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Terrine of Veal
Trim a white cushion of veal, lard it with ham and raw truffles, and sprinkle it well with pepper, salt and spices. Chop the trimmings of the veal with an equal quantity of lean fresh pork and mix with them an equal quantity of chopped fresh bacon and the trimmings of the truffles. Pound the mixture in a mortar, pass it through a fine hair-sieve into a basin, season it with salt and pepper, and mix in three or four tablespoonfuls of Madeira. Line a pie-terrine with thin layers of bacon, place a layer of prepared forcemeat at the bottom of it, then put in the larded cushion of veal and surround and cover it with the forcemeat, building it on the top in the shape of a dome. Stand the terrine in a baking-dish and place it in a moderate oven. Baste the terrine frequently, and in an hour's time pour a little warm water in the pan and bake it for an hour and a half longer. When cooked, remove the terrine from the oven and leave it for an hour and a half, then place a light weight on the top and leave till cool. Take the top off the terrine, remove the meat, cut it into slices, and place it back again. Stand the terrine on a round dish, garnish it with croutons of aspic jelly, and serve.
A classic pâté en terrine, written for a kitchen brigade that knew the technique and needed only the proportions. The instructions assume a lidded earthenware terrine, a larding needle and a marble mortar; all three have workable substitutes.
- Cushion of vealThe "cushion" is the top round or thick flank from the leg — a solid, close-grained muscle that slices cleanly. Ask for a boneless veal top round of about 2 to 2 1/2 lb, trimmed square, and keep the trimmings for the forcemeat.
- LardingLarding here means threading strips of ham and truffle through the meat with a larding needle so each slice shows a pattern. Without a needle, pierce deep channels with a thin sharp knife and push the strips in with the handle of a wooden spoon.
- Oven temperatureA moderate oven is about 325 to 350F. The total bake is 2 1/2 hours, and the warm water poured into the pan after the first hour makes a bain-marie for the remainder.
- Internal temperatureThe single thing the original cannot tell you: cook to 160F at the centre of the veal cushion. A ground-meat forcemeat surrounding a whole muscle heats unevenly, and time alone is unreliable across different terrine sizes.
- Mortar and sievePounding then passing through a hair sieve produces a very fine, emulsified forcemeat. A food processor gets there faster, but work the pork and bacon cold and pulse rather than run it, or the fat will smear and the pâté will be greasy.
- The weightThe light weight pressed on top while cooling compacts the forcemeat so it slices instead of crumbling. A small board and a can or two is enough — heavy weight squeezes out the juices that set into jelly.
- TrufflesRaw truffles were a matter of course in a hotel kitchen of this period; today a small tin of whole black truffles, or good truffle-studded ham, gives the effect. Fresh summer truffle contributes little flavour to a long bake.
- Aspic croutonsThe garnish is firm aspic cut into small geometric shapes. Clarified veal or chicken stock set with gelatine, chilled in a shallow pan and cut with a knife, is the same thing.
- Yield and servingA terrine on this scale serves 12 to 16 as a first course. Chill at least overnight before slicing, and let it come partway to room temperature before serving — cold fat mutes the Madeira and the truffle.
The terrine takes its name from the vessel, not the dish: terrine is simply an earthenware pot, and the food cooked and served in it borrowed the word, much as a casserole did. Preparations of this kind belonged to the charcutier's craft in France and passed into grand hotel cookery as a cold buffet centrepiece, cut in advance and put back into its own pot so the guest saw an intact loaf. Oscar Tschirky was maître d'hôtel at the Waldorf through the years when American luxury hotels were staffed and menued on the French model, and the presence of larding needles, hair sieves and raw truffles in a recipe tells you which kitchen the book was really describing. The larding of a whole muscle with ham and truffle so that each slice shows a mosaic is the older, more laborious method; the modern habit of simply mixing garnish into the forcemeat gives a plainer face.