Charcuterie_ The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing - Michael Ruhlman [101]
11⁄4 pounds/560 grams pork liver, cut into large chunks, or chicken livers
1 pound/450 grams boneless pork shoulder butt, diced
1 ounce/25 grams kosher salt (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon/3 grams freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons/30 milliliters vegetable oil
1⁄4 cup/50 grams chopped shallots
2 tablespoons/30 milliliters brandy
2 slices white bread, crusts removed and roughly chopped
1⁄2 cup/125 milliliters whole milk
1⁄4 cup/60 milliliters heavy cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon/6 grams chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1⁄4 teaspoon/2 grams ground white pepper
1⁄4 teaspoon/4 grams freshly grated nutmeg
1. In a large bowl, toss the liver with half the salt and black pepper, 1 bay leaf, and 1 thyme sprig. Toss the pork in another bowl with the remaining salt and pepper, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover and refrigerate (separately) for 8 hours, or overnight.
2. Freeze all your blades and bowls (see Note below).
3. Heat a 12-inch sauté pan over high heat, and add the vegetable oil; the pan should be just smoking. Add the liver without crowding the pieces (discard the bay and thyme), and sauté until it’s developed a good sear (the better the “crust,” the more flavor). Transfer to a tray and chill in the refrigerator. Add the shallots to the hot pan and sauté until translucent, about 30 seconds, then add the brandy to the pan to deglaze, stirring up any bits of liver and shallot stuck to the bottom. When most of the brandy has cooked off but the shallots still look moist, transfer to a bowl and chill.
4. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F./150 degrees C.
5. Combine the ingredients for the panada, the bread, milk, cream, and eggs—in a bowl and stir to blend. Set aside.
6. Discard the bay leaf and thyme from the pork. Add the chilled liver and shallots, along with the panada and parsley. Grind this mixture through the small die into the bowl of a standing mixer set in ice.
Careful: The liver is juicy and tends to squirt out of the die.
7. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for about a minute, until the mixture begins to look sticky.
8. Do a quenelle test to check the seasoning, and adjust if necessary.
9. Line a 11⁄2-quart/1.5-liter terrine mold with plastic wrap, leaving enough overhang on the two long sides to cover the filled mold (moistening the inside of the mold first will help the plastic wrap adhere to the corners). Pack the terrine tightly with the ground mixture: A good way to do this is to use a stiff rubber spatula or large spoon, flicking the spatula quickly down to snap the forcemeat off the spatula into the mold, then jab it down and pack it tightly; this will help prevent air pockets. Fold the plastic wrap over the top of the terrine and cover with the lid or foil.
10. Place the terrine in a high-sided roasting pan and fill the pan with enough hot water (very hot tap water, 150 to 160 degrees F./65 to 71 degrees C.) to come halfway up the sides of the mold. Put the roasting pan in the oven and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the pâté reads 150 degrees F./65 degrees C. if using pork liver, 160 degrees F./71 degrees C. if using chicken liver.
11. Remove the pâté from the oven, remove the terrine from water bath, and set a weight of about 2 pounds/1 kilogram on top of it. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, overnight, or for up to a week.
Yield: 24 slices; 12 appetizer servings
[ NOTE: See pages 214–212 for a detailed description of the general terrine method. ]
ENGLISH PORK PIE
Not all classical pâtés en croûte are the highly refined items of the fancy French restaurant. The English have a strong tradition of baking pâtés in a crust. In this rustic preparation, it is a flaky crust. Brian adapted this particular version from my great-grandmother’s recipe, made for the family every Christmas morning in Shropshire, England (adaptation was necessary, as Elizabeth Morgan’s ground pork