Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (139 page)

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
.

PÂTÉS
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 PÂTÉ 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.