French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [127]
The procedure is exactly as in the first recipe.
TERRINE DE GIBIER
GAME PÂTÉ
A wild duck (mallard), 1 lb. of fat pork, lb. fat, mild bacon, seasonings and white wine as above.
The orthodox way to make a game pâté is to strip all the flesh off the bird in its raw state. It is a tedious, wasteful process until you have done it many times, so it is permissible to half roast the bird, let it cool, and then remove and mince or chop the meat.
Put your duck, therefore, to roast for 20 minutes or so in a medium hot oven. When cool remove all the meat and discard the skin, but be careful to preserve as much as possible of the juices which run out during the process. Chop or mince the meat, coarsely. Blend it thoroughly with the minced pork and 2 oz. of the fat bacon, cut into little cubes, and which supply the squares of fat characteristic in these home-made pâtés. Add the seasonings and the wine exactly as for the pork and liver pâté, and cook in the same way.
Any game birds can be turned into pâté in this way, allowing approximately the equivalent weight in pork of the uncooked weight of the bird. So instead of one mallard you would need three teal, or two stewing partridges, or two large pigeons, which make a cheap and excellent pâté. A domestic duck, being so fat, needs only a small proportion of pork, or a mixture of pork and veal.
For a terrine de lièvre or hare pâté, also allow equal proportions of fat pork, or even a little more, for hare is very dry, and the flavour too needs softening to make a successful terrine.
TERRINE DE PORC ET DE GIBIER
PORK AND GAME PÂTÉ
Here is a pâté on a somewhat larger scale, suitable for a party or for a buffet supper. It will be sufficient for twenty to twenty-five people, and is all the better for being made three or four days in advance.
Quantities are, 2 lb. each of belly of pork and leg of veal (the pieces sold by some butchers as pie veal will do, as these are usually oddments of good quality trimmed from escalopes and so on), lb. of back pork fat and 1 wild duck or pheasant. For the seasoning you need 2 teacups of dry white wine, 1 tablespoon of salt, 8 to 10 juniper berries, 1 large clove of garlic, 10 peppercorns, 2 tablespoons of stock made from the duck carcase with a little extra white wine or Madeira.
Mince the pork and the veal together, or to save time get the butcher to do this for you. Partly roast the duck or pheasant, take all the flesh from the bones, chop fairly small and mix with the pork and veal. Add 5 oz. of the fat cut into little pieces, the garlic, juniper berries and peppercorns all chopped together, the salt. Pour in the white wine, amalgamate thoroughly and leave in a cold place while you cook the duck carcase and the trimmings in a little water and wine with seasonings to make the stock. Strain it, reduce to 2 good tablespoons, and add to the mixture (if it is necessary to expedite matters, this part of the preparation can be dispensed with altogether; it is to add a little extra gamy flavour to the pâté).
Turn into a 3-pint terrine; cover the top with a criss-cross pattern of the rest of the pork fat cut into little strips. Cover with foil. Stand in a baking tin containing water, and cook in a low oven, Gas No. 3, 550 deg. F. for 2 hours. During the last 15 minutes remove the paper, and the top of the pâté will cook to a beautiful golden brown.
One wild duck or pheasant to 4 lb. of meat sounds a very small proportion for a game pâté, but will give a sufficiently strong flavour for most tastes. Also the seasonings of garlic, pepper and juniper berries are kept in very moderate proportions when the pâté is for people who may not be accustomed to these rather strong flavours, and with whose tastes one may not be familiar.
To serve a large pâté for a party the best plan is to slice it down just before the party, but leaving it in the