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Veal Liver Pate (to be Eaten Cold)
Take 1 pound of calf's liver and 10 ounces of fat bacon. Mince these first separately, and afterwards together, and season the mixture with pepper, salt, and pounded mace. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, 2 ounces of finely minced lean ham, and a moderate-sized onion that has been sliced and browned in fat. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and mix with them first the beaten yolks, and afterwards the well-whisked whites of 2 eggs. Line a mould with thin slices of fat bacon, put in the mince, place slices of bacon on the top, and bake the pate very gradually in a gentle oven. When it is done enough it can be easily pierced quite through with a skewer. Let it get cold, turn it upon a dish, and garnish with parsley. Carve it in slices.
A straightforward country terrine: forcemeat of liver and pork fat baked slowly in a bacon-lined mould and served cold in slices. The original gives no oven temperature, no tin size and no baking time, so those are the gaps to fill.
- The hinge: bake it low and check the centreA "gentle oven" here means 300-325F, and the loaf wants a water bath so the outside does not tighten before the middle sets. Liver forcemeat turns grainy and weeps fat if pushed hard; the skewer test in the original is really a doneness test, and a thermometer reading of 160F in the centre is the reliable version of it.
- TimingIn a 1- to 1 1/2-quart loaf tin or terrine, expect about 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours at 300-325F in a water bath. Thinner, wider moulds cook faster; judge by the centre, not the clock.
- Fat baconHere this is the fat, fatback-type cure or the fattest streaky belly, not modern thin-cut breakfast bacon, which is lean and heavily smoked and will make the pate salty and dry. Ask a butcher for fatback, or use pancetta or lardo cut thin for the lining.
- SaltNo quantity is given, and both the bacon and the ham bring their own. About 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt per pound of total mixture is the usual range for a terrine; fry a teaspoon of the mix and taste it before filling the mould.
- Mincing"Mince first separately, then together" is a food processor job now: pulse the liver to a coarse paste, pulse the fat bacon separately so it stays in distinct specks, then pulse briefly together. Over-processing warms the fat and gives a pasty rather than a sliceable texture.
- Pounded maceGround mace, the lacy outer coat of nutmeg, warmer and less sweet. A quarter teaspoon is enough for this quantity; nutmeg at half the amount is the nearest substitute.
- The whisked whitesFolding the whites in separately lightens the loaf slightly, which is the point, but they deflate quickly in a heavy meat mixture. Fold them in last, quickly, and get the terrine into the oven.
- Cooling and slicingCool it in the mould, then chill overnight before turning out; a pate cut warm crumbles. A light weight on top while it cools gives a firmer slice. Best eaten within three or four days, kept refrigerated.
- YieldAbout 1 3/4 lb of finished pate: eight to ten as a first course with bread and something sharp, more if it is part of a cold table.