Pâté de Campagne — Country-Style Pork Pâté

Ingredients

• 800 g pork shoulder, two-thirds ground through coarse plate, one-third hand-cut into 5 mm dice
• 400 g pork back fat, ground through coarse plate
• 200 g chicken or pork liver, seared briefly, cooled, cut into small dice
• 27 g fine salt, 18 g per kg of finished forcemeat
• 4 g white pepper, freshly ground
• 2 g quatre-épices
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 15 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 30 ml Cognac
• 2 eggs, beaten
• For the panada
• 60 g stale white bread, crusts removed
• 60 ml double cream, bread soaked in cream until fully absorbed
• To line and finish
• 200 g caul fat (crépine) or back fat slices, rinsed; used to line the terrine mould
• 1 bay leaf, pressed onto the surface
• 1 sprig fresh thyme, pressed onto the surface

Method

1. 1
   Sear the liver in a hot, dry pan until coloured on all surfaces but still pink at the centre. Remove, cool completely, and cut into small dice. Set aside.
2. 2
   Soak the bread in the cream until fully absorbed and no dry crumb remains. Work it to a paste with a fork. Set aside.
3. 3
   Pass two-thirds of the pork shoulder and all of the back fat through the coarse plate of a meat grinder into a chilled bowl. Hand-cut the remaining one-third of the shoulder into 5 mm dice. Combine ground and diced meat in the bowl.
4. 4
   Add the salt, white pepper, quatre-épices, garlic, parsley, Cognac, beaten eggs, and the panada to the forcemeat. Fold the diced liver through last. Mix firmly until the mixture coheres and no dry pockets remain — this is where the dish lives or dies: under-seasoning or over-fine blending at this stage cannot be corrected after baking. Fry a small patty of the forcemeat in a dry pan, taste it, and adjust salt before proceeding.
5. 5
   Heat the oven to 160 °C. Line a 1.5-litre terrine mould completely with caul fat or overlapping slices of back fat, allowing enough overhang to fold across the top. Pack the forcemeat into the lined mould in firm layers, pressing out any air pockets. Fold the overhanging fat across the surface. Press the bay leaf and thyme sprig onto the top.
6. 6
   Set the terrine in a deep roasting tray. Pour boiling water into the tray to reach halfway up the sides of the mould. Bake at 160 °C until a probe thermometer reads 68 °C at the centre of the pâté. The surface fat will be golden and the pâté will have pulled slightly from the mould walls.
7. 7
   Remove the terrine from the bain-marie. Set a piece of card cut to the interior dimensions of the mould over the surface and weight it evenly with approximately 1 kg. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate weighted overnight. The pâté is ready to unmould when it is fully firm and cold to the touch at its centre.
8. 8
   Unmould, trim any excess fat cap, and refrigerate uncovered for a further 24 hours. Rest the finished pâté for 48 hours total before serving — the flavours consolidate significantly in this period. Slice to reveal a mosaic of pink meat, white fat flecks, and dark liver; each slice should hold its shape cleanly without crumbling.