[Sca-cooks] professional cooks-- reality check wanted

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Olwen the Odd:
>Anybody got a period recipe for pate?  I don't recall seeing one but 
>I am fuzzy this day. (ok, it's true, I'm fuzzy most days..)

Pate as in mousse (which is what most people nowadays seem to be 
thinking of when they say pate; something spreadable), pate en croute 
(like a meatloaf in pastry), or pate en terrine (like a meatloaf in a 
clay pot)? Originally, only pate en croute need apply for the term, 
"pate". I mean, since only that one actually had any pate (dough) 
involved.

I assume, if we're still talking about a sculpture in chicken liver 
pate, that it's the mousse-ey item. One might rationalize it by 
taking one of the period liver dishes like vinaigrette or fegatelli, 
or some such, and chopping it finely for sculpting purposes.

I do think either Le Menagier or Taillevent has a recipe for what 
amounts to a terrine, essentially a meat pie made in a pot instead of 
a crust. I don't think it's done with liver, though. You might also 
investigate the [I think] 15th-century English sources for meat 
stuffings cooked in flowerpots, sacks, etc., then removed and glazed 
to look like their original containers.

Adamantius