork and liver pâté, and cook in the same way.

Any game birds can be turned into pâté in this way, allowing approximately the equivalent weight in pork of the uncooked weight of the bird. So instead of one mallard you would need three teal, or two stewing partridges, or two large pigeons, which make a cheap and excellent pâté. A domestic duck, being so fat, needs only a small proportion of pork, or a mixture of pork and veal.

For a
terrine de lièvre
or hare pâté, also allow equal proportions of fat pork, or even a little more, for hare is very dry, and the flavour too needs softening to make a successful terrine.

Here is a pâté on a somewhat larger scale, suitable for a party or for a buffet supper. It will be sufficient for twenty to twenty-five people, and is all the better for being made three or four days in advance.

Quantities are, 2 lb. each of belly of pork and leg of veal (the pieces sold by some butchers as pie veal will do, as these are usually oddments of good quality trimmed from escalopes and so on),
lb. of back pork fat and 1 wild duck or pheasant. For the seasoning you need 2 teacups of dry white wine, 1 tablespoon of salt, 8 to 10 juniper berries, 1 large clove of garlic, 10 peppercorns, 2 tablespoons of stock made from the duck carcase with a little extra white wine or Madeira.

Mince the pork and the veal together, or to save time get the butcher to do this for you. Partly roast the duck or pheasant, take all the flesh from the bones, chop fairly small and mix with the pork and veal. Add 5 oz. of the fat cut into little pieces, the garlic, juniper berries and peppercorns all chopped together, the salt. Pour in the white wine, amalgamate thoroughly and leave in a cold place while you cook the duck carcase and the trimmings in a little water and wine with seasonings to make the stock. Strain it, reduce to 2 good tablespoons, and add to the mixture (if it is necessary to expedite matters, this part of the preparation can be dispensed with altogether; it is to add a little extra gamy flavour to the pâté).

Turn into a 3-pint terrine; cover the top with a criss-cross pattern of the rest of the pork fat cut into little strips. Cover with foil. Stand in a baking tin containing water, and cook in a low oven, Gas No. 3, 550 deg. F. for 2 hours. During the last 15 minutes remove the paper, and the top of the pâté will cook to a beautiful golden brown.

One wild duck or pheasant to 4 lb. of meat sounds a very small proportion for a game pâté, but will give a sufficiently strong flavour for most tastes. Also the seasonings of garlic, pepper and juniper berries are kept in very moderate proportions when the pâté is for people who may not be accustomed to these rather strong flavours, and with whose tastes one may not be familiar.

To serve a large pâté for a party the best plan is to slice it down just before the party, but leaving it in the terrine in its original shape. In this way the appearance will not be spoilt, but the slices will be quite easy to lift out.

At the restaurant Barattero at Lamastre is served just about the best duck pâté, or galantine, which I have ever eaten. It is not at all too rich, and its flavour is most delicate. It is quite a complicated dish to make and even if you can afford all the ingredients and have an obliging poultry dealer who will bone the duck for you, there is still a good deal of work to be done on it. Even then the chances are that the result will not be quite as it is at Barattero’s, but this would not be a disgrace, for the chef there has been serving it, along with the four or five other specialities of the house, every day for a considerable number of years, so it is not altogether surprising that he should have brought it to a point of perfection which even the most talented amateur cook could hardly be expected to reach. All the same, such a dish represents something of a challenge; for those who care to take it up, here is the recipe which Madame Barattero has given me permission to publish:

 

‘Take a good white Bresse duck, weighing about 3
lb.; open it right along the back, taking care not to pierce the skin, and completely remove all the flesh. Take care to preserve the feet intact; bone the carcase completely and set aside the liver.

‘Take 2 lb. 2 oz. of good white fillet of pork, with fat and sinews removed; mince it in the finest blade of the mincer with the flesh of the duck.

‘Pound this minced mixture in the mortar and season it with
oz. of salt,
oz. of pepper, a pinch of mixed spice, incorporate into it 2 whole eggs, some truffle essence, 2 oz. of cognac, and then stir into the whole mixture just under 2 oz. of
foie gras.