Southern Pâté

Pâté Cake, Pâté Cake, Butcher Man



As a rule, I hate liver. It’s one of the few foods I can say that about. Foie gras may be an exception, but I’ve only had it once and although I liked it, that exception is too limited to alter the rule. I do know that I don’t care for chicken livers (deep-fried, they’re an old Southern favorite but not one of mine) and both beef and pork liver evoke such a strong gag reflex that I literally can’t swallow them. So given that most pâtés include liver I avoid them.

But recently I was putting together a class entitled Southern Fusion that took Southern favorites and presented them with a European accent. I like to begin my classes with an appetizer of some sort that I’ve already prepared so I can serve it immediately and I was looking for something with a Southern feel to it for this class. I ran across a pâté recipe that included bacon and ham and didn’t include liver in any form. Bacon and ham are huge favorites in the South so I figured with some tweaking it would easily work for this class.

For the bacon I chose a locally made smoked bacon. I’m sure any artisanal smoked bacon would do. I briefly considered using country ham from the same source, but decided that would be too much smoke and would make the pâté too salty. So I bought what we call “city ham.” It’s a brine-cured, baked product. I substituted Vidalia onion (a super-sweet variety grown in Vidalia, Georgia) for the original shallot and bourbon for the original cognac. The result was delicious.

Southern Pâté

1/2 lb veal -- cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb smoked bacon -- cut into 1-inch pieces
1 clove garlic -- halved
1/4 c chopped Vidalia onion
1/4 lb ham -- cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 ea egg
Tiny pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tbsp bourbon

Heat oven to 400F.

Place the the veal, bacon, garlic, and onion in a food processor and process until finely minced. Add the ham, salt, pepper, egg, cinnamon, and bourbon and process until the ham is finely chopped.

Transfer to a small, 2-cup loaf pan or terrine and pack it in firmly. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula, then bake, uncovered, about 45 minutes or until the pâté has pulled away from the sides of the dish and the top is nicely browned.

Cool, cover, and refrigerate overnight day to allow the flavors to develop. Cut into slices to serve on fresh bread. Serves 6.

Adapted from Celebrating the Pleasures of Cooking, by Chuck Williams (Time-Life Books, 1997).

Technorati: Food | recipe | appetizer | amuse bouche | pate | meatloaf | meatloaf madness