French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [128]
PÂTÉ DE CANARD LUCULLUS
TRUFFLED PÂTÉ OF DUCK
At the restaurant Barattero at Lamastre is served just about the best duck pâté, or galantine, which I have ever eaten. It is not at all too rich, and its flavour is most delicate. It is quite a complicated dish to make and even if you can afford all the ingredients and have an obliging poultry dealer who will bone the duck for you, there is still a good deal of work to be done on it. Even then the chances are that the result will not be quite as it is at Barattero’s, but this would not be a disgrace, for the chef there has been serving it, along with the four or five other specialities of the house, every day for a considerable number of years, so it is not altogether surprising that he should have brought it to a point of perfection which even the most talented amateur cook could hardly be expected to reach. All the same, such a dish represents something of a challenge; for those who care to take it up, here is the recipe which Madame Barattero has given me permission to publish:
‘Take a good white Bresse duck, weighing about 3 lb.; open it right along the back, taking care not to pierce the skin, and completely remove all the flesh. Take care to preserve the feet intact; bone the carcase completely and set aside the liver.
‘Take 2 lb. 2 oz. of good white fillet of pork, with fat and sinews removed; mince it in the finest blade of the mincer with the flesh of the duck.
‘Pound this minced mixture in the mortar and season it with oz. of salt, oz. of pepper, a pinch of mixed spice, incorporate into it 2 whole eggs, some truffle essence, 2 oz. of cognac, and then stir into the whole mixture just under 2 oz. of foie gras.
‘Lay the skin of the duck out flat, spread it with the stuffing and in the centre put the liver of the duck, a little more foie gras and some slices of truffle. Draw the edges of the skin together, and sew them up with a trussing needle.
‘This operation complete, the duck will look like a long fat sausage with the feet of the duck sticking out at the end. Wrap it up in fine slices of back pork fat, and cover the whole with greaseproof paper. Cook 50 minutes in a fairly hot oven, basting it frequently with its own juices.’
This pâté is served as an hors-d’œuvre, quite alone of course, no salad or anything else whatever.
RILLETTES DE PORC
POTTED PORK
As an alternative to a home-made pâté, rillettes, which might be described as a kind of potted pork, are quite easy to make at home, and as they keep well, can be made in a fair quantity and stored.
Get the butcher to remove the rind and the bones of approximately 2 lb. of belly or neck of pork and 1 lb. of back pork fat. Rub the meat well with salt and leave it to stand for 4 to 6 hours in summer, overnight in winter. Cut it in thick strips along the grooves from where the bones were taken out, then again into little strips rather shorter than a match and about twice as thick. Put all these into an earthenware or other oven dish, with the pork fat also cut into small pieces; bury a crushed clove of garlic and a bouquet of herbs in the centre, season with a little pepper, add a soup ladle of water, put on the lid of the pan and cook in a very low oven, Gas No. 1, 290 deg. F. for about 4 hours.
By this time the meat should be very soft and swimming in its own limpid fat. Taste to see if more salt or pepper are needed. Rillettes are insipid if not properly seasoned.
Turn the contents of the pan into a wire sieve standing over a big bowl, so that the fat drips through. When well drained, partly pound and then with two forks pull the rillettes until they are in fine shreds rather than a paste. Pile lightly into a glazed earthenware or china jar or two or three little ones. Pour the fat over the top of the rillettes, leaving behind any sediment and juices, and completely filling the jars. Cover with foil. Rillettes should be of a soft texture, so if they have to