Go to the Recipe: Chicken Liver Pâté
Is the pink salt important for food safety reasons or just for a nicer color? Since it's not available in th eu could i just replace all the salt with german curing salt which has about 1/6th the amount of sodiumnitrate that pink salt does? Also how long will it keep in the fridge? And what about freezing, since 1000g is a lot of pate.
Food safety, colour and flavour. German curing salt is about 0.6% Sodium Nitrite so I would add together the salt and pink salt quantities in the recipe and substitute the total (17.5g) with your curing salt.
Incidentally Pink Salt IS available in the EU, just look up "Prague Powder No.1". Here's one site that stocks it: http://www.homecuring.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=82
You can just use 6x the amount of the EU pink salt. Make sure you reduce the amount of normal salt by about as much and you should be fine.
When I made yogurt in mason jars kept in a heated water bath, I thought I was having issues with developing rust on the lids and rings. Have you had any issues with rusting the lids?
Is this recipe soft enough that it could be piped once it's cold?
We have not had a problem with rust unless the lid is old and worn at which point we would recommend replacing them anyway.
Yes you should be able to pipe it, however you may need to shear it again as it tends to set up when it cooks.
In this application the curing salt was to enhance the color. We have updated the recipe to read Insta Cure No. 1 which is the correct salt and contains 6.25% sodium nitrite(NaNO2).
How long do they keep for in the jars?
I would say up to one week in fridge.
What is the reasoning of straining out the bacon/allium mixture? It is a textural thing after it is cooked?
Is it possible to cook it in sous vide bags instead of the jars and to transfer it in silicone molds just before chilling?
This recipe was precise and perfect came out exactly as specified. This recipe yields 5-8oz jars
What about purging the livers in milk? Is there a downside to doing this?
So just putting it back cold in the blender to shear it before puting it in the piping bag should do the trick?
We are only using the bacon/alliums for flavor. We strain them out to achieve better texture in the end product.
While you can cook in a bag, it will set up in the bag. This means you won't be able to cast into molds after. You could probably cook in a bag, then blend then cast into molds, but I am not sure it would set up properly at that point.
I can not think of any reasons this would cause negative effects. Though we haven't found it to be a necessary step either.
Yes, that will definitely work.
You use three kind of alcoholic drinks. Can I replace them all by one kind? If yes, which would you suggest? I don't drink alcohol, so I don't feel like buying three different bottles for one recipe.
Use either madeira or port. They should be equally delicious and the brandy just doesn't have the sweetness and depth of flavor that the other two have.
It's obligatory to use the mason jars?
No, you could cook it in a pouch. After it is done cooking, blend and transfer to your serving vessel.
Could you substitute an equal amount of duck liver for this recipe?
Yes. Not foie livers however.
This recipe looks yummy, but it relies on very traditional boozes that are extremely expensive for me to get (I live in Norway and there is a steep duty and tax on alcohol, especially of that alcohol level). What do the boozes provide in terms of flavor (after cooking) and are there any ingenious ideas you might have on alternatives? This would mean the difference for me making this for special occasions vs. frequently. Thanks
One other question...you can buy pates that are shelf stable. I presume all of these go though a canning process at high temperature (pressure cooker temps). Does anyone have an idea how that would affect this recipe?
One small thing is that with 2.5 grams of instacure, you end up with close to 300 ppm (meat weight), Permitted use in Canada is 200 ppm max, not sure in the US. 1.5 grams would correct that.
Great detailed recipe. Thanks Chefstep.
You could try using malaga virgen, it is a lower alcohol wine, (or Mosto - Must) These are unfermented grape juices and shouldn't cost more than a few euro, maybe a touch of px or muscatel vinegar to balance the acid, just a thought
If I wanted to add heavy cream to the mixture, would I reduce the amount of the other liquid by equal parts?
Also, what difference would it make if I sautéed the butter with the onion and bacon mixture rather than add clarified butter into the blender?
Do you guys sell pre grinded "sweet spice"? or can we replace this with just one or two simple ground spices, some of them in the recipe are hard to find!
How would the recipe be affected if I were to use regular butter?
Is it possible to substitute the butter for oil or another type of fat and so how much fat should it be?
Just a warning for those, who regularly put little salt into their cooking. I added 20% less salt than the recipe suggested and it still came out pretty salty.
Also, I've only been able to collect 150g of liquid instead of 250g, but I substituted with chicken stock and black truffle oil. The result was delicious!
Really that's all? Even unopened after the SV cook, and with the addition of NaNO2? I would think longer.
It should work, as long as you were able to get it to emulsify. Give it a shot and let us know how it works.
Im not sure. My guess is it would negatively affect the texture.
We do not sell sweet spice, but you can feel free to produce your own proprietary spice blend
It would likely be just a little softer is all.
Yes, although I can't say for sure what the final texture will be.
What if I wanted to use foie gras? Would I need to reduce just the butter because of the fat content in the liver, or would that generally be a waste of foie gras?
Help here: I bought Sodium Erythorbate and Sodium Nitrate in my local store (Anatol Spices for Montréalers).
That's what they gave me when I asked for curing salt for meat. Anyways, the guy was not able to tell me if it was pure NaNO3 or mix. It looks pure to me.
Any body knows about Erythorbate ?
Finally, can I omit pink salt in this recipe since it's cooked 68°C for 60-90min ?
Excited to make this!! Thoughts on using Ghee?
Those final shots made me watch this video a 4th time now... drizzling the honey and salt on it... muahhhhrrrr
Ghee is really just clarified butter, the primary difference being that instead of skimming constantly, you allow the milk solids to fall to the bottom of the pan and "toast" giving it that nutty brown butter flavor. I don't see that tasty brown butter flavor being a negative in this pate!
The pink salt is for color in this dish. You can omit it.
i made this today and it is awesome. pictures to follow...
note: make sure to properly close the jars from fingertip to really tight once their are all cooled down...
Hi Very basic question: Is 200gr of eggs is to be weighed out of the shell or with the shell ?
I noticed this lack of clarity also. I weighed 3 eggs = 220g. I could not get 4 eggs out of the dozen I had to = 200g in the shell. Out of the shells, the 3 eggs weighed 175g. Since the recipe calls for another yolk, and my liquid yield was @120g not 250g I decided to toss another whole egg in. The taste and texture is excellent. I couldn't get the half-pint jars up to temp though. They stalled at anywhere from 60-65C depending on the jar. So I let them bathe for 6 hours for insurance. Potted meat makes me nervous. Goes well with rye crisps and an acidic Port wine.
Just had a blast making the pate!!!! One note of caution is to be quick with the 250g of "liquid above" as it evaporates fast and I had to make another batch of liquid to reach 250g - Tastes amazing and fun to make thank you ChefSteps....
This looks great. Thanks for the pictures.
In my experience, "large" eggs in the US are often 57 to 62 grams, and "medium" eggs are often 48 to 55 grams.
Froggie & Foster: In a cooking class, our chef specified 60-gram eggs (weighed in shell). But the bulk eggs bought by commercial kitchens are often smaller. ln my experience, large eggs in US grocery stores are typically 57 to 63 grams, and medium eggs are often 48 to 53 grams. Close to USDA standards. So 4 medium eggs would allow for 200 grams if weighed with shell. But I can't say whether Chefsteps includes the shell when weighing.
Made this with 1:1 Fernet Branca and Cocchi Americano instead of the three original liquors, turned out great.
Interesting. How does the bitterness of the Fernet fair?
Made some for the Holiday, it was a mega hit!
We were fresh out of white port, replaced it with white vermouth + tiny squirt of agave syrup. The only issue I had was cooking time - We made in 16oz containers, it ended up taking just over 3 hours @ 68°C.
The flavor doesn't come through as much as I had expected, and I wouldn't consider the resulting product bitter at all.
Had the exact same experience with the liquid. Need to be careful not to boil too much otherwise there's not enough liquid left. I actually supplemented with chicken stock. The result was amazing either way.
Great bit of info! I make "ghee" quite often but did not know (until just now) the difference between ghee and clarified butter. I agree...ghee would heighten the flavor, especially next to the bacon!!! YUMM...
I'd think that's longer too. You've created a vacuum and added nitrite to protect against botulism.
As much as theoretically you're right but clarified butter doesn't even come close to Ghee, the flavour is completely different, don't know if it's the way the butter is processed, growing up we used to make ghee at home all the time, just by clarifying regular butter(even with toasting) you don't get GHEE(and I understand it is clarified butter)
I came up 50ml short and supplemented with sauterne. No issues.
Does this recipe work if you were to use cryovac bags rather than jars?
