BARRY SAYS: Every so often, we like to eat a vegetarian-only diet. This was not one of those days.
KELLEY SAYS: No, it was not. I wanted to make paté because I really wanted a banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich that we have come to truly love.
I’ve made the meat several ways over the years, and we’ve tried different breads, but the traditional version has paté and I wanted to make my own, so that is what I did. I found a few recipes online and came up with this version.
BARRY: It appeared to start with meat and then you added more meat. It was a trip around the farm for sure.
KELLEY: Haha. It has chicken livers, obviously, eggs, ground pork, pork fatback and bacon, plus several spices, including fish sauce, cognac, cinnamon, cumin and cloves.
BARRY: Banh mis are really great sandwiches, and this homemade paté really put it over the top.
KELLEY: After it baked and cooled for a couple of hours, I served it sliced on a baguette with seasoned ground pork, sriracha mayo, homemade slaw, sliced cucumbers, jalapenos, fresh mint, Thai basil and cilantro. Adding the paté to the sandwich really made it one of the richer- tasting versions we’ve eaten.
This recipe makes a good amount, so you will have leftovers unless your feeding a crowd. Other than using it on sandwiches, I’ll be incorporating this in a couple of redo’s this week. We’ll see what we come up with.
Next time, though, I would not use the bacon. It doesn’t really do anything extra for it, besides adding additional calories. Not having it won’t affect the flavor at all.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.
Chicken Liver Paté
1 1/2 pounds ground pork 1 pound chicken livers 1/2 pound pork fatback, diced 1/2 pound peppered bacon 1 tablespoon crushed garlic 2 large minced shallots 2 tablespoons fish sauce 2 tablespoons cognac 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 1/2 tablespoons panang curry paste 2 eggs beaten 2 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander In a large bowl, add ground pork, chicken livers, fatback, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, cognac, all spices and curry paste. Blend ingredients together in small batches, either in your food processor or grinder. Once you have all the mixture ground, add your eggs and coriander. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with the bacon and pour the mixture over the bacon. Any remaining bacon can be laid on top. Place the loaf pan in a pan filled with water halfway up the side of the loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hours. Remove from oven and let cool completely before slicing.