ISO technique for making velvety pate'

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

For New Year's Eve every year, we share teh night with some good Canadian friends from across the river. We cook up a massive meal and toast in the new year at midnight. We sometimes play games, or watch a hockey game, or sometimes, we just talk and catch up. The wife of the couple loves a good liver pate'. This year, I made up a pate' from calve's liver. I braised 2 lbs. of calves liver in water after dicing it up. I cooked it until it was just done, and had a buttery tenderness. I drained the broth and added 1/2 cup of butter. I then seasoned it with onion, garlic, salt, ground coriander, and freshly ground black pepper. I then used a hand blender to create my pate' I wasn't satisfied with the texture, as it was grainy with bits of cartillage floating around in the mixture. I added water and simmered the mixture for another two hours, hoping to break down the cartillage and any other tougher bits. I drained it in a fine seive until firm. I tested again and still found the grainy texture. I forced the pate' through a fine, wire seive, which did remove the cartilage and the larger pieces of liver (like grains of sand). I tried it again and it was deliscious in flavor, but still had that graininess. I put it in hte fridge overnight to serve to our guests the next day.

Our guests brought some store-bought pate, I don't remember the brand, and we served all three, my homemade with the two varieties from the store. The flavors were no contest. The woman guest was so dissatisfied with the comercial pate' that she threw it in the garbage. She absolutely loved the flavor of my preperation. I too agreed that in flavor, the comercial stuff was terrible, while mine made me very happy. But here's the part that's driving me crazy. The comercial pate' was silky smooth, with no grainy texture at all. My homemade pate' was far superior in flavor, but the texture didn't measure up, in my opinion. It had a texture that was between a good pate', and deviled ham.

Anybody know any techniques for creating a velvety smooth pate'? I could use some help with this one. I've got the flavor down to near perfection, or so said our guest. But the texture that I want just isn't there yet. Maybe I need to try a different type of liver?

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Silversage]

GW,

Have you tried forcing the mixture through a very fine drum sieve? When I make lemon curd, I always force it through a fine strainer to get out any 'scrambles' or chalaza. The same technique might work here.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

GW,

Have you tried forcing the mixture through a very fine drum sieve? When I make lemon curd, I always force it through a fine strainer to get out any 'scrambles' or chalaza. The same technique might work here.

I did force it through the finest sieve I have. It's a fine, wire-mesh sieve that I often use for sifting flour. It took out the sand-grain sized particles. But the pate' still wasn't velvety smooth. But thanks anyway.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Silversage]

GW,

I don't have any experience with pates, but am just throwing out suggestions here. How about a fine chinois?

 

[jabbur]

I have no experience with this but maybe after pushing it through the fine mesh, give is a whirl with your blender again or in a food processor. Maybe it needs that extra whipping action to smooth it out after the larger grains have been removed.

 

[kitchenelf]

I would say a steel blade of a food processor would work better than your hand mixer. Nothing in the hand mixer to cut things up and smooth everything out.

 

[ChefJune]

I would say a steel blade of a food processor would work better than your hand mixer. Nothing in the hand mixer to cut things up and smooth everything out.

Elf, I think Goodweed used an immersion blender to purée the paté, not a mixer.

GW, I find the metal blade of the food processor is far superior to the immersion blender for a smooooooth paté texture. AND for good measure, force it through a fine sieve (I use my tamis).

 

[kitchenelf]

Aaaaa...thanks ChefJune. I saw "hand blender" and my mind went to "hand mixer.: I agree, the food processor would still be better.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Well allrighty then. I'll give the food processor idea a try and see if that works better. Thanks everyone.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[CharlieD]

Personally I do not like beef or even calf liver, thought you can make it right.
Of course I am not a pro on pate but for chopped liver I cook it with the carrots and then add some of the carrots to foods processor when you are chopping it. Of course I also like to add hardboiled egg like any good chopped liver it is not good with an egg and some fried onions with the fat they were fried in, all of this smoothes out the texture of liver. But in reality I’d go with chicken liver over beef any day.