Liver pate.

[Mike]

Yeah, I would let it cool down if you are going to use a food processor. I'd recommend buying an immersion/hand blender instead of using a food processor. It's much easier and cleaner. When I use the hand blender I usually just let it cool for about 5 or 10 minutes and then blend it a little, add the spices, blend some more, let it sit for another 5 minutes, and then pour it into whatever container you're storing it in and refrigerate overnight.

Ok, thanks for the recommendation! Any particular brand/model of hand blender that you found is best - tons of them out there? I have a food processor and depending on how much of a pain it is to do the pate, I'll look at the hand blender as an option.

 

[Beau]

Ok, thanks for the recommendation! Any particular brand/model of hand blender that you found is best - tons of them out there? I have a food processor and depending on how much of a pain it is to do the pate, I'll look at the hand blender as an option.

Actually, the blender I had been using just died and the replacement I bought (Oster, 250 watt dual speed) I haven't had a chance to use yet. I know Cuisinart gets good reviews on Amazon and it isn't an expensive, high end one so maybe try that.

 

[Mike]

I gave it a good try with the pate, but it doesn't taste like other pate I've had. I think I used too much bacon (figured a pack of bacon ends would equal about 10 slices), because it just tastes like bacon to me, which isn't a bad thing! The consistency is off as well since the food processor I used couldn't handle it (I started to smell the motor burning) and I had to stop, so I'll have to look into a good immersion blender. I might have used to much lard as well - I didn't measure 2 cups, but just eyeballed it erroring on the side of too much. Til my next batch...

 

[LQB]

I gave it a good try with the pate, but it doesn't taste like other pate I've had. I think I used too much bacon (figured a pack of bacon ends would equal about 10 slices), because it just tastes like bacon to me, which isn't a bad thing! The consistency is off as well since the food processor I used couldn't handle it (I started to smell the motor burning) and I had to stop, so I'll have to look into a good immersion blender. I might have used to much lard as well - I didn't measure 2 cups, but just eyeballed it erroring on the side of too much. Til my next batch...

Me too on the food processor - its starting to burn under the load after 5-6 double batches. One thing that helps is to turn down the heat a bit and not cook it too hard. But I might break out the Vita-mix blender for the next batch.

 

[Beau]

I gave it a good try with the pate, but it doesn't taste like other pate I've had. I think I used too much bacon (figured a pack of bacon ends would equal about 10 slices), because it just tastes like bacon to me, which isn't a bad thing! The consistency is off as well since the food processor I used couldn't handle it (I started to smell the motor burning) and I had to stop, so I'll have to look into a good immersion blender. I might have used to much lard as well - I didn't measure 2 cups, but just eyeballed it erroring on the side of too much. Til my next batch...

Regarding measuring the lard, I just use pint jars of rendered lard. 1 pint equals 2 cups, so it's easy to get that right.

 

[sbeaudry]

I tried making Ailen's recipe using about 1 1/2 pounds of organic grass fed beef liver, 12 oz of bacon, and 2 cups of duck fat. It was delicious! As for breaking down the meat, I let it cool for a bit at room temperature then mixed it up with a KitchenAid immersion/hand blender before jarring and refrigerating. Smooth texture, great flavor, very happy with the results. My girlfriend will not eat liver unless it's in pâté, and she said it had better be good pate, which it was, so everyone's happy. Thanks for the recipe. I think I may try again with chicken liver and the lard I made yesterday, which is still cooling. Fingers crossed.

 

[Alcarohtare]

Great are those recipes of yours! :)

I do pate of calf / foal liver with the butter, nutmeg, thyme, parsley, rosemary and sea salt.
I don't fry it, because i find pate softer if liver is boiled.
All ingredients are dosed of thumb, depend on quantity of liver, and mixed in a food processor.
It is delicious with fried bacon or smoked ham.

 

[sbeaudry]

This post from Laura reminded me to share how we eat liver around here. Recently we started making our own "Paleo paté", with very few ingredients and lots of fat. It is really cheap if you make it with porc liver (veal liver is super expensive here in France), and it has become one of our favorite Paleo snacks. You can make a big batch and process it, so that you have cans for future consumption as well.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 porc(veal) liver (or a mixture of liver, chest and throat - we get it from the butcher, already ground, and it's super cheap)
10 slices of smoked bacon
2 cups lard
1 tbs salt
1 tsp pepper
A pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tsp thym
1tsp dried garlic
1 tsp dried onion
(you can modify the quantity of spices according to your personal taste)

Instructions:

1. If you have only liver, cut it into small pieces and let it marinade in vinegar, olive oil and salt for at least 1 hour. Rince. (This is in order to soften the liver and make your paté have a more creamy consistency)

If you have a mix of liver, throat and chest, ignore this step. The mix is better if you don't like how liver tastes. But both are yummy if you do!

2. Pour the lard into a big pot, and add the liver or mix. Add the slices of bacon. Cook at low temperature for about 1 hour. Let if cool down.

3. Mix in a food processor until you have a paste, or a bit less if you prefer your liver to have solid pieces of meat. Add the spices to the paste. Taste and make adjustments with your spices according on your personal taste.

4. Refrigerate, or process for storage (all tips about the latter are posted in the Preparedness thread.


Here are a few pictures of our paté. Einstein lives in our kitchen, and likes to find himself new places to hang around at all the time. When we made the paté, he just couldn't resit it. ;)

Here he is congratulating us for the result:

Here he is tasting our dehydrated meat crackers with paté:

and here is when he just went crazy and decided to test gravity in the paté (or that's what he said):

:P

It's a wonderful recipe and looking to try again with chicken and lamb liver. I was hoping to try canning some as well but not sure how to 'process it'. Tried the link for preparedness thread above, but it didn't work for me (tried searching as well but haven't been able to find it...) Any help with the canning of this pate? My concern is that I wanted some now and some canned, so should I partially cook the whole mixture and take out the portion I want to can before it's all done? I suppose I could keep cooking the other part then purée and store as usual. Or should I cook the whole thing as usual and then pack what I want to can into jars and pressure cook for 90 minutes(overcooking risk?)???
Any help is appreciated to get going in the right direction here... thx

 

[Stoneboss]

Incidentally, I just made another batch of pate using this recipe last night. It turned out very good, as usual. I was wondering the same thing about how to can pate and found this thread: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,28712.msg370184.html#msg370184

I was also thinking that if I process it after it was cooked that it might over cook, so I'm going to try canning it raw as suggested in that thread.

 

[sbeaudry]

Incidentally, I just made another batch of pate using this recipe last night. It turned out very good, as usual. I was wondering the same thing about how to can pate and found this thread: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,28712.msg370184.html#msg370184

I was also thinking that if I process it after it was cooked that it might over cook, so I'm going to try canning it raw as suggested in that thread.

I'm interested in what the texture/consistency differences would be between blending the meats before cooking vs. after. I'm making a batch now and am planning on taking a portion and canning it precooked, but i'd think it'd be easier to can it all raw if the consistency is good.

 

[Chu]

Well, we've tried both methods: raw packing and not.

Even if the mix is finely ground when it's raw, you won't get that creamy consistency you get when you can it after cooking and blending it. I think that another reason why it's better to cook it beforehand is that the liver won't harden, if you cook it very slowly before processing.

Making sure that the mix is extra fatty is a good thing before canning. The rest of the process is the same as for any meat product, as described in the thread you linked to.

Anyway, I suggest you try both, and see which kind you like better. If you don't care too much about the consistency, raw packing sure makes it easier (you save yourselves a lot of time and don't have to clean up all the pans later). And you can always blend and add a bit of lard once you open it.

Let us know how it goes after you've tried both methods! :)

 

[sbeaudry]

Well, we've tried both methods: raw packing and not.

Even if the mix is finely ground when it's raw, you won't get that creamy consistency you get when you can it after cooking and blending it. I think that another reason why it's better to cook it beforehand is that the liver won't harden, if you cook it very slowly before processing.

Making sure that the mix is extra fatty is a good thing before canning. The rest of the process is the same as for any meat product, as described in the thread you linked to.

Anyway, I suggest you try both, and see which kind you like better. If you don't care too much about the consistency, raw packing sure makes it easier (you save yourselves a lot of time and don't have to clean up all the pans later). And you can always blend and add a bit of lard once you open it.

Let us know how it goes after you've tried both methods! :)

Here's the long and short of my attempt of pate by blending the mix and canning without precooking the mixture. The immersion blender stopped working, apparently overheated. I tried to cool the immersion blender down and get it to blend, but it did not want to participate for long. I moved the mix to a traditional blender, that too overheated ... In the end, what I was left with was a haphazard blend (still fairly large chunks of lamb liver). I am now attempting to can using what blend I have (not really smooth or consistent, still some large chunks). I've moved my 'mix' to the jars and begun the canning process, fingers crossed. I'm currently of the opinion that it may be easier to heat first rather than attempt to blend before cooking; FOTCM regional meeting tomorrow, so we'll see what the rest of the group thinks... I'll report back, but feeling rather defeated currently. OY

 

[sbeaudry]

So, although I'm fairly sure I've thoroughly screwed up the texture, it smells delicious!
Cheers!

 

[Chu]

Uh oh, sbeadry! What an adventure! I'm sure the result will still taste alright. Next time if you aren't going to cook it before canning, you should ask your butcher to grind the mix up for you. That's what we do, and it doesn't cost any extra.

 

[sbeaudry]

Uh oh, sbeadry! What an adventure! I'm sure the result will still taste alright. Next time if you aren't going to cook it before canning, you should ask your butcher to grind the mix up for you. That's what we do, and it doesn't cost any extra.

I think it was the bacon that did in the blender. Thankfully, the end result was still delicious. :D

As for the butcher, you may have a better one than I do, but I could have chopped my ingredients better before blending and that action may have spared the blender. ;)

Hmmm... now to figure out what to do with my lamb kidneys and heart... Any suggestions?