[Sca-cooks] Pate history - OOP(?)

[Daniel Myers]

Ok, pate had been mentioned on one of the threads on the list and it 
got me thinking (Warning! Danger, Will Robinson!).  Here's what I've 
found after a (very) brief search.

At first glance, goose liver pate does not appear to be period.  This 
was the only decent historic reference I've come across (anyone with 
OED access or the like is invited to chime in here):

 From  http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa121701a.htm
"The practice of force-feeding geese to enlarge their livers dates back 
to at least 400 B.C.. Egyptian hieroglyphics depict slaves 
force-feeding geese to enlarge the livers. French chef Jean-Joseph 
Clause is credited for creating and popularizing pâté de foie gras in 
1779. Chef Clause's culinary genius was rewarded a gift of twenty 
pistols by King Louis XVI , and he obtained a patent for the dish in 
1784. He went on to begin his own business specializing in supplying 
pâté to the gentry. By 1827, Strasberg was known as the goose-liver 
capital of the world."

With all due respect to french chefs, I'm interested in the fact that 
the practice of fattening goose livers goes back so far beyond pate.  
So I did a quick cookbook search of goose recipes and found some 
interesting hints.

From: Forme of Cury
"Gees In Hoggepot. XXXI. Take Gees and smyte hem on pecys. cast hem in 
a Pot do [th]erto half wyne and half water. and do [th]erto a gode 
quantite of Oynouns and erbest. Set it ouere the fyre and couere it 
fast. make a layour of brede and blode an lay it [th]erwith. do 
[th]erto powdour fort and serue it fort. "

From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
"Item, in Paris the goose-sellers fatten their geese on wheat-flour, 
not the finest flour nor bran, but that which falls between the two, 
namely fine or double-milled: and to this flour they add an equal 
amount of oats, and mix it together with a little water, and this holds 
together like a paste, and they put this food in a four-legged 
feeding-trough, and nearby, water and litter fresh each day, and in 
fifteen days they are fat. And note that the litter enables them to 
keep their feathers clean."

... and ...

"To Fatten A Goose In Three Days, feed it on warm bread crumbs soaked 
in buttermilk."

There were also a good number of recipes for blood pudding that 
included goose livers.

So I interpret this all to mean that there was no "official" goose 
liver pate, but there may or may not have been pate-like foods made 
from (among other things) goose liver.

Pure speculation:  I can imagine making a pie out of chopped goose 
livers in order to preserve them for a bit.  An inedible crust would 
keep the bacteria out after it was cooked and the fat content would 
also help preserve it.  I'll have a look through Vivendier, Viandier, 
and Chiquart later tonight if I get the chance.

Anyone else have useful input on the subject?

- Doc


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  Edouard Halidai  (Daniel Myers)
  http://www.medievalcookery.com/
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