I made duck liver pate the other day for a bahn mi demonstration so I thought I would share it. Duck Liver could be replaced with any other type of liver. If you use Pork, double the butter quantity. This recipe is very loose, but here is how I made it the other day:
8 Duck livers
2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 small onion
1 stick of butter (4 oz) or more depending on how livery you want your pate
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 cup cream
1/2 cup white wine
salt to taste
– Soak the duck livers for several hours or overnight in the milk. Remove from milk and dry thoroughly. Salt heavily.
– Heat grapeseed oil in a saute pan until just before smoking. Brown the duck livers: about a minute on each side. Add half a stick of butter and your sprigs of rosemary to the pan, baste the livers for a minute with the butter. Set the livers aside to cool.
– In the same pan, salt and saute the onion (diced), don’t be afraid to let it caramelize as we want the sweetness to come through. After there is some nice color on the onion, add the cream and wine to the pan. Let the mixture reduce for 10 minutes on medium heat, or until it has reduced by more than half.
– Put the livers in a blender with the cream/onion mixture while it is still warm. Blend the ingredients very well, add the other half stick of butter while blending. When you think you have blended your mixture enough, do it some more. This recipe can only benefit from abundant smoothness. Salt to taste. If the liver flavor is too strong for you, add more butter. If you add a lot more butter, its a good idea to add a bit of water or cream as you don’t want the pate to be too stiff.
To serve: Toast some crusty bread, spread on your pate. Garnish with sorrel, spring onions (if you are lucky enough to have it growing in your garden) and white wine or champagne vinegar.
