Liver paté
October 15, 2007
Filed under Christmas & New Year
Very few people I know like to eat liver. Even adobo, traditionally cooked with chunks of liver or with mashed liver stirred into the sauce, is rarely served with liver these days. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s pork liver, calf liver or chicken liver. Perhaps, it’s the thought that it’s liver. Perhaps, it’s the bad press that offal, in general, has been getting over the past decade.
Personally, I like liver. My father taught me to mash cooked liver with patis and the mixture becomes the dipping sauce for tinolang manok. I like thin slices of calf liver cooked a la bistek. And I especially love rumaki — those gorgeous chicken livers wrapped in streaky belly bacon.
Whatever the reason, liver is not very popular among people I know. Even my kids don’t eat liver unless — UNLESS — it’s in the form of liver pate. Then, they gorge themselves silly. And even if they know it’s liver. They first tasted liver pate at Vieux Chalet and, for some reason, they developed an affinity with it.
So, with a very valuable tip from Vieux Chalet owner Susan Hassig (cream, she said, you have to add cream!), I learned to make liver paté. The first attempt was so successful that I’m actually entertaining thoughts of giving away small bowls of liver paté for Christmas.
This recipe yields about three cups of liver paté.
Boil 8 chicken livers in a little salted water. Better yet, steam or grill them. Cool, then remove the hearts and membranes (I fed them to the cats).
Dice 1 large, or 2 medium-sized onions. Crush and peel 4 cloves (segments) of garlic.
Place the livers, garlic and onions in the blender. Pour in 3/4 cup of cream. Add a teaspoonful of dried thyme and 1/4 teaspoonful of dried tarragon1. Run the blender until you have a smooth puree.
Pour the puree into a mixing bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 3 to 4 tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Mix to blend.
Pour the mixture into small baking pans. Arrange the small pans in a large baking pan. Pour in enough hot water to reach about three-quarters of the height of the small baking pans.
Place the large pan, water and all, into a preheated 160oC oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, cool and store in the fridge until use2. Serve on toast, on crackers, or stir into your kaldereta or paksiw na lechon. 
Notes:
1In addition to dried thyme and tarragon, I also added mixed herbs for chicken. More details on the mixed herbs in the pork steaks and oven-fried potato chips entry.
2I’m still trying to find out how long the liver paté will last without freezing. I have one of those glass baking dishes left in the fridge and it’s been there for a week now. It hasn’t spoiled. No molds. And, if anything, the flavors don’t fully develop until the liver paté has been chilled for at least half a day.
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You may already know this: you can use melted clarified butter (after heating some butter and skimming the stuff that floats on top) to top pate - after it’s refrigerated I assume the solid clarified butter will help keep the pate fresh for a while, much like the layer of oil you put on top of pesto. It’s pretty if you put a bay leaf or fresh herb on the pate before pouring on the clarified butter, too.
Here’s an example of the butter topping: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14574/ocean+trout+pate
I got this faux liver pate recipe from a friend. Since chicken liver from the groceries come in large packs, use the canned liver spread. No kidding! Put in the same ingredients (including the cream). I saute the onions first with a little olive oil then into the blender they go. Then to the oven in a water bath.
Tried it several times but I used Swifts. Never tried other brands. Saves a little time but nothing beats using real chicken liver. Although it still is a hit in parties though.
BTW, we also grew up with mashed chicken liver in patis for sawsawan for tinola or nilagang manok.
Hmmm. Let’s see if this will encourage some to be converts. The liver with patis as a dipping sauce really intrigued me. I just had tinolang manok a few days ago.
Yummy!!! I *heart* liver paté. Whenever I’m in Germany, I try to subsist on leberwurst, but here in Manila, I’m happy with Reno sandwiched in hot pandesal hehe
hi connie,
i love liver esp. cooked a la bistek, tsaka yung reno liver spread sa mainit na pandesal at sa caldereta, at ang atay sa menudo pati na rin ang adobong atay at balon-balonan. pag nagluluto ako ng menudo at caldereta for our non-pinoy friends, they’d ask kung anong ingredients. they’d be surprised to hear na merong liver but even the pickiest of them would find the dish quite good. meron pang take home minsan. o baka naman polite lang talaga sila? hahaha. anyway, i should give this liver pate recipe a try and let you know how it turned out. thanks!
Haha, I hate liver myself unless it’s Pate de Foie. And I’m a DAK and/or Tulip Pate de Foie addict. It’s nice to know that one can actually prepare them.
I love liver and liver pate. Goes great with hot pandesal.
Awwww, no nice to know there are liver lovers out there hehehe
Thanks, Rose, I’ll try that next time. I bet the coloring would be even wonderful. If I make a lot of liver pate for gift giving, they should be pretty aside from tasting good.
Just wanted to say that I am exactly like your daughters–will not touch liver in any form whatsoever except in the form of pate! Pate was introduced to me as a child by my aunt, & we all loved it at home. Here in the US I hadn’t had pate for the longest time, when I was able to buy some at a specialty grocery store called Trader Joe’s. The taste & texture brought back so many childhood memories. The hubby & I like it spread thinly on black pepper water crackers. I don’t think I could ever make it myself, although homemade sounds like it’d be the best, especially with the cream! And your pictures of your pate are making me hungry. =)
If it’s any incentive for you to try making liver pate at home, Julie, I just added liver pate to the gravy for tonight’s roast pork dinner. Ahhh, it was fabulous!
Connie, where can I get Tarragon? Does that come in a McCormick bottle? Or is it fresh like parsley (hehehe I include the stem now!)?
I am such a herb illiterate
Gail, yes, McCormick has dried tarragon. Two more years and you’ll be an herb expert, no worries hehehe
since i have no oven available yet,can i steam them?thanks,your site is a very big help for those like me who like their food a bit authentic and really delicious, more power and wag kang sasawa sa kabibigay sa amin ng maraming tips about cooking
Mono, I don’t know about steaming. It might turn out soggy.
I tried this recipe out, it’s such a hit with my sister and Marc
BTW, does it make a difference if I don’t put the pan with the pate in a pan with water? I mean, would it affect the pate if there isn’t water?
Gail, it might turn dry.