Pâté

Pâté on its own signifies a dish consisting of a pastry case filled with meat, fish,

vegetable or fruit & is baked in the oven & served hot or cold. In England these are known as "pies".

The word is used in three ways in French

(a)  pâté

(b) pâté en croûte

(c)   pate en terrine

·                     The pastry used in most cases was made with lard.

·                     If made with lard, the pastry must be made well in advance.

·                     The pastry lid must be sealed at the edges so that the filling does not escape.

·                     The centre at the top is pierced with a chimney for steam to escape.

·                     The fillings or forcemeat is based on pork, veal, ham, chicken, fish, game and sometimes vegetables, and, or mixtures combining the above.

·                     The ingredients are generally minced or ground, but some of them may be cut into juliennes, dices, etc.

·                     The ingredients may be marinated separately.

·                     The filling is placed in the centre of the rolled out pastry and the edges are folded over and sealed, or alternately, as is done in England by using pie dishes and covering them with a pastry.

·                     Baking starts in a hot oven which is then turned down to medium.

·                     Hot pâté have a little sauce or gravy poured into through the chimney before serving.

·                     In case of cold pate aspic flavoured with Madeira, port, etc. it is poured through the chimney filling up the space caused by baking .The aspic should be ready to set.

·                     They are served cut into thick slices.

·                     Pâté is synonymous with pate en croûte.

Pate en croûte (reciepe)

·                     Place 500 gms of sifted flour on a work top and make a well in the centre.

·                     In the well add two whole eggs and 100 ml of water & 175 gms. of lard.

·                     Mix together kneading lightly till a smooth paste is formed.

·                     Refrigerate 2 hours before use.

Pate en terrine (reciepe)

·                     Def. Pate en terrine is a meat, poultry, game, fish, or vegetable forcemeat, put into a terrine dish lined with bacon, cooked in the oven and always served cold. After making the forcemeat into a smooth consistency mix in 80 gms lard and 80gms foie gras.

·                     Pour this mixture into a small terrine, press down and leave to cool.

·                     Melt lard on a very low heat, pour into the terrine, cover it and allow cooking in a bain-marie.

·                     Cooking time is approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour per kg at 160 deg C.

Recipe for pate maison

Sr.no.. ING                                                                 QTY.

1.                    Chicken liver                                                 500 gms.

2.                    Lean pork                                                      125 gms.

3.                    Fat bacon                                                      125 gms.

4.                    Chopped onions                                               50 gms.

5.                    Parsley                                                             10 gms.

6.                    Garlic                                                                  7 gms.

7.                    Butter                                                              100 gms.

8.                    Cream                                                                65 gms.

METHOD-

• Clean chicken liver properly by removing all veins, connective tissue &. tubes.
•  Wash & cut into dices.
•   Fry diced fat bacon in butter add diced lean pork & diced chicken liver.
•   Add onion, herbs, garlic & seasoning.
•   Sauté for few minutes.
•    Mince this mixture finely then rub it through a fine wire sieve , add cream.
•   Pour this mixture in a terrine lined with larding bacon.
• Cook in an oven in a bain marie till warm in the centre and fat on the surface is quiet clear.
• Cool under pressure by keeping some weight on it.
•  Serve from the terrine or turn out and slice.      

FOIE GRAS

Foie gras ( French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage (force- feeding) corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding.

Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté, and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak. The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding^. Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie-gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and the People's Republic of China. Each liver weighs approx. 700-900 gms. for geese and 300-400 gms. for duck. The colour ranges from ivory white to creamy to pink.

Forms of foie gras

In France, foie gras exists in different, legally-defined presentations, from the expensive to the cheap

1.foie gras entier (whole foie gras), made of one or two whole liver lobes; either cooked (cuit), semi-cooked (mi-cuit), or fresh (frais);

2.foie gras, made of pieces of livers reassembled together;

3.bloc de foie gras, a fully-cooked, molded block composed of 98% or more foie gras; if termed avec morceaux ("with pieces"), it must contain at least 50% foie gras pieces for goose, and 30% for duck

Foie gras are available in four forms.

*fresh raw foie gras sold during Christmas

*freshly cooked foie gras

*semi cooked pasteurized foie gras available in cans.

*preserved foie gras prepared in traditional ways, sterilized and preserved in its own fat.

TRUFFLE

Truffles are hypogeous (underground) versions of mushrooms. They don't form a prominent stem and their spore-bearing surfaces are enclosed. They rely on animals eating them (mycophagy) to distribute their spores, instead of air currents like mushrooms. Truffles resemble small potatoes, and often between the size of a marble and a golf ball.

There are hundreds of different kinds of truffles, and while none are known to be poisonous, only a few of them are considered to be delicacies by humans. Truffles (and mushrooms) are only the "fruit" of the fungus (like an apple to an apple tree); the main perennial fungal body exists as a web of filamentous hyphae in the soil. All of the truffle fungi form mycorrhizae with the roots of trees, and are essential to the trees' ability to acquire nutrients. The belowground fruiting habit of truffles is thought to be an adaptation to forest fires or dry or frosty periods, in which aboveground mushrooms are more vulnerable.

A subterranean fungus which lives in symbiosis with certain trees, mainly the oak but also the chestnut, hazel and beech. They belong to the family "tuberaceae", order tuberales, class ascomycetes, a large class of fungi known also as sac fungi because their spores are formed in a sac like structure called "ascus".

A highly esteemed food stuff, the truffle- from latin "tuber" meaning over growth is spherical, of variable size and irregular shape and black, dark brown or sometimes grey or even white in colour, it is found in chalky-soil about 12 inch below the ground.

The truffle has been known and appreciated since ancient times. The Egyptians ate truffles coated with goose fat en papillote.

The ancient Greeks and Romans attributed therapeutic and aphrodisiac powers to

them.

Legend says that during thunder storms when lightning strikes the ground gives rise to

truffles. During the middle ages they fell into oblivion. However they returned to popularity during Renaissance.

Pigs or even dogs are used to seek out the truffles and it was common in the 17^th century. They spring up spontaneously when the fungal spores or mycelia encounter the rootlets of oak and form a mycorrhiza which takes its nutrients from the trees. The truffle itself is the fruiting body of the fungus and does not appear to be connected by any filaments to the mycorrhiza.

There are approx. 70 types of truffles, 32 of which are found in Europe. The most highly esteemed is the black truffle of Perigord which matures after the first frost; it has black flesh streaked with whitish veins and gives off a strong aroma.

The black must be rounded and in a single piece and it is not at its best until ripe. It is also known as diamond of cookery and the famous chef Brilliant Savarin called them black pearl.

Truffle are now sold in cans, peeled or scrubbed, ripe and whole. They are graded

(A)         Surchoin- firm black flesh, uniform size.

(B)          Extra- Surchoin: with firm flesh more or less black, irregular in size.

(C)          Premier choix: with more or less firm flesh, sometimes light in colour, of irregular size.

(D)          Canned: Truffles are also canned in pieces, peelings and fragments.

J.K.Vandoyer observed that "there are two types of people who eat truffles, those think truffles are good because they are dear, and those, who know they are dear because they are good".

Truffles are eaten raw or cooked, cut into strips or slices, diced or shredded in the form of julliene or fumet or essence or simply for their fragrance. They are best eaten for themselves fresh and raw with butter or salads or cooked in embers or braised in white wine or in a puff pastry. They are not cooked before canning, simply scrubbed and salted.

Shelf life of truffles is about a week, white is more delicate than black. Truffles must be kept in an air tight container as they very readily give off their moisture and aroma, and can lose up to 10% of weight overnight.

Truffles have twice the calorie content of cultivated mushrooms and 3 times that of wild mushrooms. 100 gms gives approx. 90 K cal.

Some of truffle species are:

1.        Tuber Melanosporum.

2.        Tuber Magnatum.

3.        Tuber Aestivum.

4.        Tuber Indicum.