DEFINITION OF PATE AND TERRINES

                                        DEFINITION OF PATE AND TERRINES

PATE

PATE This word is used in three ways in French:

Pate, pate en terrine and pate en croilte. In France the word pate on its own should, strictly speaking, be applied only to a dish consisting of a pastry case (shell) filled with meat fish, vegetable or fruit, which is baked in the oven and served hot or cold. The best English translation of this word is ‘pie’, although many of these dishes are much richer and more elaborate than the sort of pie usually eaten in Britain and the United States and are often prepared in moulds rather than pie dishes.

Pate en terrine is a meat, game or fish preparation put into a dish (terrine) lined with bacon, cooked in the oven and always served cold. The correct French abbreviation of this is terrine, but in common usage the French also call it pate. The English have adopted both names.

Pate en croute is a rich meat, game or fish mixture cooked in a pastry crust and served hot or cold.

Pate was known to the Romans, who used to make it chiefly with pork but also used all types of marinated spiced ingredients (especially birds’ tongues). In the middle ages there were numerous recipes for patisseries (meats cooked in pastry) made with pork, poultry, eel, burbot, carp, sturgeon, cod, venison, capon and sheep’s tongues. Throughout the centuries, pates have been dedicated to famous people: some examples are pate a la mazarine (in honour of cardinal mazarine), pate a la cardinale and pate a la reine. In his grand dictionnaire dc cuisine, Alexander Dumas names a dozen, with numerous variants. Today there are many varieties of pate inspired by French regional cookery, notably pate de charters (made with partridge), pate d’amiens (duck), pate de pithiviers (larks), pate de pezenas (mutton, spices and sugar), pate de bran-tome (woodcock), pate de ruffec (foie gras with truffles), Corsican blackbird pate. Dieppe sole pate, pate de Lorraine and pate Bourbonnais.

 Most pates sold in delicatessens are actually ter-rines, based on pork meat or offal, in pieces or minced (ground) and bound with eggs, milk and jelly. Among the best French pates are pate de cam-pagne, particularly that from Brittany (pure pork pate containing offal, rind, onions, spices and herbs): also pate de rolaille and pate de gibier ( chicken and game pates, containing 15% of the animal); pate de foie (containing 15% pork liver and 45% fat); and pate de tete (containing boned cooked pig’s head mixed with cooked, salted meat with the rind still on).

The pastry most often used for pate en croute is pate a pate, which is an ordinary lining pastry made with lard (shortening), but a fine pastry made with butter also used, as well as puff pastry and unsweetened brioche dough. Pate a pate must be made well in advance, as it is easier to work after a good rest and does not brown so quickly when cooking. The pastry lid, which is sealed at the edges so that the filling cannot escape, is golden and often decorated. The centre is pierced with a ‘chimney’- a small hole (often two in large pates) is made in the pastry, and sometimes a small nozzle or cone is inserted to enable the steam to escape and prevent the pate from splitting.

The pate mould, which has deep sides and hinges or clips, may be round, oval or rectangular. Dariole moulds are sometimes used for very small pates.

The fillings are based on pork, pork and veal, ham, chicken, fish, game and sometimes vegetables. All the ingredients are generally minced (ground) quite finely, but some of them may be cut into matchsticks, small strips or dice. The ingredients may be marinated separately. They pate is sometimes lined with bacon barding before the filling is added.

EQUIPMENTS, MOULDS AND UTENSILS USED IN MAKING A PATE    

1. A professional chef should always use appropriate mould, tools and equipment to get the perfect result. For example terrines should be made in only terrine moulds.

a)      Equipments-meat mincer, buffalo chopper, grinder, oven etc.

b)      Tools-sieves, conical strainer, bowls, pastry scrapper, spatula, cutters, tartlet tins, baking trays, pastry wheel, pastry crimper etc.

c)      Moulds-pate mould, collapsible mould, loaf mould, porcelain moulds, timbale moulds, terrine moulds, earthenware terrine moulds, glazed moulds, decorative moulds etc.

d)     Utensils-dishes, vessels (non corrosive) etc.

TERRINE

TERRINE A fairly deep dish with straight sides, grips or handles, and a tightly fitting lid that rests on an inner lip. Terrines are manufactured in a wide range of sizes; they can be made of glazed earthenware (with the lid sometimes shaped like an animal) or of porcelain, ovenproof glass or even enameled cast iron. The food cooked or served in such a container is also known as a terrine.

    The word terrine in France is also the name of a stoneware utensil shaped like a truncated cone with a wide rim and, sometimes, a pouring spout; it is used to hold milk or cream, to work forcemeat or a paste or to steep a foodstuff. A terrine may also be a simple serving utensil used to present dishes such as pickled herring fillets or mushrooms a la grecque.

The preparations known as terrines are numerous and varied. They are usually made with mixed meats, but can also be made with fish, seafood and even vegetables. They are served cold in the container in which they are cooked (or in slices taken from the latter), accompanied by gherkins, pickled onions and cherries or grapes as a sweet-and-sour garnish. Fish or vegetable terrines are sometimes served with a sauce and may be eaten warm. They are generally prepared with cooked ingredients set in aspic jelly, or ingredients reduced to a mouse and cooked in a bain marie. 

The majority of meat terrines contain amount of pork (fat and lean), or sometimes veal, mixed with the meat that gives the dish its name: chicken, chicken liver, game or foie gras, for example. The ingredients are used in varying proportions and are cut up in different ways, depending on the recipe (reduced to forcemeat; cut into strips, dice or fillets; or coarsely chopped). Seasoning always plays an important part in the preparation, as does marinating the ingredients in alcohol. The containers are usually lined with bacon fat and the preparation covered with jelly or lard. They are often autumn dishes, as this is the game season, and may be garnished with mushrooms, nuts (walnuts, almonds) and aromatic herbs such as thyme, bay leaf or juniper berries.

This is how Rene Boylesve describes the terrine in L’Enfant a la balustrade: ‘she took us to the dinning room and ran to the sideboard. She took out a brown glazed earthenware terrine, which had a recumbent animal roughly moulded on the lid … The contents formed an egg-shaped dome which was reddish-bronze in colour, decorated with strips of bacon fat, glazed and half-melted, which still seemed to sizzle, and small bay leaves, also cooked, like greenish copper ornaments. Snow-white grease enshrined it all like a crackled wall, milky-blue in colour. It was a pate made.’ Game from the bourriche (game bag)

Terrines, which are cooked covered in the oven, in a bain marie, are often rustic dishes, suitable for slicing; others, however, are sophisticated preparation, such as terrine de nerac (red-legged partridge, chicken livers, ham and truffles), terrines of goose liver (very much in vogue in the 18^th century, before goose liver pate was created), and terrines of venison, wild rabbit or thrushes with juniper berries. Contemporary chefs have a preference for terrines of fish and shellfish: crayfish with small vegetables, scorpion fish, red mullet, burbot, pike, as well as vegetarian varieties. Terrines are also prepared as desserts made with fruit set in jelly, which are served with cream or a fruit sauce.

SEASONING WITH HERBS.

Leaving aside Mediterranean cooking which has always shown a predilection for herbs, the use of herbs has for countries past tended to go un phases. People were inclined to turn to native herbs when times were hard hopefully, that present popularity of herbs is, hopefully, not a passing phase, but recognition of the fact that herbs (particularity fresh ones) can complement more exotic spices to give added variety to the number of possible seasonings.

FRESH HERBS FOR PATES AND TERRINES 

For a long time now ready made seasoning mixtures have included dried herbs. Replacing dried thyme with fresh when you make up your own mixture does not considerably alter the outcome. Fresh herbs should be used, however, where their qualities can be fully appreciated in fish pates and terrines, for example, in aspics or the various sauces for hot pates. Indeed, you should try to experiment with the full range of herbs and not stick merely to parsley and chives. Fresh herbs have become so popular that they are now often sold in super, market and greengrocers’. During the summer months at least. They will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator if you stand them in water, or sprinkle them with water and wrap them in a plastic bag.

The best thing of course is to have your own herb garden, but even a window box on a balcony can provide fresh herbs throughout the summer. Garden from seed or cuttings, you can always have fresh supply of your favourite herbs. The old-fashioned drying method (not all herbs can be dried however) and freezing. Which preserves the qualities of the herbs excellently? It is worthwhile chopping herbs before freezing and freezing them in individual portions. But you can also freeze whole leaves (rosemary, basil and thyme are particularly suitable and use them for decorating terrines.

Examples are

Basil, mugwort, savory, borage, dill, tarragon, Lovage, marjoram, oregano, parsley, mint, burnet, rosemary, sage, chives, thyme, hyssop, lemon balm,

LIVER PATES AND TERRINES:

Its popularity has spread at lightning speed. Of the many livers of different birds and animals; goose liver pate is the most famous. The bird is forcefully fed to increase itself in size and the result a fattened liver. Other livers which are used in the preparation are duck, pig, calf, turkey, chicken, etc. The liver is marinated with salt and pepper and a little amount of port and brandy. Additional seasoning may be added such as all-spice. Truffles may be an additional ingredient. Cooking time is 40 min, in a water bath at 80 c.

Classification of pates

Galantines:

It is derived from the French term galant meaning elegant. They are prepared from boned poultry or game stuffed with forcemeat. It is trussed and arranged to give the natural shape of the animal. Galantine is poached and left to cool in a stock made from the bones from the animal used. It is done in three steps.

1. Preparation: Remove the bone with skin and meat intact.

2. Assembling: Place stuffing and roll in a dampened cheese cloth and tie it.

3. Cooking: Poach below boiling point in a stock. Slice it and serve with small cubes of delicate aspic

BALLONTINES:                                                            

These are smaller relatives of galantines where the leg portions are used for the preparation. Leg bones are removed and forcemeat is stuffed. It should be in the shape of a ball or ham. It can be roasted or braised. It can be roasted or braised. It can be glazed with aspic or chaud-froid sauce and is served cold.

ROULLADE:

This term applies to food items that is rolled for example a fillet of a fish, pounded, spread with a forcemeat and rolled. It can be poached or roasted. It is served with a sauce made from the stock obtained from the bones used in the preparation.

PARFAIT:

There are two parfaits; one is frozen mousse like dessert, second is a savory terrine. In a savory type filling can be made with vegetables, fish and poultry. It has a very fine texture. It can be cooked in a terrine mould or a gutter mould.

MOUSSE AND MOUSSELIINE:

Mousse is a cooked puree bound with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream, set by chilling, Mousseline forcemeat is composed of raw pureed meat or fish combined with eggs and cream set by cooking. If served hot, it is termed Mousseline forcemeat.

TIMBALES:

Timbale is mould with a filling of some kind. Cooked or uncooked ingredients are arranged in layers in a charlotte moulds. It is then poached and remolded. They are easy to make and are served with a sauce.

SPANAKOPITTA

An assembly of vegetable puree and diced vegetables bound together with double cream. This is a classical cold meat from Greece. The process of making a classical spanakopitta is similar to the vegetable en-aspic but it generally does not involve gelatin but its set with the help of thick cream.

EMPANADAS:

These are Spanish pies. They are famous in America. The recipe vary from one region to another. It is baked and served for lunch.

RISSOLES

This is derived from the French word rissoler which means to cook till brown. Though they are browned they are not baked but they are deep fried. They are made from rounds of pastry folded in to cersents dipped in egg and then crumbed. They are usually made from puff pastry or from short crust.

DIMSUMS 

Small individual pates either stuffed in pancakes or in dough balls are originally from china. Distinguishing feature is that dimsums are always steamed and no other method of cooking can be applied. The history quotes that dimsums have originated from canton. Another feature of dimsums are that they are always served in between the courses. Rarely vegetable sheets such as those taken from cabbages are also used to make dimsums in some cases. The steaming process is always in a bamboo basket. Dimsums are always non vegetarian in nature. Rarely one can see a stuffing made out of vegetables is used in making dimsums.

Pate can be divided:

1.      Pastry case- Short crust pastry, puff pastry.

2.      FORCE MEAT/FILLING: Forcemeat is derived form the French word farce. It is used as filling for pates and terrines. It is made with meat, egg, pork fat, bread or flour. It should be light and airy.

It has three elements:

a.       The meat i.e., veal, game or poultry

b.      The pork which gives smoothness

c.       The pork fat which makes the pate light

     

3.      Seasoning: The seasoning of the pates and terrines is an important aspect of the whole process of making pates as this gives the actual taste to the amin meat. The entire process of pate seasoning revolves around the proper usage of fresh herbs and spices, dried herbs and spices along with the appropriate wines and alcohol. The latest trend now a days is that ready made pate seasoning are also available in the markets.

4.      Binding and lightening may be:

1.      Pure forcemeat; The natural protein present in the meat acts as the binding agent. The process should be done at low temperature, as it is heat sensitive.

2.      Bread: Along with egg white, milk and cream it provides lightness and binding.

3.      Egg: Acts as a binding and lightning agent. Fat content is reduced, by adding egg.

4.      Flour panada: A paste made from flour panada, fat and water. It can be made in two ways one done as for choux paste and the second as for béchamel sauce. Too much of panada will give a sticky consistency.

5.      Rice: Used as a lightening agent, too much will tend a greasy consistency.

CONSTRUCTION OF A CLASSICAL PATE

The ratio of ingredients for classical forcemeat is;

2/3 main ingredient (game, poultry)

1/5 pork (moistening)

2/5 pork fat (lightening)

2. SEASONING:

    As for as possible fresh herbs should be used for the presentation. This gives the dish real flavor and authenticity.

Dill

Tarragon

Lovage

Basil

Lemon balm

Readymade seasoning which is available and is made from various spices is used extensively in the presentation. It is called all-purpose spice mixture.

It consists of: white pepper, black pepper, mild paprika, hot paprika, fresh thyme, fresh basil grounded mace, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and bay leaf.

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