Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Country Lunch

Christine's sister & Mike visited us on their way back to the city Monday which gave me an excuse to make pâté. I had bought some pork shoulder, fatback, and chicken livers in anticipation, so I ground them all together (after browning the livers and deglazing with Armagnac) with lots of herbs, spices, and garlic. I also added a couple of eggs and a spill of flour for a panade, and green peppercorns for texture and bite. Once mixed and packed into a pyrex dish, I vacuum-sealed it and dropped it into a 71˚C (160˚F) water bath for about 6 hours, then refrigerated it until it was time to eat. Served with a toasted baguette, mesclun salad, cornichons, good mustard, and garlic-stuffed olives, it made for an excellent lunch on the first plausibly springy day of the year. (Though now it's snowing and dropping back into the teens.)

4 comments:

cookiecrumb said...

Uh oh. If that's what you have to do to make pate, I'm in trouble. No sous vide, no sir. (We're sampling it this afternoon; if I don't blog for a few days, call my mom.)

Peter, I tagged you at I'm Mad and I Eat.

peter said...

You don't need to sous-vide it; a bain-marie in the oven has worked for centuries. It's just more of a pain.

Heather said...

Is there anything better than a nice pork pâte with cornichons? I didn't think so.

Saw your blog at I'm Mad and I Eat, thought I'd say hi. "Hi."

peter said...

Hi Heather, and welcome.

No, there isn't. Especially on a sunny day. I'll be by soon to check your spot out.