Directions: |
Directions:Remove the duck parts and excess fat from the duck. Remove the wish bone from the back of the duck and cut the duck down the back all the way along the back bone until it opens up and can be deboned from the inside out. Debone the duck starting with freeing the wing joints and slowly scrapping the meat from the carcass from the back to the front until the carcass can be removed entirely. Complete this process by cutting of the nubs of both legs and cutting the wings off at the first joint and scrapping each part down until the skin can be completely removed. Then slowly pull and cut the skin from the breast meat and remove each breast from the skin being careful not to tear the skin. Remove as much of the leg meat as can be cut or scrapped off. Save all the scraped meat. Cut the breast meat into long strips and store the strips along with the liver in a mixture of the brandy and allspice overnight. When ready to assemble pate, grind the duck meat in a food processor and mix with the ground pork, allspice, salt and pepper in a bowl with the eggs. Mix well, add the juices from the breast meat and liver and set aside. In a well oiled bread pan or mold put the duck skin in much like you would a pie crust so that the skin can be filled with the pate mixture and then closed and cooked. With the skin in the pan, add 1/3rd of the duck and ground pork meat mixture layering on top of this the breast strips and a liver cut in strips putting rows of pistachios in between. Add one more layer like this and top off with the final 1/3rd of the meat mixture. Put two bay leaves on top and close the skin completely around the top. Cover and chill over night. Put the pan or mold in a larger pan of water and cook in the oven at 350 degrees for about two hours or until 160 degrees temperature reading. Remove and let cool. When cool run off the excess fat and put about five pounds of weight on top of a flat cookie sheet on the top of the cooked pate to flatten the top before removing from its original pan. If it is not flat you can cut off the top flat to the pan with a good carving knife. Put in the refrigerator and store until you are ready to demold and cover the pate with aspic. In order to demold put the cold pate in the oven at 200 degrees for about ten minutes and then demold on an appropriate plate. Note that there will still be some excess fat to remove. Now you may optionally prepare aspic. Prepare the aspic using a cup and half of the veal/duck/goose stock, clarified using the egg white method (See Julia Child's "My Way to Cook" cookbook) down to about one cup. I put three flat cilantro leaves on the top of the pate with groups of small round cut-outs from red roasted peppers (I use the open end of a bulb baster to make the cut-outs) to simulate holly leaves and berries. You can also use pink peppercorns. I use the same bulb baster to make round indentations in the top of the pate to put the round red pepper cut-outs into so they don't move when I put on the aspic. Put the clarified stock in a small copper pot set over medium heat and add one packet of plain gelatin and a little brandy until it is dissolved. Then place the copper pot over ice until it begins to gel and spoon the aspic unto the duck pate covering the leaf and red pepper decorations on top and then the side. The duck pate is now ready ready to go. |
This recipe for Christmas Pate is from