Description
Pâté Grand-Mère is a French delicacy, often featured in the cases of the finest gourmet food shops. Now you can skip the store-bought version and use this excellent recipe, straight from an award-winning charcutier, to master this rich and delicious pâté right in your own kitchen!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Equipment
- A glass terrine or loaf pan, 1 1/2 Quart or approx. 5" x 9 x 3"
- Cooking spray
- Foil for tenting the Pâté
- Meat thermometer
Ground Meats: (see notes)
- 2 pounds ground pork butt
- 1/2 pound ground pork fatback
- 1/8 pound pancetta, ground or finely chopped
- 1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Binder:
- 1/2 cup pork or chicken livers, cleaned and diced
- 2 medium shallots, peeled and quartered
- 2 medium cloves garlic, halved
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons pâté spice blend - you can find this at some specialty stores or make your own - see below.
- 1 teaspoon quatre épices spice blend - you can find this at some specialty stores or make your own - see below.
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (Vermouth is a good choice)
- 1 tablespoon sherry
- 1 tablespoons tawny port
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup light cream
Garnish:
- 1/4 pound slab bacon, diced into 1/2 inch cubes and sautéed for lardons
- 8 thin strips of bacon for wrapping the top of the pâté
Pâté spice blend
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Quatre Epice Spice Blend
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground clove
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Instructions
Preheat oven to 325ºF.
- In a small skillet, sauté diced bacon until just crisp, then drain on paper towels, and cool.
- Make Binder: In a blender, combine garlic, shallot, herbs, spices and alcohol. Pulse until roughly chopped. Add liver, eggs and cream. Blend well to emulsify. Mixture should be smooth. Set aside.
- Mix the Meats: In a large bowl mix pork butt, pork fatback, pancetta, and salt until well-combined (using your hands works well). Add the binder to the meat mixture and combine well, scraping down bottom and sides of bowl. Add lardons (bacon) and mix just until evenly incorporated.
- Pack: Spray a glass terrine with cooking spray and pack pâté mix into the terrine, pressing down with a rubber spatula as you go to eliminate any air bubbles. Top each terrine with finishing garnish of bacon strips. Trim bacon and tuck any loose ends into the sides. Spray a piece of tin foil with cooking spray and cover the pâté (sprayed side on the inside). Make sure foil is tented and does not touch the top of the pâté.
- Bake at 325°F in water bath that comes roughly half-way up the glass terrine. Bake until internal temperature reads 135°F, approximately* 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until internal temperature reaches 155°F, approximately* 15 more minutes.
- Cool: Remove from the oven and let cool in water bath, basting occasionally with the water from the water bath, until room temp. Then refrigerate overnight. Pop out and clean off any extra fat before serving.
- *Please note that baking times will vary depending on the shape of your glass container and on fluctuations in oven temperature. The key thing is to hit the specified temperatures indicated.
Notes
- If you prefer to grind your own meats, cube them, spread them out on a sheet pan, sprinkle them with salt, and freeze until hard but not completely frozen. Then grind.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French