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Paté en croute (terrine in a pie crust)

The French classic "Paté en croute" is a terrine of different meats layered and baked in a pie crust. There are many recipes which vary the kind of meat and the seasonings. This is my version with pork, veal and chicken, which is not too difficult, though it does entail quite a lot of work.

210 K 13× 4.0/5 (42 reviews)

6 hours 50 min. difficulté

Average

30.30 €

3 patés

22 Ingredients

Last modified on: September 7^th 2018

For 3 patés, you will need:

1 4 cups Shortcrust pastry (pâte brisée)
2 ½ cup dried morels
3 4 cups veal
4 4 cups pork loin
5 4 ½ cups chicken breast
6 4 cups ham
7 1 ¹⁄₃ cup onion
8 3 cloves garlic
9 3 bayleaves
10 thyme
11 ²⁄₃ cup Brandy (Cognac or Armagnac)
12 ²⁄₃ cup Port
13 3 shallots
14 6 tablespoons olive oil
15 ²⁄₃ cup cream
16 6 Eggs
17 2 tablespoons fine (or table) salt
18 ½ teaspoon pepper
19 2 cups Foie gras (optional)
20 3 beatens egg
21 salt
22 pepper

Change these quantities to make:

1 paté 2 patés 3 patés

Change measures:

Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 2 hours 30 min.

Resting: 1 hour

Cooking: 3 hours 20 min.

All in all: 6 hours 50 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 10 min.

The day before

Prepare 4 cups Shortcrust pastry (pâte brisée) (unsweetened). Wrap in stretch plastic film and leave in the fridge.

Stage 2 - 30 min.

Rehydrate ½ cup dried morels.

Stage 3 - 20 min.

Cut 4 cups veal into strips about 1 or 2 cm ( ½ to 1 inch) thick.

Do the same with 4 ½ cups chicken breast.

Chop 4 cups pork loin into large dice.

Stage 4 - 3 min.

Chop 4 cups ham into large dice.

Stage 5 - 40 min.

Prepare the marinade:

Chop 1 ¹⁄₃ cup onion and 3 cloves garlic.

Put the pieces of chicken, veal, ham and pork loin into a large bowl.

Sprinkle them with ²⁄₃ cup Brandy (Cognac or Armagnac) and ²⁄₃ cup Port, add the chopped garlic and onion, 3 bayleaves and thyme. Salt and pepper lightly and mix well.

Cover with plastic film and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.

Stage 6 - 20 min.

On the day

Chop the shallot. Put 6 tablespoons olive oil into a saucepan on medium heat and when hot, add the chopped shallot, salt and pepper.

Cook for 1 minute the add the drained mushrooms and cook these for 2 minutes. Then add ²⁄₃ cup cream and leave to thicken on low heat.

Stage 7 - 2 min.

Pick the parsley leaves off the stalks and only keep the leaves.

Stage 8 - 10 min.

Put through the mincer (coarse setting) the pork loin, ham, parsley, onions/garlic and the liquid from the marinade as well as the mushrooms and cream.

You should now only have the chicken and veal left to deal with.

Stage 9 - 3 min.

Add 6 Eggs, 2 tablespoons fine (or table) salt and ½ teaspoon pepper to the minced mixture.

These proportions are correct if you are using 300 g of pork loin (the ham is already salted), otherwise use this small calculator:

Stage 10 - 5 min.

Roll out the shrotcrust pastry into a large rectangle and sit your paté mould (a loaf tin works well) on top of it. Cut a triangle of pastry out of each corner so that it will fit neatly in the mould.

Stage 11 - 2 min.

Fold the pastry in half.

Stage 12 - 5 min.

Then unfold it into the mould, leaving about 1 cm overlapping all round. Fit it to the inside of the mould, using scissors to snip it if necessary, until you have an even pastry case.

Spread a first layer of minced mixture in the bottom.

Stage 13 - 3 min.

Salt and pepper the strips of chicken and veal, then spread these in layers on top of the minced mixture.

You can also weigh the veal and chicken and salt them all at once in a bowl (use the calculator again to know what weight of salt and pepper to use), then spread them in layers after seasoning.

Stage 14 - 3 min.

You can also make layers of meat and foie gras if you like.

Stage 15 - 3 min.

Add layers of meats like this, adding salt and pepper each time, alternating with layers of the minced mixture. Finish with a layer of the minced mixture.

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).

Stage 16 - 5 min.

Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid.

Make a hole in the centre (the chimney) to allow steam to escape during cooking.

You can cut decorations out of left-over pastry if you like.

Stage 17 - 2 min.

Glaze around the top of the pastry case.

Stage 18 - 3 min.

Place the lid on the pie and press down around the edge to seal it.

Glaze all over the top with beaten egg, stick on any pastry decorations and glaze them too.

Stage 19 - 3 hours

Bake in the oven for 3 hours. This long cooking allows the paté to cook the middle without burning the crust.

The paté will shrink as it cools, leaving a space between the lid and the top of the meat filling. If you wish, you can fill this space with jelly by pouring it in through the chimney hole (though personally, I don't see that this adds anything).

Stage 20 - 1 hour

Leave to cool, then leave in the fridge, ideally for 3 or 4 days, to allow the flavours to develop fully.

Cut into slices and serve with mustard or mayonnaise, and gherkins in vinegar.

Remarks

You can vary this recipe a thousand ways: use different meats, vary their proportions, the marinade, with or without mushrooms chopped or whole, foie gras, etc. Use your imagination, but keep to the basic idea: alternate layers of minced meat and morsels in a pastry crust.

It is important not to make the pastry crust too thick, unlike the very stodgy versions available commercially with their 1 cm or more of pastry.

And to drink?

An Arbois red wine, made with the Trousseau (Bastardo) grape variety.

Keeping: Several days in the fridge protected with plastic film.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	1,550 RDI=600 %	3,700 RDI=350 %	4,590 RDI=700 %	17,040 RDI=850 %	71,330 RDI: 850 %
Per 100 g	30 RDI=10 %	60 RDI=6 %	80 RDI=10 %	290 RDI=20 %	1,220 RDI: 20 %
Per paté	520 RDI=200 %	1,230 RDI=120 %	1,530 RDI=230 %	5,680 RDI=280 %	23,780 RDI: 280 %

The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man

Possible allergens in this recipe: Gluten, Milk, Egg

How much will it cost?

For 3 patés : 90.85 €
Per paté : 30.30 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

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The 13 comments already posted on this recipe

Using chicken liver is a good alternative to fois gras, don't over cook it, puré it when it's still pink inside..
I am making it with turkey in lieu of veal. It's a fantastic recipe. Thanks
Posted by HPB june 25^th 2017 at 12:55 n° 13
Yes!
Posted by jh december 27^th 2016 at 13:16 n° 12
Does one eat the pastry?
Posted by David december 27^th 2016 at 12:59 n° 11
Thank you so much again! Tried the terrine. It's absolutely out of this world! The recipe is a keeper and is added to my collection. I put most of the terrine in the freezer for later use. It'll be a treat with a bottle of good red wine.
Posted by Anonymous may 21^th 2016 at 06:23 n° 10
Thank you! Love your great site! Looking forward to trying other recipes.
Posted by Anonymous may 19^th 2016 at 09:05 n° 9
Hi,
1) As you plan it, run a knife around the edges, then upside down the baking dish to get the terrine.
2) Yes, it can be frozen
3) you're welcome !
Posted by Anonymous may 19^th 2016 at 08:31 n° 8
Hi! I've made your recipe. It looks great and is currently cooling off on the stove top. Haven't tried it yet. My question is: how did you remove the whole thing out of the baking dish so neatly? Mine looks like some juices have spilled over and got baked in between the dough and the baking dish. Should I run the knife around the edges, or just cut through? Also, once it's cooled, can this be frozen for later use? Thank you so much!
Posted by Anonymous may 19^th 2016 at 07:10 n° 7
Thanks for your quick reply! Got all the ingredients today, and ready to roll!
Posted by Anonymous may 18^th 2016 at 10:04 n° 6
Hi,
Yes probably, I think you should cook them before.
Posted by Anonymous may 18^th 2016 at 08:14 n° 5
Hi, thanks for the great looking recipe. Do you think chicken livers will make a suitable substitution for foie gras? I am certainly going to try your recipe.
Posted by Anonymous may 18^th 2016 at 00:02 n° 4
1) It's "farine type 55".
2) It's quite the same texture, but better in taste.
Posted by jh december 31^th 2012 at 11:16 n° 3
I have been looking a recipies for the pastry for a raised pork pie (pate en croute ) the ingrediente for the pastry include "strong plain white flour "what is this in France? and is pate brisee the same as traditional raised pie pastry made with lard, milk, hot water ?
Posted by Philippa december 30^th 2012 at 18:45 n° 2
After an extensive search online for a traditional Pate en croute, I found this site and will post a comment after I have made my first Pate en Croute
Posted by Vernon may 30^th 2012 at 13:38 n° 1

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