Duck Pâté
Recipe from the book "The First Ukrainian Everyday Cookbook" (1-ша українська загально-практична кухня), 1929, by Olha Franko.
Pâté is quite a popular dish, with origins stretching back to Ancient Rome.
Although pâtés have been made since ancient times, they were originally eaten warm as a starter; the crispy pastry crust only appeared in the Middle Ages. At first it was used to improve the cooking and preservation of meat, and only later did it become something worth eating in its own right. The dish reached the height of its popularity during the Renaissance, when pâté became an elegant delicacy served at royal balls.
Pâtés remain just as popular today, and there are countless recipes for them — including, of course, the classic pâté en croûte.
Ingredients
- 550 g duck meat
- Duck liver
- 100 g salt pork
- 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 2 egg yolks
- salt, pepper, ginger
- French pastry dough
Method
- Rub the meat with salt, pepper and ginger, then fry until browned.
- Place the browned meat and salt pork into a banyak (cooking pot), add a little water and cook until done.
- Fry the liver; once it has cooled, grate it on a coarse grater.
- Add the ground salt pork, egg yolks and breadcrumbs to the liver, and season with salt to taste. Mix well.
- Finely chop the duck meat.
- Line the tin with pastry dough, add the pieces of duck, and top with the liver mixture.
- Cover the top with pastry, press the sides together to seal, and decorate.
- Make a hole in the centre and insert a small funnel fashioned from rolled foil, so that steam can escape and the pastry doesn't seal itself over.
- Brush the pâté with beaten egg.
- Bake at 180° for 40 minutes.
