Pâté (chicken liver or other...Including this Diet Doctor recipe) + crackers

(Bob M) #1

I was thinking of making this with chicken livers (I think have at least two packs of frozen chicken livers):

This looks good…except for the juniper berries. I can’t figure out how that will taste.

And one reason I’ve never made pâté is because I never know what to put it on. But this looks good, too:

Has anyone tried either of these? If so, what did you think?

And if you have pâté or cracker recipes to share, please let me know. I plan on taking the last week of the year off work, and will not be doing my never-ending house project. So, I have some time I could devote to cooking.

#2

I am a simple one. Fried liver, fat, salt. That’s it.
If I miss the onions, I add my favorite bbq spice mix (it has salt, pepper, mustard seeds, onion and garlic powder).

I like it cold so it’s not spreadable at all, it’s a bit hard and I can bite on it…
I always was good at eating various things all alone but I perfected it during my carnivore trials… But I could eat it with my one ingredient sponge cake, I guess… :wink:

I looked at many recipes a few months ago and people don’t overcomplicate things in this country, it seems… I can’t handle sweetness in it so the onion had to go (a tiny amount may be fine), I never used garlic in the first place but some people do… That’s why mine is pretty simple. I don’t even put paprika into it for some reason but it’s a normal ingredient here.

I haven’t much experience with it yet but I already tried very various liver:fat ratios… For some reason, all worked. I saw recipes with as much added fat as liver, that’s not my style, I can get away with 10% too if the liver is nice, tender and not dry (if I feel it dry, no amount of fat can fully salvage it).
I always used chicken liver but I will try it with pig liver as well.

I had crackers in the past. I only used seeds and water (and possibly a little salt), nothing else. A big part of the seeds was ground (often the whole stuff but sometimes I used whole ones too). It was pretty nice and crunchy and it was ready in a few minutes from entering the kitchen to getting it out of the microwave oven. But as it’s quite dry when ready, I had to learn the exact time for the exact amount to avoid burning. It’s less dangerous in the oven but I never wanted to wait for that long and my microwave has numbered keys so I can set the time precisely.
But my crackers were so thin and crunchy that I couldn’t spread anything not very very soft on them (I tried and they broke apart. well, still good, not a failure in my books).

(Bob M) #3

Don’t get me wrong, I love beef liver. But I was hoping for something my kids or my wife might eat. Just livers, either beef or chicken, and my family is out. Gone. Won’t eat.

Meanwhile, they might eat something like the Diet Doctor recipe. For everything we make that’s “new” (edit: misspelled “new” as “knew”; yikes!), it’s a struggle to get my kids to eat it. As in “please eat that tiny amount of X I put on your plate!” Rarely, they’ll decide they like it. Most times, they won’t.

So, I’m looking for something more “mild” than I would eat. (Personally, I’d just take beef liver, flash fry it, I’m done. No need for something else.)

(Laurie) #4

I researched liver pâté recipes recently, and narrowed it down to these two. I’ve bought frozen chicken livers and will make this soon. I’ll modify the heck out of the recipe(s) according to what I have and how lazy I feel. (Caramelized onions? I don’t think so.)

I eat liverwurst as is, with a fork. If the homemade pâté turns out softer than I expect, I’ll eat it with pork rinds.

(Karen) #5

Pork or beef fillet spread with patè and wrapped with bacon. Pan fry or bake … making me hungry thinking about it. May do this for my Xmas dish.

(Bob M) #6

@islandlight Thanks. I’m going to try the Common Sense Home one. I’ll let you know how quickly my kids refuse to eat it. :wink: I love this liverwurst:

https://grasslandbeef.com/grass-fed-beef-liverwurst

It’s also lower in fat (I know --that’s crazy talk!-- but I like low fat better most times). I rarely order this, though.

@Karen18 That does sound good. I’ll give this a try at some point, too.

(Ken) #7

I’m going to try this one soon. I’ve been slaughtering and helping relatives butcher a dozen hogs. I have one for myself and get all the organs and heads from the others for myself and my dogs, so I’m overrun with liver and have made nearly 100lbs. of Souse.

#8

That was such a cool Scandinavian recipe. I have to try it. I usually make a more French version which has butter, cream, thyme and brandy. Scandinavian seed crackers are good. I have not made that recipe though.

(Laurie) #9

I looked up juniper berries, and apparently rosemary is the closest substitute, as both are from evergreens. In my opinion you could use other herbs such as thyme or oregano, but then it wouldn’t taste Scandinavian.

I made some liver pate this morning. I used the ingredients and utensils I happened to have. If it turns out okay, I’ll post my recipe (and suggestions for improvement) later.

I recently bought a liver pate assortment. One type was flavored with port, and another with cognac. I am not averse to using alcohol in cooking, but I didn’t like these additions. Of course it’s possible that they used lousy tasting liquor.

(Laurie) #10

Okay, I had some of the liver pâté. The recipe and comments are below. As you can see, some of the ingredients, etc., are a bit weird, so feel free to change. Of course most people would use a blender.

I depended mostly on the liver and onions for flavor, because they taste good and because I don’t have a selection of seasonings.

  • 1/4 cup butter. Melt in pan on low heat.

  • 1 pound chicken liver. Remove gristly connective tissues and cook livers in butter over low heat.

Place in mixing bowl and mash with potato masher along with the following:

  • 1 cup Kirkland precooked bacon crumbles

  • 2 Tablespoons dried onion flakes

  • 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (could use cream cheese instead)

  • 1/2 teaspoon No Salt potassium chloride (could use salt instead, and/or use more, but I dislike salty flavor)

  • 1 scoop collagen powder

  • 1 tsp ascorbic acid

  • 2 drops oregano oil (could have used more, but I was afraid of overdoing it; use fresh or dried oregano or thyme, if you have it)

  • 1/2 teaspoon Frank’s hot sauce (black pepper would have worked better in this recipe, but I don’t have any)

Result: It tasted okay, not too livery. Could have benefited from more oregano and some black pepper.

Also, it was dry and stiff. Maybe from the collagen? Or maybe it just needed more mascarpone – or some added cream, sour cream, or mayonnaise.

#11

My method is similar although I fry bacon and onion and mushrooms with the liver… always soft but I do not add collagen power…

(Laurie) #12

Thanks for the info, Helene. I’m glad your pâté turns out nice and soft. The cooked livers were certainly tender before mixing with other ingredients. I searched online and could find nothing about collagen making foods stiffer, but I suspect it was the culprit.

#13

It also needs very little cooking time. I run the whole shebang through the foodprocessor at the end. I suspect the amount of butter and cream help the consistency as well.

(Laurie) #14

I had more of the pâté today. Really tasty the second day! Next time I’ll soak the precooked bacon and dried onion in a bit of water first, to add some moisture. And I’ll omit the collagen.

(Bob M) #15

Interesting. The thing I find odd about that recipe is that you appear to wrap everything with plastic…then put it in the oven. I realize it’s in water, but one would think the plastic wrap would get pretty hot.

We were just asked if we could buy 1/2 a pig for next month. However, I also ordered from Brad’s (Fire in a Bottle’s) place, and he’s supposed to ship (high saturated fat pig meat) next month too. I don’t think our freezer can fit both. Bummer.