Pate en Croute

By John, 13 February, 2017
Region
France
Description

Pate en CroutePate en Croute is nothing more than a pate baked in a crust, but it looks fabulous! The first trick is to find a mold - after that, the rest is easy.

All you do is line the mold with pastry and then bake the pate. The melted fat stays inside, topped up with aspic. You can make this with the Pate de Campagne but I think the pastry treatment deserves a finer pate like the one below.

Yield
14 Servings
Preparation time
3 hours
Ingredients
1 Sour Cream Pastry (see recipe)
1⁄2 lb uncured bacon
3 lb Pork Shoulder (diced)
2 T Quatre-epices
2 t Ground Sage
1 Egg Yolk
1 1⁄2 c Ham Aspic
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 300.
  2. Line the mold with the Sour Cream Pastry, reserving about 1/5 for the top.
  3. Line the pastry with the bacon.
  4. Grind most of the meat with the sage and spices.
  5. Stir in the remaining diced meat, then lightly pack the bacon-lined, pastry-lined mold.
  6. Roll out the remaining pastry into a lid and pinch it sealed all around. Near the middle, poke a hole about the diameter of a pencil for steam to escape.
  7. If you have leftover pastry, you can cut it into leaves or other shapes to decorate the top.
  8. Mix the egg yolk with a little water and brush the pastry with the egg wash.
  9. Bake for two hours.
  10. Allow to cool for an hour.
  11. Pour aspic into to the pate through the hole in the top, to fill it.
  12. Chill thoroughly and serve cold.
Notes
The pate in the photo is the one that I made for the Old Colony Club Twelfthnight Gala. The pastry for that one is the "Raised Pork Pie" pastry in Charcuterie, but I found that hard to work with. I recommend the Russian Sour Cream Pastry because it is much easier to work with, and it's delicious.