Pâté en Croûte

Before starting this Pâté en Croûte recipe, organise all the necessary ingredients for the stuffing.

Trim the meat chunks to remove the fatty bits. Discard the trimmings.

Cut the bacon into thick slices.

Cut the slices into thick chunks.

Place the shallots and garlic in the food processor bowl...

... then blend for a short while.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Add the chopped shallots and garlic.

Sweat for a few minutes over medium heat.

In the meantime, trim the cushion of veal...

... and remove the nerves and fatty bits.

Cut the veal into slices, to a thickness of 0.5 or 1cm...

... then cut each slice into strips.

Add the white wine to the saucepan, along with the shallots and garlic...

... and cook until reduced by half.

The meat pieces needed for the stuffing are the following: pork spare ribs, pork neck and bacon. Set the veal aside.
Weigh the stuffing meat in order to measure the exact quantities needed for the marinade.

For this recipe, I had a total of 1.752kg of stuffing meat.

Prepare the necessary ingredients for the pork marinade. The quantities mentioned in the ingredients list are given for 1kg of meat. Calculate the exact quantities needed accordingly.

In a bowl, blend the salt and pepper.

Add the four spice mix and the pink salt. Combine well.

Sprinkle the seasoning over the meat...

... and add the cold shallots and garlic.

Add the white wine...

... the Madeira wine...

... and the Cognac.

Add the thyme and bay leaves. Combine well.

Cover the surface with cling film. Refrigerate overnight.

Weigh the strips of veal cushion...

... the result for this recipe was 469 grams.

Prepare the necessary ingredients for the veal marinade, keeping in mind that the quantities mentioned in the ingredients list are given for 1kg of meat.

In a bowl, place the ground pepper, salt and pink salt.

Combine well.

Pour some of the seasoning at the bottom of a large mixing bowl...

... then add the veal...

... and pour the rest of the seasoning.

Add the thyme and bay leaves...

... and combine.

Add the Cognac...

... and the white wine. Combine again.

Cover the surface with cling film.

Leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

The following day: Prepare the pâté en croûte dough. Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Place the flour in the stand mixer recipient, then add the salt.

Add the soft butter, cut into dices, and the whole egg.

Place the recipient in the stand mixer...

... and knead at low speed with the flat beater, gradually adding the water...

... until the dough is firm and homogeneous.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and place the dough on your kitchen worktop.

Cut a chunk of dough that will be used to line the mould.

Using an oil spray, grease a long rectangular pâté mould.

Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin, to a thickness of 0.5cm. Line the mould with the shortcrust pastry.

For this recipe, I crimped the pastry simply with my fingers. Create a scalloped effect...

... all along the rim.

Take the pork marinade out of the fridge...

... as well as the veal marinade.

Remove the thyme and bay leaves from the pork marinade...

... and the veal marinade.
Make sure you remove all the thyme and bay leaves from the marinade, as they will bring an unpleasant taste, even when ground.

Place the veal in a colander...

... and strain.

Using the Kitchenaid meat grinder accessory, mince the pork meat with the medium plate.

You should obtain a rather coarse grind.

Cut the raw foie gras into chunks...

... and process through the meat grinder...

... to obtain a rich stuffing with foie gras.

When all the meat has been minced, add the whole eggs.

Combine the ingredients gently with a rubber spatula. If needed, add some marinade to smooth the consistency of the stuffing meat. Reserve in the fridge.

Slice the ham using an electric meat slicer. If you don't own a meat slicer, ask your butcher to slice it for you...

... to a thickness of 4 or 5mm.

Set aside.

The quantities listed in this recipe allow you to make two long pâté en croûte. Line two long moulds with pastry.
Spread some stuffing to a thickness of 1 cm.

Cover with a layer of ham slices. Press down on the ingredients to make sure that the stuffing is compact.

Repeat the operation with the second mould.
As shown in the photo, the mould on the right has a pie crust that is crimped into a scalloped edge. The mould on the left has a plain pastry rim. Later in the recipe, we will decorate the surface of each pâté with two different patterns.

Slice the cooked foie gras to a thickness of 1 cm. Arrange a layer of foie gras slices on top of the ham.

Repeat the operation with the second mould.

Add some stuffing to fill the gaps.

Arrange the strips of veal lengthwise on top of the stuffing, creating tight rows.

Repeat the operation with the second mould.

Make sure you use all the veal meat between these two moulds.
If you have too much veal, you can arrange two layers of veal, one under the foie gras and one under the ham.

Fill with pork stuffing.

Even the surface. Make sure you leave a gap of 1 cm at the top.

Make an eggwash with egg yolk, water and salt, then glaze the edges of the straight pastry rim.

Using a rolling pin, roll out a second chunk of dough to a thickness of 4 mm...

... and place it over the mould with the glazed pastry.

Slide the rolling pin along the rim of the mould to cut out the pastry excess.

Glaze the surface with egg wash.

Using a rolling pin, roll out another chunk of dough into a rectangle to the dimensions of the mould. Slide a lattice dough roller over the pastry rectangle.

The final result should look like this.

Gently arrange the lattice rectangle over the pâté, slightly stretching the dough to enhance the lattice pattern. Slide a knife along the edge of the mould to remove the pastry excess.

Glaze the lattice with egg wash, then reserve in the fridge.

In the second mould with the fluted pastry rim, we're going to make a version with a jelly topping. Cut a sheet of aluminium foil...

... and fold it so it matches the exact dimensions of the inside of the mould. Place the foil over the stuffing.

Place both moulds on a baking sheet.

If you have any pastry or meat stuffing leftovers, you can make a third pâté en croûte, using an Exopan oval fluted pâté mould). Line the mould with pastry then fill with stuffing. Finish the surface with some leftover pastry, rolling it between your hands...

... to obtain two sausage shapes...

... then twist them together to obtain a plaited decoration. Glaze the pastry rim with egg wash, then arrange the twisted pastry on top so it adheres perfectly.

Cook the pâté en croûte in a preheated oven at 170°C (gas 3) and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes...

... until the pastry is golden.

Remove the pâté en croûte from the oven.

Set aside until cooled down completely. When they're at room temperature, place the pâté en croûte in the fridge so they are cold right through the centre. Preferably, make the pâté the day before and refrigerate overnight. The following day, all you need to do is the jelly.

For the jelly topping: Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Pour the water in a saucepan.

Dissolve the clear jelly powder in cold water, stirring with a whisk.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and slowly bring to a boil for the jelly to melt completely.

Stir constantly while heating, as the jelly could gather at the bottom of the pan and form a compact block.

Add the Madeira wine. The quantity of Madeira wine should be deducted from the total amount of water. For example, if you need 1 litre of water, you will actually use 90 cl of water and 10 cl of Madeira wine.
Combine well, then leave to cool at room temperature.

When the pâtés are cold, take them out of the fridge...

... and remove the aluminium foil on the surface of one of the long pâtés.

If you're using truffle (optional), slice it to a thickness of 2 or 3mm with a Japanese mandolin.

Fill the top cavity of the small oval pâté with the jelly at room temperature. Pour a layer of about 1 or 2mm, then arrange a truffle slice in the centre. Let set in the fridge.

As for the long pâté, the stuffing might shrunk a little during cooking. If you notice some juice inside the pâté, make sure you get rid of it to avoid any liquid leaking out when cutting the pâté before serving. Fill any gaps with the Madeira jelly.

Fill the top cavity with jelly. Pour a layer of about 2 or 3mm.

Arrange a few truffle slices on top. Let set in the fridge.

The truffles have simply been arranged on top, so we need to pour a second layer of jelly to set the truffles.

When the jelly is set, remove the pâtés from the fridge. Pour another layer of jelly on the surface of the long pâté. Even though the jelly is poured into two layers, this won't affect the end result and you won't be able to distinguish both layers.
I recommend pouring the jelly in several batches, rather than adding too much at once and having jelly leaking out of the pâté.

Repeat the same operation with the oval pâté. Make sure the truffle is perfectly set into the jelly.

Let set again in the fridge.

Releasing the pâté from the mould: Remove the hinges the moulds. For the long pâté covered with pastry, remove the two hinges from the rectangular mould...

... then pull the sides apart. This operation should be very easy. The long pâté is now ready to serve.

For the oval pâté, simply remove the clamps on both ends of the mould...

... then pull the sides apart. Thanks to the non-stick coating, this operation should be very easy.

For the long pâté with a jelly topping...

... remove the two hinges from the rectangular mould...

... and remove the bottom gently...

... then pull the sides apart. This operation should be very easy.

Reserve in the fridge until ready to serve.

Whatever the version you're making, pâté en croûte should always be served cold.
For a buffet, slice the pâté and display on a serving plate. You can also serve the whole pâté on a serving platter, enjoyed as a starter with a side of green salad.