Pate en Croute served with mustard, cornichons and clementines
What if you could cook your meat in it’s own little oven?! In medieval times, meat was prepared with nuts and dried fruit, protected with a crust and placed directly into the hearth. Eventually, the dough was improved for consumption. And today, Pâté en Croûte is having a revival.
Thanks to McCullough at the Chicago Meat Collective for teaching me how to make this last October. It’s a bit of a labor of love, but I’ve been having so much fun with it! An intricate recipe leaves plenty of room for innovation. I’m eventually going to have to return her specialty hinged terrine pan though…
The specific details are all down below, but this week we’ll walk through an overview of the recipe itself.
Template for Pâté en Croûte
This recipe starts with a poster board, ruler, pencil and scissors. And your hinged terrine pan.
Basically, you need to cut out a template for measuring your dough later. Take apart the pan, line it up, add an inch all around and you’re good.
Posterboard template with terrine pan dissembled and assembled
I started with a half posterboard size (14’x22″) and found it just short. Notice at the top that I had to use some poster board trim and tape it back on for sufficient length. All good.
Making the crust
I used a stand mixer to make the crust. Dry ingredients first, adding wet slowly, until a sticky, shaggy dough was formed. On a clean, floured surface, form it into a rectangle and wrap it up to rest in the fridge.
I would experiment with a soured dough in the future; however, I wanted to stick with the neutral brioche-like dough from my original recipe. Among other modifications, I used a sprouted wheat flour to improve digestibility without the souring process.
The dough needs to rest for at least a couple of hours. I suggest making the template and dough a day in advance and resting overnight.
Prep the panade
A panade is a thickener used to bind ingredients. If you’ve made meatballs from scratch, you’ve probably made one before – in the form or breadcrumbs soaked in milk. In this case, use flour, eggs and cream. Panades increase moisture and flavor in the meat.
Of course, it’s also essential from the perspective of nutrient-density. A good high-fat binder improves absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins we’ll find in our base of pastured ground pork (especially vitamin D) and liver (vitamins A and K).
When you are getting ready to assemble your farce, prep the panade first and reserve in the refrigerator so it is ready on hand.
Making the pâté, or farce
Synonymous with forcemeat, the original meaning of farce – still used in culinary traditions – is meat stuffing. Our farce is seasoned with aromatics, herbs and spices. I threw out my pink salt years ago, so I omitted it as usual.
After mixing in the panade, a clump of farce will stick to the palm of your hand upside-down.
Next, take a spoonful, wrap it in plastic wrap and poach it for a few minutes until it’s firm. Let it cool a bit, remembering it’s still warmer (saltier) than it will be when served. Yep, this step always seems like a hassle. Do it anyway!
Clockwise from top left: ingredients for farce, the panade, testing the farce for stickiness, and poaching a sample
That said, sticking with the salt measurement by weight helps. Also, you can’t remove salt, so if you think it needs more – go easy and mix well, you can always add a little more after another taste test.
Once you are satisfied with your farce, carry on!
Make and fill your pie
Here’s where we really start to have some fun.
Use that handy template to cut your dough and fill your buttered terrine pan. Keep everything chilled!
Cutting the dough, folding it, and filling the pan
Filling your pie should be even and thoughtful, especially at the corners.
Filling Pate en Croute with farce
Only bake until 135 F as the farce will rise another 20 degrees after your remove it from the oven. Turns out the dough is a good insulator! Cool sufficiently, remove chimneys, and refrigerate overnight.
Pate en Croute ready (with egg yolk wash) and into the oven
Finally, use vents to pour prepared gelatinous broth into your terrine. The aspic should fill gaps on the sides and top of the farce.
Use chimney holes to add aspic to Pate en Croute
An alternate option is to separate the livers, season them, and add them as a aesthetic layer to your pie.
Pate en Croute with layer of seasoned liver embedded in pie
Serving Pâté en Croûte
Pour something sparkling and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Pâté en Croûte with ground liver and pork in a brioche dough
Notes
This recipe could be made in as short as about 12 hours - a day of timed work for an evening affair - but it's safest and easiest to split the work over a few days. Prepare your template and dough. Rest for a couple of hours or overnight. Prepare your panade and farce to make your pie, then bake. Rest to cool completely, three hours minimum or overnight. Prepare your aspic and pour into your pie. Cool until aspic is set, two hours or overnight. You will be rewarded with a beautiful and well-loved pie.
Ingredients
For the template
- 13.75" specialty hinged terrine pan
- poster board
- ruler
- pencil
- scissors
For the croûte
- 750g sprouted spelt flour
- 20g salt
- 165g unsalted butter, cubed (and cold)
- 2 eggs
- 16 oz whole milk
- 10ml apple cider vinegar
For the panade
- 45g sprouted spelt flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 oz cream
For the pâté (farce)
- 1 T unsalted butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/4 c packed parsley leaves
- 1/8 c port wine or cognac, brandy, other sweet wine (optional)
- 1lb 12 oz ground pork (70/30), medium ground
- 1lb 12 oz ground pork (70/30), coarse ground
- 1 lb pork liver, medium ground
- 34g salt
- 6g pepper
- 4g nutmeg
- 4 oz unsalted pistachios (raw or roasted)
For the pie
- unsalted butter
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 t water
For the aspic
- 1 3/4 c cold chicken broth
- 1/4 c cognac
- 2 1/4 t gelatin
- few thick sprigs of thyme
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
For the template
- Lay the paperboard on your countertop. Unhinge your terrine pan and lay the base in the middle of your board, with the two pan sides on either side of the base. Using the ruler, you will add an inch to the dimensions of the pan to make your template.
- First, measure the width of the three pieces together, then add an inch to the top and bottom - mark the corners and connect the marks with your ruler. Next, measure the long end of the pan, add an inch to the left and right sides at the corners and connect the marks with your ruler. Finally, to capture the depth of the pan, measure the center piece, plus the side dimension of either the top or bottom piece. Do this on both the right and left hand sides, then add another inch to this length on both the right and left sides. Mark this line.
- For the 13.75 x 3.125 x 3 inch mold, your template will be 11 inches from top to bottom and 18.8 inches from right to left, at the widest part. Using scissors, cut out your template and reserve.
For the croûte
- Keep cubed butter chilled until needed. If it's been out, place in freezer for a few minutes. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, sift together the flour and salt. Add the cubed butter and mix on medium speed until the butter pieces are at least the size of peas and ideally as small as wild blueberries and incorporated well. (Without a stand mixer, this can be done by pulsing in a food processor or (the way I did it long before I could afford my own kitchen appliances) with two butter knives, cutting down pieces of butter in the flour continuously until well incorporated.)
- Whisk together the eggs, milk and cider vinegar. While running the stand mixer on medium, slowly pour in this liquid mixture. Mix until you have a sticky, shaggy dough. (Without a stand mixer, this can be done by hand with a spatula.)
- Place dough on a clean, floured surface and bundle it into a neat rectangle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight while it rests.
For the panade
- In a small bowl, measure your sprouted flour. Make a well in the middle of the flour, pushing it the sides of the bowl. In that well or space, crack your eggs and pour in your cream. Using a fork, mix your eggs with the cream keeping to the middle there. As you mix, you will collect flour from the sides of the bowl. Keep mixing with your fork, collecting flour into the cream and egg mixture until it is all incorporated and smooth. Reserve.
For the pâté (farce)
- Heat butter in a pan on medium heat. When butter stops foaming, add shallots and turn heat to medium-low. Meanwhile, chop the parsley. When onion and garlic are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes later, add your parsley. Wilt your parsley. Optionally, deglaze your pan with 1/8 cup port or other sweet wine and cook down until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer the mixture onto a large plate, well-spread out, and refrigerate to cool while you mix your meats (or place on your balcony if it's considerably less than 40 degrees out ;).
- In a large bowl, combine your ground meats, ground liver, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mix spices evenly into the meat. Add your cooled shallot, garlic and parsley mixture and combine into the meat.
- Add about half of your panade mixture to the meat. Mix this into your farce until it is sticky like dough. A potato-sized handful of farce should stick to your palm with your hand facing down. Only add remaining panade if needed to create a sticky farce. Do not overmix. If at any point, meat stops feeling cold, rest in the fridge for 20 minutes before continuing.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Take a small meatball of meat, wrap in plastic wrap and twist at the top to tie it off. Poach this in boiling water until it is firm to the touch and has greyed, about 5 minutes. Remove the sample, unwrap and let it cool for a few minutes. Taste for salt and adjust seasoning if necessary. If you do add salt, do so sparingly(!) and re-sample your farce.
For the pie
- Preheat your oven to 365 F, using convection setting if available.
- Reassemble your terrine pan and generously butter the pan. Place in the freezer while you prepare your dough.
- Flour a large, clean work surface and roll out your rested dough into a large rectangle - 22 by 16 inches long. Have your template handy so you can estimate your dimensions (where your template provides left to right dimensions, but top to bottom you will need additional space to cut a cover piece as well. Roll your dough, keeping an even thickness of about 1/8 inch.
- Line up your template, centered toward the bottom edge. Use a sharp knife to cut around the template. Remove the template, lightly flour the dough, and fold in the long sides - one of top of the other, then the short sides. Then fold the entire piece in half lengthwise.
- Place the folded dough into your cooled terrine pan. Unfold it along the bottom, and unfold the sides, letting them hang over the edge. Smooth the dough inside the pan and press well, but lightly, into the corners and edges to create a good tight seal. Return the dough-lined pan to the freezer for another five minutes.
- Using the long edge of your template, cut a cover piece from your remaining dough. Punch two to five chimney holes, at even distances, using a small cup, pastry tip or sharp knife.
- Take your pan out of the freezer and your farce, or stuffing, from the fridge. Pack your farce into the lined pan. Fill the bottom evenly and press the farce into the corners - going slowly - until your pan is full and you have no meat left. Put the lid piece in place, pressing lightly on the edges to seal. Lightly score the lid to decorate. Trim overhanging dough and crimp your edges to seal them (if the dough is too soft to do this well, freeze for a few minutes first). After you have crimped your edges, place the terrine in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk your egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water. Prepare dough covers for your chimney holes - cutting a larger pattern, with the hole in the middle, to place over the hole for reinforcing it. Reserve.
- For as many chimney holes as you have, take a finger-length square of aluminum foil and wrap it around a sharpie to create your chimneys. Reserve.
- Remove the terrine from the freezer and brush the lid and edges with egg yolk mixture. Place your chimney hole covers over the holes and brush these with egg yolk mixture as well. Place your foil chimneys into the holes, lightly pushing down into the meat.
- Place the terrine pan on a baking sheet and place on the center rack. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the crust is deeply browned and the meat registers 135 F on a thermometer. (The meat will rise another 20 degrees in temperature before it cools.) If your crust is browning too quickly compared to the temperature of your meat, you can take a sheet of aluminum foil, with chimney holes cut out at the appropriate spaces to drape loosely over your terrine pan. Close this foil house over your pan in the oven to avoid burning your dough if necessary.
- Allow to cool for at least three hours at room temperature, remove chimneys and refrigerate overnight.
For the aspic
- Add cold chicken broth and cognac to pot. Add gelatin and let rest for 5 minutes while gelatin blooms. Add thyme and bay leaves to pot and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from the heat. Stir for a moment to mix in any gelatin that may have settled, then strain the thyme and bay leave, and leave to cool to room temperature.
- When the chicken broth mixture is cool, but still pourable - pour aspic into the chimney holes until the aspic rises just to fill the holes. Watch the side holes carefully and don't let it overflow!
- Chill overnight again, or until the aspic is set.
To serve
- Gently unhinge your pan and carefully lift the pâté out while removing the sides of the pan. Slice in one inch slices.
- Serve at room temperature with a combination of dijon mustard, cornichons, clementines, crusty bread and/or something sparkling!
[…] Recipe suggestion for terrine en croute: Pâté en Croûte with ground liver and pork in a brioche dough by Janine Farzin on her Offally Good… […]