Go to the Recipe: Chicken Liver Pâté
I don't have prague powder. Can I make this without it?
What size mesh strainer did you use for this recipe? What is the finest mesh strainer (30? 60? 150?) you can use to pass uncooked pate' through? Do you think smoother results can be achieved with a finer mesh? Great recipe by the way. I've made it several times. Thanks!
I did both as suggested and it worked great.
Yes, I sous vide them in bags and chilled them in an ice bath and cooler overnight. Then I was trying to make them a bit thicker with the addition of more butter. But now I see where my error was. Thanks for answering my question. I really appreciate it.
Hey Norman. I think there are a few different ways you can pursue a thicker texture. 1. Omit the whites from the eggs. Sub the 200 g whole eggs with just 80 g egg yolks (4 ea yolks). Whats interesting about eggs in set custards is though they setup well and create a "gel" of sorts when they are blended the network is disrupted and they thin out. 2. Switch to using clarified butter and up the total amount to 225 g .
Both of these options should work well. I am curious though about both of your attempts that split. Were you adding tempered butter and clarified butter after the yolks were cooked sous vide?
Hello! I made this and wanted to know what I could add to make it set a bit stiffer? more butter? more liver? I made it using a bag and tried to blend it and it turned out more loose than I would like. I tried adding tempered butter and it split. I tried the recipe again and blended in clarified butter (both the liver mix and the butter at around 120deg.) and same thing happened, it split. Thanks
Hello Marcin. Apologies if I'm not getting back to you in time. If you're wanting to cook in bags and transfer to jars I recommend transferring the hot 'base' to a blender and blitz until smooth before casting into jars. When blending try and avoid incorporating too much air so blend on low. The pockets of air can cause the pate to oxidize in the jars after a day or two.
I have non-pork non dairy friends, and this works well: Substitute turkey bacon for the smoky flavor and duck fat (you can even substitute duck fat for the butter)
I've head great luck using Armagnac, Calvados and even Rye Whiskey & Red wine in place of the alcohols called for. The key is to use something with some fruit flavor to it.
Hi chefs. Is it possible to cook it in bags and then transfer hot mixture into jars and chill?
I make pate that isn't as sexy as this one and use dry sherry and / or cognac. I also have a friendly, small town, local bar that has served older men for over 75 years. They'll sell me a small amount of booze for recipes so I don't have to buy an entire bottle. Depending on where you are and take-out alcohol law compliance or not, a similar resource could be helpful. I often even trade in food but they are friends of the family and will even deliver.
Can i just cook it in a sous vide bag instead of jars?
yes, it can; you just might get a little more oxidization if you do not fully seal it and get the air out.
Can this be made in a bag instead of a mason jar?
I don't drink much and don't have a lot of experience cooking with alcohol . What substitutions would you recommend for the Madeira and port? In my pantry I have dry vermouth, brandy, Sherry, and some dry white and red wines. Would like to use what I have instead of buying new bottles just for this recipe.
Sure!
Yes, it can. You will lose the pink color and be more of an oxidized brown, but the flavor will be amazing.
Can this be made without the Prague Powder No. 1, to minimize exposure to nitrates?
Just made my second ever batch of this and it doesn’t disappoint. For the liquid I used the same initial volume but it was red port, cognac at the larger volumes and orange juice for the apple brandy volume. I infused some blade mace in this liquid. Since “sweet spice” doesn’t seem to be a thing here in UK I used a similar amount of allspice. I passed this through a very fine 40 or 50 mesh (I don’t recall which) sieve which helped get some of the air bubbles out. It is very good
Hi all, sorry if this question has already been asked, but for a busy restaurant, mason jars are not very functional, can I cook it in the bag in sous-vide?
What size and brand of fine Mesh sieve are you using #50? #10?
Just leave it out.
I'm looking to make a batch of this for my friends, but one of them doesn't eat pig, so I need to substitute out the bacon. I'm thinking to use duck / goose fat instead - does that make sense or is there something better I should use instead?
can also add a thin layer of chicken fat or clarified butter to the top to prevent oxidation
Absolutely.
Could I do this straight in a bag (vacuum sealed) instead of in jars?
How long can we keep thees for? And can we keep them out of the fridge or in the fridge?
Vacuum sealing the jars in a chamber vacuum sealer before putting in the water bath to cook took care of the oxidation. Watch out not to over-do it or you’ll have a mess.
Duck eggs were a great substitute
I made this recipe, and cooked one container worth in a Ninja Creami container. After cooling in an ice water bath, I froze it. Today, used the Creami as a makeshift PacoJet. Results: 1) Creami motor apparently not designed for pate, and strained on it. It did work, basically, but I wouldn’t do this a lot. 2) Not enough fat, or blade speed not as high as PacoJet, or something. Creami turned the frozen container into what amounts to frozen powder on the first go-around. 3) Freezing completely eliminated the discolored part on top of the pate. 4) I let the powder warm up somewhat, and used the Creami’s “reblend” setting to run the blades through the whole mixture again. This produced a perfectly creamy, zero grit pate, albeit still on the colder side from a serving point of view.
After eating some, I packed the remainder into an airtight container. I will update after I see whether it ends up too “loose” or stays the correct consistency when served at the proper temperature.
EDIT: So, the Creami is not designed for liver pate consistency. It did make it through, and it eventually worked, but the motor sortof sounded like it was straining in a way that wasn’t good. Overall, the consistency was great, and this method worked amazingly to preserve, but it was not really the same as a PacoJet, sadly.
Make it without the yolk. Minimal return or change in consistency/richness. We will update to reflect.
Still waiting to hear a reply about the additional egg yolk before I make this for the first time!
Step 5 lists an additional 15g egg yolk NOT LISTED IN INGREDIENTS (which is correct?)
Yes.
Can some of these unopened sous vide jars be frozen?
Yay! $50 dollars saved
For sure, it will become a deeper shade of pink.
Can red port be substituted for white port?
Matthew, thanks for the reply. I went with your recommendation and used truffle salt (from Whole Foods) vs truffle butter. It turned out great. It was a great balance of flavor. The sous vide technique was so easy/helpful. We are so excited to have this in our repertoire of culinary delights. To anyone on the fence about getting a Studio Pass subscription...it is totally worth it. I've enjoyed so many of your sous vide techniques and recipes....24 layer lasagna, etc. Thanks to Matthew we've been able to create a chicken liver truffle pate at home that we enjoyed at a local restaurant. We definitely plan to continue to support our local, boutique/independent restaurants but this is an new, fantastic element to our family of six. Matthew, please share our thanks to everyone on the Chef Steps staff.
I actually like truffle with other spices like curry and find that truffles are strong enough to hold their own. Truffle salt should work to replace the kosher salt and should be enough to flavor the mix. The other option would be to swap in some truffle oil for the clarified butter.
How would you modify this recipe to make it a truffle chicken liver pate? Thinking of simply using white or black truffle butter. Should I drop the sweet spice component…concerned it might compete with the truffle. Thoughts?
Mine oxidized while still in the water bath. almost immediately after putting in the jar.
Should be good.
This is my favourite recipe! Just wondering if it is suitable for children with all that alcohol - does it burn out sufficiently over 1 minute boil? I'm not sure... Thanks
You can but do you really need more preservatives in your life? The simple scraping reveals the treasure beneath the oxidized layer.
Could you add sodium bisulfite to the blender to possibly prevent the oxidation?
I used a vacuum jar-sealer prior to cooking. Stored for 3-weeks and the color is perfect!
I made for thanksgiving and it was a big hit. But the texture was not as smooth as the video - probably because I didn’t have a fine sieve. What sieve brand do you show in the video? It also appears to be a #80 mesh?
Will giving some colour on livers boost the flavour?
That will help. Topping with a fat like that is the old school classic way of doing it.
Would a layer of fat on top when put into the chill eliminate oxidation discoloration later?
cannot get rid of oxidation. you could pipe it after it sets if the correct consistency, however you would have to serve ASAP to prevent oxidation.
The point of adding butter is Flavour!
Thank you, Kyl for quick reply! I tried and you are absolutely right, I need more fat. What I got tastes just like a blended chicken fillet:) By the way what is the point in adding clarified butter? Can I add just a regular butter or even grapeseed oil?
We have used this method for salmon but never for something as lean as the chicken breast. You might get good results if you add some fat. Let us know if it works out for you.
Will it work with a chicken breast instead of liver ?
We have used several types, but the exact one is really up to your tastes and what is available to you.
Did everything to the letter (or so I thought). Pate, while delicious, came out too dry and crumbly. How can I get the smooth and creamy results that I see with your techniques?
Has any one tried to fully cook it in in a vack-bag or else and then piped it straight away in a nice sexy individual glass for table service and only then ,leave the mix to set inside the fridge?
I have followed this recipe before and find that the liver parfait is almost fully set when the mix reach temperature in the terrine or jar, so my worries is to be able to pipe it without disturbing the cooked mix and find it not setting in the glass.
If possible , what the best option for either get rid of oxidation or avoid it at all without making a mess in the service glass dish
What style Madeira - as there are several?
