Is There Any Need To Make Your Own Pate?

There are so many different pates available to buy at such a reasonable cost that you would be forgiven for wondering just what the point is of going to all the trouble and expense of making your own.  Certainly there is quite a lot of work involved and you might be forgiven for wondering if it was worth it.

My opinion is that it sometimes is.  First of all you have absolutely no idea exactly what constitutes the meat element in a factory made pate and while I know that food standards are very high these days I prefer the certainty of buying my own raw ingredients.  Then there is the matter of spicing the mixture, and this can be quite a personal thing.  If you make your own you can do what you like.

The other very good reason for making your own is that the more exotic recipes don't seem to make it into everyday shops, at least not in the same form, and they are just as easy to make.  For example, mass produced game pate is likely to be of one texture whereas a homemade version could contain fillets of meat layered with minced meat and wrapped in bacon.

There are two main ways of making pate.  In the first method various meats, mostly livers of some sort but also pork, veal and game, are mixed together in varying proportions.  Egg, cream and brandy go into most of them along with other ingredients depending on the recipe and then the mixture, very well seasoned, is placed in a bacon lined loaf tin or terrine.  The top is covered with more bacon and the terrine is cooked slowly in a tray of water in the oven for at least three hours. 

When it has finished cooking it is weighted down with something heavy on a plate while it cools down.  This kind of pate can be smooth or coarse and that is decided by the consistency of the raw meat, so if you want a very smooth finish you puree rather than mince.

The second kind of pate is made with cooked meat or fish, pounded to a paste (you can use a machine) seasoned appropriately and mixed with butter and cream.  This is the preferred method of making a fish pate, smoked salmon, tuna, smoked mackerel etc. and is also a very good way of using up small amounts of leftover chicken or game.  It is particularly delicious served with Melba toast.