Go to the Recipe: Imfoiessible Pâté (Vegan Foie Gras Mousse)
Hello Keith, not a dumb question at all!
Many "potted" pâté that have a fat cap on them for example chicken liver or foie have sodium nitrite added. Sodium nitrite is most commonly used when these variables are present: - Meat matrices
- Heme + low oxygen + protein exist
Long story short because sodium nitrite isn't in this recipe the shelf life becomes more similar to that of any other purée. But due to this recipe having more salt than a normal purée and the fat cap these factors are slowed down extending the life span to 3 weeks.
These are the factors that reduce it's storage:
This may be a dumb question but if it’s stored in the fridge and has the fat cap on, why only good for 3 weeks?
Can anyone elaborate on the cognac to use? They show a henessy VS in the picture but with that much of the cognac not reduced in the final product I would think that would be a bit too sharp and a VSOP cognac would be better?
I love this recipe more than I can tell you. As a meat eater I personally prefer it to meat based pate.
can I use a breville food processor instead of a blender OR a nutribullet?
Variation that also uses a Ninja CREAMi:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ninjacreami/comments/1l13bln/faux_gras_imfoiessible_pate/
Ive made this several times and buying the gellan gums is worth it (also used in vegan cheesecake). In fact, it seems like anytime vegan food comes up with my friends, someone will mention how much they love this dish or how it is better than the pate at some new restaurant in town. Can't wait to see the updated recipe!
Try other ChefSteps recipes that call for Gellan, of course! 😉
Hello everybody, instead of gellan gum it is possible to use agar-agar? In wich quantity? I read comments. but did not found an answer
When do we get the 2.0 version???
Would we use the same amount of Agar Agar as the hydrocolloids?
I had the same I'd-like-to-make-this-but-what-the-heck-am-I-going-to-do-with-$50-worth-of-gellans-that-I'd-only-use-once thought. Would have been nice IMO to put your info up in the recipe that it can be substituted or omitted. I'm sure that many more people would be willing to give this recipe a go then.
Agar Agar is the best sub, but you would get a great consistency to spread on a sandwich if you just omit it altogether.
Any thoughts on using different hydrocolloids for this? Just to make it spreadable for a bahn mi? I don't want to drop $50 on the gellans as I don't really have other uses for them, and I'm on a budget. Xanthan gum is probably not going to cut it, but what about gelatin? I don't care if it's vegan. Not trying to disrespect the recipe, but cooking for people who wouldn't know a Bordeaux from a Claret so consistency isn't paramount.
This was very good and such a nice spread to offer to my vegan friends and family members.
I also made this recipe with 5-spice and agree it was fantastic! This is a pretty robust recipe.
I made this for the first time yesterday and it is stupendous. I didn't have the raw spices for the ChefSteps Sweet Spice recipe on hand so I used 5-spice and a couple dashes of orange bitters and vanilla extract instead. Still amazing. I'm sure it's even better as-written. I can't imagine going back to real foie gras pate, even as an omnivore.
Make-ahead and storage
Pâté can be made in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week. If the pâté is covered with a fat cap and left undisturbed, it will keep for 2 to 3 weeks.
How long does this keep in the fridge?
Couple of notes that others may find useful:
- I thought I had a high-speed blender that would heat up the mixture in a similar fashion to the accompanying video, but it was taking a very long time (I doubled the batch, not sure how much that would have slowed things down). So once happy with consistency and dispersion of gums, I added back into a clean pan to bring upto temp before adding to jars.
- I tried the mix pre-blending and it was below average. Don't be disheartened, the blended cashews bring everything together really well.
- I initially thought the spice mix was too heavy on the star anise, but everyone loves it and it mellows once cooled.
- They weren't joking about moving quickly once the gums have reached temperature. Move fast to get a nice clean set in the jars.
I'd love to see some more recipes using this similar base, ie a strong mushroom flavour.
I didn't make with the spice blend because I was short a main ingredient (vanilla which I thought for sure I had) so I used Burlap & Barrel 5 spice instead. It was fantastic!
Butter is usually more delicious any day of the week. It will change the flavor most definitely. But, the recipe doesn't need to be more delicious.
I'm not concerned about this being vegan, but it does need to be vegetarian, so would butter instead of coconut oil be even more delicious?
After 24 hours in the fridge, it definitely was more minerally and closer to foie gras. What a recipe!
i work in food product development and a customer wanted to add a vitamin/mineral premix at 3.5% to a bar filling for nutrition facts panel appeal and i thought it tasted like liver. would be interesting to see if adding something like that to this would enhance the illusion. Although doubt normal people can get access to raw vitamin/minerals
Just made this. Currently cooling uncovered in the fridge.
Wow! On first taste it’s really incredible. I can’t say I’ve had a foie gras terrine…ever…and it’s been years since I’ve had foie gras, but this is incredible whatever you want to call it. The recipe worked out perfectly too. What a great addition to the holiday charcuterie board. Very excited for tomorrow’s party and Christmas.
Omission is the better move. I do not know a sub. And the high really adds texture and the ability to be able to remove the pate from a mold or sliced like a terrine. When casting into a jar you can get away with just the low-acyl.
Hey Matthew, I’m also having difficulties tracking down the high-acyl gum (found the low-acyl). Is there anything is worth using as a substitute the high-acyl? I saw someone using agar agar and xanthan with success. I’m happy to just omit the high-acyl if you think it’ll be fine. Thanks for your help! Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Matthew, thanks so much for replying and for the advice! I'll try that
Hello Nela, xanthan is not a substitute for the high-acyl. If you cannot source then just omit. What the gums do is offer the best texture and low-acyl is a must have here. What high-acyl adds is stability and elasticity along with texture.
Hello there! I would really love to try this recipe, however, I just cannot find high-acyl gellan gum anywhere. I tried online and it seems this is impossible to buy where I live (unless I pay 100$ shipping, which is crazy for an item that costs 1/4 of the shipping price). I was able to find the low-acyl gellan gum tho. Is there any alternative to high-acyl gellan gum in this recipe? Would xanthan gum work? I really hope there's a solution Thanks!
Hello Tina Engel, we do recommend purchasing a small postage scale for these exact measures but I get it. Such a small amount is still difficult to weigh with one of those scales.
1.5 g of low-acyl gellan is one packed 1/2 teaspoon
0.4 g of high-acyl gellan is an 1/8 teaspoon
1.5 g of ground black pepper is a shy 1/2 teaspoon
I need a response to this request please and thank you. I do not have a kitchen balance that accurately weighs small amounts of powders. Please could you either give me a rule of thumb (what does a tsp of powder weigh?) - or - could you use volume measurements for things like 1.5 g of black pepper or the two gums. I winged it and clearly added too much gel. The product is weigh too thick. I would really love to try this again, but I need a better idea of how much of the gums to add.
Raw sunflower seeds.
Hi Chuck. I have eaten this after 3 weeks and noticed no change in quality.
I made this today, and it turned out great. I'm wondering - if in jars and covered with fat, would it last longer than a week refrigerated? Thanks.
Any alternatives for the cashews? Nut allergy I thought about using soy because it is quite neutral
Grant probably had a few drinks by this point lol.
Spice blend was perfect for me, I wouldn't change anything.
No gums at all?
I would bet some one is already trying to work out how to make it a product to sell in stores too.
Now that this recipe is starting to go viral, let's see who sees it first on a restaurant menu.
I made it for Thanksgiving and it is actually pretty impressive (and I'm a foie gras addict).
2g of molasses added for irony taste. Seems simple enough. Looking forward to hearing how yours goes!
A variation inspired by ChefSteps' recipe from Sauce Stache on YouTube:
"The original chef steps video didnt include any elements that would add an irony taste which I felt was important, and I also wanted to addd a little more savory element to it as well."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AsyZNeSMnI
Fair enough! Thanks for the response.
I too am allergic to cashews and I’m not a vegan so, here’s what I did.
I swapped the cashews for 3 parts hazelnuts 1 part walnuts by weight.
I swapped the coconut oil for softened butter. I used 1/2 the volume of the other ingredients by weight.
I completely omitted the gums.
I sautéd all of the ingredients, blended them with the soaked nuts, then let everything cool to room temp. After cooling I used the immersion blender to bring the softened butter and nut emulsion together. It has chilled and set up nicely in my fridge and is both delicious and spreadable!
Taste is all subjective preferences and will change with each individual. The spice blend is heavy on star anise but it is designed this way. The recipe above is also using an amount of spice that is at a maximum amount. If anything you can reduce by half with great results.
Going to be doing this in the coming weeks. Anyone have any feedback on the spice blend? Commenta tend to say it’s heavy with the star anise. That come through a lot here? Should I think about cutting the star anise amount in half?
Can this be frozen?
Sauternes was mentioned also ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ some confusing info in that YouTube video
Hi James, this is the recipe they ate and tasted, as developed by Matthew. He made that batch that we sent with Grant to NYC. Exactly as written here.
Thanks for sharing! I love it when people start to recognize Matthew's talent.
Modernist Pantry just posted a video on this recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWZYmIwVOA
On the video where influencers try the pate Grant mentions using soy sauce, red palm fat, macadamias and walnuts in this recipe. Tomato paste for colour also isn't mentioned, possibly replaced by the red palm fat. I know I can just experiment and substitute the nuts and oil in this recipe accordingly, but it's a lot of effort considering I am only one man and can only eat so much pate. I'd be curious to get some info from the source about what difference it makes. It sounds like the recipe being talked about in the influencers video is more complex and maybe better. I need answers!
So why did Grant say "a lot of macadamia and walnut" on the video just posted on YouTube, but this recipe just says cashews?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9z7sM6EITo
Hey Matt, really cool of you to be so attentive in the comments here!
Did you test thickening with carrageenan (kappa or lambda)? If so, did it turn out well and what would the substitution be? Thanks!!
