Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
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
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