So I’ve read and heard that animal offals are the real superfoods as they are crazy nutrient dense. Pâté is mostly chicken liver and skin, but then it also has other additives and preserves and whatnot.
Just wondering what everyone thinks about the product. I know the best advice is to avoid processed foods. And this is technically a processed food, but it also has a ton of good stuff.
Pate is so easy to make! I take a pint of chicken livers and brown them in a little clarified butter, remove to a plate. Add to the pan a diced onion or a couple diced shallots and cook until nice and soft. Add a splash of wine (or Madeira or sherry or chicken stock or water), pinch of salt & pepper. Add the livers back with all the juices, cook through, put everything in a food processor and purée. Eat warm or cold, smear on bread or crudite for a snack. Easy, cheap, nutrient dense and not processed.
We may go a little overboard but I love pate and eat it every day. The recipe I follow gives me enough for 16 days, so I end up making pate twice a month.
We buy a bunch of offal from all kinds of different places. The goal is to get lots of micro nutrients. So we’ll have sheep kidneys, turkey & chicken gizzards, beef & chicken heart, as well as chicken, beef, and pork liver. Maybe add in a pound of pork fat or bacon. Start with 7-8 pounds of material and grind that together. Freeze it off in 1 pound chubs. Then, you have a great base for your pate or whatever you want to make.
My husband is allergic to onions so I replaced the onions in the recipe with bacon. I can’t do dairy so instead of butter I use bacon fat. It’s amazing.
Pâté is delicious. You can often find it in vietnameae cuisine. Most famous example is Banh Mi and vietnamese bò bít tết/ beefsteak combo (ie thinly slice steak, pate, fried egg and sausage to eat with baguette). We also eat it with savoury stick rice as well ( sticky rice, scallion oil, pate, soy sauce, vietnamese ham, lap cheung, pork floss, soy sauce and fried shallot). For snack option, we have pate chaud which is inspired by the French (pastry, pork mince and pate). If you are willing to look pass the idea of eating offals, it is a great staple to have in your pantry.