French Pâté

The pâté is one of the most enjoyed French delicatessen. Originally it was to save the scraps that came from the butcher. So don’t overthink it with the ingredients, take what you have in the fridge. At the end of the recipe, you will have a great appetizer, that pairs perfectly with a delicious loaf of fresh bread and some pickles.

Equipment

This recipe has been written to be executed with a meat grinder. Although, you can easily use a big knife to chop the meat in small pieces:

• A meat grinder.

• 3 to 4 jars with a rubber gasket.

• A big cooking pot.

• Some canning tools:

  • Jar holder.

  • Jar clamp

Ingredients

• 600gr of meat :

  • 200g of a lean pork cut such e.g. pork shoulder or pork chop.

  • 200g of a fatty pork cut such e.g. pork flank.

  • 200g of pork or chicken liver.

• 1 egg

• 14g of salt per kg of meat, here 8.4g.

• 2g of pepper per kg of meat, here 1.2g.

• 2 tablespoons of aged liquor e.g. Brandy, Cognac, Armagnac.

• A small bunch of parsley or rosemary.

• 3 bay leaves.

• 2 cloves of garlic.

• 1 shallot.

Steps

1.      Fill a big cooking pot with water. Submerge your jar with the lids, gaskets and lock rings and bring to a boil for 30 minutes to sterilize the jars.

2.      In the meantime, chop your shallot, parsley, garlic and meat.

3.      Using a meat grinder, grind the meat, parsley and garlic. In case you don’t have a meat grinder, you can chop finely the meat using a cleaver or a big knife.

Note: To improve the final texture, try working with meat that just got out of the fridge. The colder the better.

4.      Add the salt, the pepper, the egg and the liquor to the mixture.

5.      Using your hands, mix everything together well.

6.      When the jars are done sterilizing, use a tool to take them out of the water and let them dry on a clean towel.

7.      Once the jars are dry, add a bay leaf at the bottom of each one as well as a small bunch of rosemary.

8.      Carefully fill up the jars with your meat mixture. Ensure that you have a limited amount of air bubble around the edges of the jar and that you leave 2cm of the jar empty.

9.      Once filled up, using a clean towel, clean the edges of the jar from any meat.

10.      Fill your cooking pot with water again and place a jar holder at the base. Place your jars on the jar holder using your clamp to avoid getting burn. The jars should be fully submerged.

11.      Cover the pot, bring to a boil and let it cook for 3 hours. Remember to check your pot periodically to ensure that there is still enough water above the jar.

12.      Once cooked, carefully remove the jars from the water using your clamp and leave them on a clean towel until it reaches room temperature.

Conclusion

I really hope you are going to enjoy this very French recipe. In my opinion the best way to eat it is either on a very fresh baguette or on some toasted garlic bread. Once the canning process is done you can easily store them in your fridge for 2 to 3 weeks. If you use a proper pressure canner you could keep it outside of the fridge for months.