Smooth Lamb Liver Pâté with Vin Santo

Fit for Company, Fit for a Crowd, Cheap Eats

Vin Santo is a sweet dessert wine from Tuscany. If you can’t find it, use any sweet white wine, such as Muscat, Riesling, or Sauternes, or sweet sherry. This recipe came from chef Cathy Whims, owner of Nostrana in Portland, Oregon. The pâté is creamy textured, with sweet notes from the honey, currants, and Vin Santo. If you can’t find
lamb’s liver, use beef or pork liver, chicken livers, or a combination.

Serves 8 to 10

INGREDIENTS:

• 1¾ pounds pork fatback, cut into 1-inch cubes
• ⅓ cup Vin Santo or other sweet dessert wine (see headnote)
• 1 cup homemade pork stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 1½ cups heavy cream
• 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• ⅔ cup dried currants
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1½ pounds lamb’s liver, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten, at room temperature
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the fatback for 5 minutes. Drain and cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until it reaches 60°F to 65°F.
2. Meanwhile, combine the wine, stock, heavy cream, parsley, currants, and honey in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the mixture reaches 60°F to 65°F.
3. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a 2-quart terrine mold with plastic wrap. Put on some water to boil.
4. In a large bowl, combine the liver, fatback, wine mixture, egg yolks, salt, and the remaining spices. Place half of the mixture in a blender and blend at medium speed until very smooth. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the second half of the mixture, and combine both batches. (For a supersmooth pâté, strain through a fine-mesh strainer.) Pour the mixture into the terrine mold. Place an oiled piece of parchment paper over the top, then wrap the entire mold tightly with aluminum foil.
5. Set the mold in a deep roasting pan and pour boiling water into the roasting pan to reach the level of the mixture in the mold. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 225°F and bake for 2 hours more, or until the internal temperature of the pâté reaches 150°F on an instant-read thermometer. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight before serving.

ALTERNATIVE CUTS:

• Pork liver (soak overnight in buttermilk; see step 1 of Pork Liver Mousse, calf’s liver, beef liver, or chicken or duck livers, or, better still, a combination of any of these.

COOK’S NOTES:

• Use liver from grass-fed lambs, if you can.
• In order to get a homogenous mixture of fat and liver, it is critical that the ingredients be cooled to 60°F to 65°F. If they are too warm, the fat will melt and separate; if too cool, the fat will remain in little granules.