[Sca-cooks] pate

[Chip]

> So, do all pates have liver in them?

I had wondered this myself & I found the answer to be: no.  Pâte (or
if it won't display for you -- pate with a ^ over the a) is French for
"paste".  Liver, mushroom, olive, whatever.

When I recently tinkered with Livyre Puddings I was explaining to
people that since I wasn't stuffing it into sausage casings, it was
being served as a pâte.  And since I subbed chicken livers for pork,
it had ceased to be a period dish & had become a based-on-a-period
dish, or perioid.

>  If not, what is the differance between a "pate" and a "spread"?
> THLord Stefan li Rous

Quality, I'd say.  The delectable goop I wound up with during testing,
I'd be proud to call a pâte.  The underseasoned, bitter mush I turned
out at feast barely qualified as a spread.  I was so disappointed.

To sum up:
Pâte de foie gras: pâte.
Armour Potted Meat Food Product: spread.

So as not be a spüntieser:

Livyre Puddings
chicken liver, bread crumbs, butter, currants, nutmeg, black pepper,
salt

[Good Hous-wives Treasurie, 1588]
"How to make Livering Puddinges.  Take the Liver of a Hogge, and give
it three or fower warmes over the fier.  Then either grate or choppe
it verye small, and take a little grated bread and two egges well
beaten, whites and all, and Currans, Nutmegges, Pepper, and Salte, and
Hogges suet." (From "The Good Hous-Wives Treasurie", on p.40 of TTQT)

My adaptation:
Boil a plastic tub-ful of rinsed chicken livers (roughly a pound) in
salted water until cooked.  Drain and puree in a food processor.  Add
butter until smooth (about a stick), add currants until sweet enough
(about a handful), add bread crumbs to give it some body, add nutmeg,
ground pepper, & salt.  Don't be afraid of the seasonings.  It takes
quite a bit for the flavor to come through.  Most say to chill until
serving, but I prefer it served immediately (warm).  If you chill it,
it becomes very dense and a bit crumbly.  When reheated, the texture
becomes weirdly fluffy.

A recipe of this & a box of not-too salty crackers or crusty bread --
add the beverage of your choice & some good friends.  Quality time.

It has been put forth on this very list (by Adamantius, I believe) that
given the ingredients, tone & the label "pudding", this was meant to
be stuffed in sausage casing & boiled.  You just don't put raw suet in
a finished product.  I agree.

I have read adaptations which subbed chicken for pork for
convenience's sake, left out the raw egg for safety's sake (though
I've never known anyone who got sick from raw egg -- maybe those days
are over) & subbed butter for suet -- and I have drawn upon them.

Test batches turned out loverly.  I forgot to salt the boiling water on
feast day.  Disaster.  No more will I scoff at the idea that boiling in
salted water takes out the bitterness.  I wonder if it works on
friends?

Iyad
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