A terrine is a terra cotta, faïence, or earthenware baking dish. By a figure of speech called "metonymy" the terrine is also the food baked in such a dish. So pâté and terrine are synonyms on one level. The day before yesterday I made a terrine de campagne, which is pâté de campagne baked in a terrine. You can see it in the photos in this post. This is a very simple recipe and doesn't contain anything like liver or tongue or any other animal organs. That might make it more appealing to people who don't relish the idea of eating organ meat (sometime called "variety meats" in America and known as "offal" in other countries).
The meat in this terrine is a mixture of pork and turkey. Or maybe it was veal. I'm not sure because I had two meat patties in the freezer that we had planned to eat on buns as hamburgers. I really don't remember whether they were ground turkey or ground veal. They weighed about 300 grams (10 oz.). I combined them with 700 grams (25 oz.) of pork tenderloin (all weights are approximate), most of which I also ran through the meat grinder, except for a small portion that I just cut into little cubes and mixed in with the ground ("minced") meats. I could have put in cubes of chicken, turkey, or veal but I used the pork tenderloin (called filet mignon in French) instead. I also added in some pecans (pistachios or walnuts would be good).
What binds this kind of "meat loaf" together is egg — in this case three eggs, beaten. What gives it good flavor is onion, garlic, herbs (thyme, parsley, bay leaves, etc.), spices (cloves, nutmeg, etc.) wine (or cognac, or whiskey), salt, and pepper. If the mixture seems a little bit too liquid, you can add some bread crumbs to it. I did add some. I didn't take any photos while I was putting the pain de viande mixture together (pain means "bread" but also means "loaf").
As with meat loaf, you can eat it hot (with gravy or tomato sauce), warm, or cold (in a sandwich). Cut into cubes, it could replace meatballs in spaghetti sauce. We just ate it for lunch with a salad, good bread, and some pickled gherkins (cornichons). I think the next time I make this kind of terrine I'll add some chicken or duck liver to the mixture for texture... Here's a link to a recipe in French.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting article in French on pâtés et terrines:
Deletehttps://www.lescharcuteries.fr/produits/pates-et-terrines/
Ton pâté est bien appétissant. (Entre nous, j’ai oublié l’orthographe!)
DeleteThanks so much for showing the terrine and your method!
ReplyDeleteLooks delightful, there seem to be infinite varieties of these.
ReplyDeleteI like the bay leaves on top. The terrine looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteThis looks and sounds great. I have a recipe for a duck terrine that is really good. I make it every year or two.
ReplyDeleteI also love the term "variety meats." I find it very amusing.
Bob, can you share that duck terrine recipe?
DeleteI just scanned it, but I guess I'll have to email it. I don't see a way to post it here.
DeleteAhhh, the richness of French cuisine :) This looks great! I've never really read through any steps in making a pâté, so this was very interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd... chm, the link that you shared brings us to a very informative article, so thanks for that. It answers a few questions I've always had (like, as Ken points out, sometimes things we think of as a pâté are referred to as a terrine and the article explains a bit of the history of the difference between the two). I'd also never heard of les galantines, nor of les ballottines.
Les ballotines are made only on election day!
DeleteInteresting, chm!
DeleteThis looks so good - I always assumed that terrines had some sort of gelatin in them, to firm them up, but that appears to not be the case! I think I need to read the link above.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the natural gelatin that comes out of the meat when it cooks gives the pâté a good texture. It all depends on the meat.
DeleteThat all looks so delicious. And as soon as you said "cornichons", I was whipping out my napkin. Yum.
ReplyDeleteRejoicing that you are back with your great recipes. Was getting sated with Rouen, Rodweick
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the comments about my old cooking posts, but it seems like all I do these days is cook. I need the blog as an escape from confinement, and I do that by re-living past travels and lives.
DeleteYou may be escaping confinement by reliving past travels, but *we* are escaping via your cooking posts and pictures. :-)
DeleteI've had so little incentive to cook in recent months, but now you've got me interested in it again.
To me the cooking posts and the travelling posts are equally interesting and I can’t get enough of any of them. Keep up the good work, as they say!
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