Pate de Campagne

This is, without question, the porkiest thing I have ever eaten. And while I hesitate to talk up my own cooking too much, I will say that Vanessa has said this is the best pate she has ever tasted. I loved it.

Now, I know I have mentioned Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. Well, this is another in a series of ABSOLUTE KNOCKOUT dishes. I mean, everything we have made out of that cookbook has been FABULOUS, no mediocre dishes at all. Add this to the list.

We served it with some cornichons and a small mixed-green salad with a little raspberry vinaigrette... which you will need a little something to cut through the meaty richness.

225 g pork liver, cut into chunks small enough for the meat grinder
225 g pork fat, cut into chunks small enough for the meat grinder
450 g pork shoulder, cut into chunks small enough for the meat grinder
½ tablespoon black pepper
scant pinch of allspice (careful!)
5 garlic cloves
2 shallots, thinly sliced
75 ml Cognac
75 ml white wine
4 sprigs of flat parsley
1 tablespoon salt
1 egg
caul fat to wrap
225 g duck fat

PREP
In the large bowl, combine the liver, pork fat, pork shoulder, pepper, allspice, garlic, shallots, Cognac, white wine, and parsley and cover.
Refrigerate overnight. That was easy.

CONSTRUCTION
The next day, remove the mixture from the refrigerator, add the salt, and pass everything through the strong meat grinder which you have fitted with a medium blade. The grind size should not be too small (paste) nor too large (chunks). Basically, you're looking for a grind size about that of meat loaf. If you don't have a durable meat grinder, suck up to your friendly neighborhood butcher and take your mix down to him. He should like you by now; he doesn't get a lot of calls for pork liver and pork fat. (If that's also not an option, trim off as much sinew as possible, cut the pork into small dice, and hope for the best.) When your meat and other ingredients are ground up, add the egg and mix through by hand. Preheat the oven to 325°F/170°C.

Next, line the terrine mold with one big piece of caul fat (or overlapping pieces, if you must) so that plenty of extra flops over the edge-enough to cover the top of the pate when you fill the mold. Fill the terrine with the ground mixture, packing it tightly. Lift the terrine and firmly drop it onto the work surface (easy, don't go nuts) a few times, to knock out any air pockets. Fold over the remaining caul fat to neatly cover the pate, trimming and tucking until it looks nice. Now cover the whole megillah with foil.

COOK
Set up a bain-marie inside the preheated oven. Put the filled terrine in the center. Obviously you do not want the water level to be so high that the water leaks into the terrine mold. You want just enough water so that it comes up below the rim. Cook the terrine in the water bath in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature is 160°F/70°C (this is where your meat thermometer comes in). When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Place the weight on top of the terrine (still in foil) and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove the weight, remove the foil, melt down the duck fat in a small saucepan, and pour it carefully over the pate. Then refrigerate again for a few hours. The pate will keep in the refrigerator for at least 5 days.

SERVE
Serve with cornichons and maybe a tiny salad. If you did everything right, the pate, when sliced, should be firm and moist, not dry or crumbly. The color should be uniform, not pink at the bottom and gray on the top. It should be cooked through, and the slices should have structural integrity, meaning they don't break when you cut them.