Gâteau de Foies de Volaille

Ingredients

• 400 g chicken livers, ultra-fresh; all bile-stained green portions trimmed and discarded
• 4 eggs
• 200 ml double cream
• 100 ml whole milk
• 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp port or Madeira, optional; rounds the liver's flavour
• to taste fine salt
• to taste ground white pepper
• To line the mould
• as needed unsalted butter, softened, for buttering the mould
• as needed baking parchment, cut to fit terrine or charlotte mould
• To serve
• as needed coulis de tomates, perfumed with tarragon; or Sauce Périgueux for special occasions

Method

1. 1
   Trim the chicken livers with care, removing every bile-stained or greenish spot. Place the trimmed livers in a blender with the eggs, cream, milk, salt, white pepper, nutmeg, and port or Madeira if using. Blend until the mixture is completely smooth — no visible liver fragments should remain.
2. 2
   Pass the blended mixture through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean bowl, pressing gently to extract all liquid. Discard any membrane fragments retained by the sieve. For the smoothest possible result, cover and rest the strained mixture in the refrigerator for 2 hours — any air bubbles introduced by blending will rise and dissipate. The surface of the mixture, once rested, should be still and unbroken.
3. 3
   Heat the oven to 160 °C. Butter a terrine or charlotte mould thoroughly and line it with baking parchment. Pour in the strained custard. Set the mould inside a deep roasting tray and pour hot water into the tray to come halfway up the sides of the mould. This bain-marie is where the dish lives or dies: direct oven heat will produce air bubbles and an uneven, rubbery set; the water bath alone guarantees the gentle, uniform heat that yields a trembling, velvety custard.
4. 4
   Bake at 160 °C for 50–60 minutes. Begin testing at 50 minutes by tapping the side of the mould sharply — the centre should wobble gently, as a crème caramel does, while the edges are visibly set. Remove at this point; residual heat will finish the cooking. Do not wait for the centre to be fully firm.
5. 5
   Allow the gâteau to cool to warm — not hot, not cold. Run a palette knife around the inside edge of the mould, place a serving platter over the top, and invert decisively. Lift away the mould and peel off the parchment. The surface should be uniformly smooth and deep liver-brown. A knife drawn through the sliced gâteau must produce a clean, unbroken surface with no crumbling or holes.
6. 6
   Spoon the coulis de tomates perfumed with tarragon — or, for special occasions, a Sauce Périgueux — generously around and over the sliced gâteau on the platter. Serve immediately while the custard remains warm; as it cools further, texture becomes dense and flavour turns flat.