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CALF'S LIVER (Mock Pate de Foie Gras)
Soak some calf's liver for half an hour, then dry it in a cloth, and cut it into thin slices, each of which must be dipped in egg, and minced herbs, salt, and pepper strewn over it. Place a layer of these at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of bacon, and over these some sliced truffles and hard-boiled eggs. Repeat until the dish is full. Pour some good gravy over the whole, cover with a light crust, and bake in a moderate oven. Do not overcrowd the meat in the dish, as there should be plenty of jelly. It must be eaten cold. Time to bake, one hour and a half. One pound of calf's liver will suffice for four or five persons.
A cold baked liver pie under a pastry lid, standing in for the Strasbourg original at a fraction of the cost. The success of it rests entirely on the gravy setting to a jelly, so read the note about stock first.
- The hinge: the gravy must set"Plenty of jelly" means the liquid has to be a gelatinous stock — one made from veal or pork bones, or a good chicken stock reduced until it is tacky on the lips. Commercial cartoned stock will not gel, and the pie will be dry and crumbly rather than sliceable; add a couple of leaves of soaked gelatine per pint if in doubt.
- A moderate ovenSomewhere around 325-350F/165-175C. An hour and a half at that heat suits a deep dish full of layered liver and bacon; cover the crust loosely with foil if it colours before the time is up.
- Soaking the liverThe half-hour soak is to draw out blood and bitterness. Cold water works, milk works better. Dry it thoroughly or the egg coating will slide off.
- Slice thinTake that as about 1/4 inch. Calf's liver goes grainy when overcooked, and thick slabs given ninety minutes will be chalky; thin sheets set into the surrounding jelly instead.
- TrufflesThe recipe says only "some sliced truffles" and fixes no quantity. A tablespoon of chopped preserved truffle, or truffle peelings with a little of their liquor, gives the intended note. Omitting them entirely is more honest than using truffle-flavoured oil.
- BaconUse unsmoked streaky or pancetta, thinly sliced. Modern smoked bacon will dominate the liver; go carefully with the added salt in the herb mixture.
- "A light crust"A shortcrust or rough puff lid over the dish, not a raised hot-water crust. Its job is to seal the dish while baking.
- Eaten cold, and chilled properlyCool it, then refrigerate overnight so the jelly firms. Serve within three days, and treat it as you would any pâté — it is a rich, perishable thing.
- YieldOne pound of liver plus its bacon and eggs serves four or five as a cold luncheon course, which matches the original estimate.
Pâté de foie gras — the fattened goose or duck liver preparation generally traced to eighteenth-century Strasbourg and Alsace — was a luxury import sold in earthenware terrines and tins, and priced accordingly. Late Victorian household books answered with a whole family of "mock" versions built on calf's or ox liver, which is cheap, strongly flavoured and sets firm when baked with bacon and a gelatinous stock. The layering here, with truffle and hard-boiled egg studding the slices, is imitating the marbled cross-section of a bought terrine rather than its texture; nothing about the method involves the pounding and sieving that makes a true pâté smooth. Dishes eaten cold, set in their own jelly, were the backbone of the cold sideboard and the picnic hamper in kitchens with no refrigeration beyond a cool larder.