Pâté - has it fallen out of fashion?

TastyReuben said:
Yep. I don't know anyone who would know the difference between pâté in general and fois gras. It's all lumped into "pâté" and it's all painted with the same brush of force-feeding geese.

I don't think I even know anyone who's heard the term "fois gras!" - keep in mind, I think (purely supposition on my part) there is much, much more of a tradition of pâté consumption in Europe than there ever has been here in US, so we're already starting at a disadvantage with the subject.

And yet, I grew up regularly eating squirrels' brains...:)
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Hmmm, I've eaten squirrel -- and I adore it -- I was provided with two uncooked squirrels and I stewed the larger and braised the smaller - turns out squirrel could well be my favorite meat. I would have tried the brains but they weren't included...

Fois gras is white. Regular liver / pate is brown.

I spent enough years in Immunology research that I KNOW that a white liver is unhealthy and a reddish brown one is healthy. That's probably the only reason I'm willing to decline this bit of offal, although I LOVE so many others! After all, the liver is the primary filtration organ.
 
Yorky said:
I love rillettes (pork). I virtually lived on it with crusty French bread in Paris in the early 70s. Since then I've had a few attempts at making it myself but with little success. Maybe I'll have another go. We cannot buy it here as far as I know.
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I can get it from a local deli, but wouldn't know how to start making it.
 
epicuric said:
I can get it from a local deli, but wouldn't know how to start making it.
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I think its ridiculously easy from memory - its essentially pulled pork (slow cooked belly pork) with duck fat (or the strained pork fat) used to seal the top. You can use all kinds of seasonings when cooking the pork.
 
I think it depends on the kind of pate.

Here the luxury kind of foie gras or duck liver pate has never gone out of fashion in restaurants or for more adventurous home cooks, just as making your own terrines or rillettes. This may be because France is a country that's easy to travel to from the Netherlands and we therefore often eat these kind of dishes on holiday and associate them with luxury and parties.

As for the cheaper kinds of pates, they are common lunch meat here. Just about everyone grew up eating some kind of liver sausage or pate, and it's still a regular guest at house parties too, but regular liver sausage is considered a bit old fashioned.
 
Windigo said:
I think it depends on the kind of pate.

Here the luxury kind of foie gras or duck liver pate has never gone out of fashion in restaurants or for more adventurous home cooks, just as making your own terrines or rillettes. This may be because France is a country that's easy to travel to from the Netherlands and we therefore often eat these kind of dishes on holiday and associate them with luxury and parties.

As for the cheaper kinds of pates, they are common lunch meat here. Just about everyone grew up eating some kind of liver sausage or pate, and it's still a regular guest at house parties too, but regular liver sausage is considered a bit old fashioned.
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Yeah. I'm realising that pâté is far more popular in European countries. Here its on sale ( various types) in all supermarkets. I think that your explanation of being near France probably explains why it isn't so common in the USA.
 
morning glory said:
Yeah. I'm realising that pâté is far more popular in European countries. Here its on sale ( various types) in all supermarkets. I think that your explanation of being near France probably explains why it isn't so common in the USA.
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The only pâté for sale at Kroger (akin to Tesco), apart from mass-produced braunschweiger or liverwurst, is pâté-style pet foods. :)
 
I agree @morning glory. Pate used to be eaten a lot more in the 70s and 80s. I'm sure my mum made some (I'll have to ask her). Husband likes Brussels pate. Morrisons does little portions so he buys those. I make smoked mackerel pate, but usually only at christmas.

I think meat pate is coming back a bit as I see it a lot on pub menus as a starter. Less so terrines. Not something you see recipes of in magazines.
 
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Years ago, I saw terrines and pate (foi gras?) in the Deli case at the market. Haven't noticed it in years. Perhaps it has something to do with the controversial debate In California re duck liver/pate. Fattening up the liver by force feedng. I haven't followed it, and don't know the status of the law.
 
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If you do find or make your own pate...
Remembering a recipe idea for a cocktail party-dish. Pate-filled puff pastry stars. Cut out puff pastry with a star-shaped cookie cutter. Stack two stars together & bake until puffed. Let cool, and pipe pate inside the stars. Very pretty. I remember the pic. The stars were served on a platter with sprigs of thyme scattered about.:chef:
 
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Karen W said:
If you do find or make your own pate...
Remembering a recipe party-dish idea - pate-filled puff pastry stars. Cut out puff pastry with a star-shaped cookie cutter. Stack two stars together & bake until puffed. Let cool, and pipe pate inside the stars. Very pretty. I remember the pic. The stars were served on a platter with sprigs of thyme scattered about.
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That sounds nice , I serve mine with either toast or crackers. I saw on rick steins programme in France where they force fed ducks. It's a cruel practice I believe. Last I heard it was banned in socal.?

Russ
 
So I checked my cookbooks (all 14 of them :)) and found three pâté recipes and one terrine.

One pâté recipe was in that old German cookbook, and another was in. Pepin cookbook. No surprises for those two.

The third one, and the terrine, were in a 1980's edition of The Betty Crocker Cookbook. For those not in the know, Betty Crocker is an iconic American brand, and their cookbooks have been around since maybe the 1930's or so, updated as food fashions change, and are meant to represent a good cross-section of "American" cooking. For many people, it's their first "real" cookbook, and they used to be commonly given to new homemakers/brides.

In that cookbook, the pâté is a cheese one, no meat.
 
@rascal Not sure of the status now. It's the California foi grois bill according to wikipedia. May have started approx 2004. I don't think chef's were pleased.
 
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