This is the best chicken liver pate recipe and I have been making it for over 2 decades. It has also become very popular on my site and you can see the positive feedback in the comments below. I love my original version but have also included a second recipe which uses a splash of cream and less butter. So choose which you prefer.
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I love to serve chicken liver pate with crispy melba toast and a dollop of something sweet. It’s silken smooth so it needs the crunch. The Marmalade offers a bitter-sweet flavour which is rather delicious and quite Christmassy too. If you want to be really wild, stir a splash of whiskey into the marmalade to give it that boozy edge.
I had the intention to make a clementine jelly to go with the pate, but that plan fell apart when I realised I was running out of the year. You know the feeling as you catapult towards Christmas in the silly season and suddenly realise you have bitten off more than you can chew? Literally and figuratively.
I once made jelly out of dessert wine which was delectable with this pate.
I had also planned on doing a few more Christmas recipes (as I do EVERY year) – but didn’t get it together. Note to self to be a bit more organised next year.
I love this season and the food that comes with it the most, so I always disappoint myself if I haven’t come up with something as innovative as my mince pie and frangipane tart, or my apple mince-pie crumble bars (My favourite ever), and my boozy cherry and Christmas pudding strudel with chocolate. These hot cross cinnamon sticky buns would be perfect for this time of year too. Ah well, there is always next year.
Here are a few of my favourite recipes for Christmas.
In the meantime, this is my best chicken liver pate which is so very easy to make. I always make a double batch and freeze off ramekins for later use. It’s so nice to pop in a basket for a summer picnic.
Can you freeze chicken liver pate?
Chicken liver pate freezes very well and I always make a double batch using 500gms of chicken livers.
I fill ceramic ramekins with the pate, top them with melted butter and a bay leaf and then wrap them tightly in plastic wrap to freeze.
To thaw chicken liver pate, leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours or thaw it in the fridge overnight.
I have made focaccia melba toast before, or actually melba toast from any good bread, and it’s also perfect withcrispy flatbread, but for these little party canapes, I made them from very thinly sliced stale baguette. The marmalade is a very good quality store-bought Seville marmalade which has nice bitterness. I use free-range chicken livers here.
*UPDATED RECIPE WITH CREAM*
PS: I have a little recipe update in case you prefer to use less butter and like to use cream. For this I recommend doing a double batch:
500gm free-range chicken livers
125gm butter (and a bit extra to coat the top if desired)
1 large onion (white), chopped
1 – 2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 – 4 bay leaves
Thyme leaves from about 4 small stalks
125ml cream
80ml good brandy
freshly ground black or white pepper (I prefer white)
Follow the instructions above, just add the cream after you have added the brandy and allowed it to cook off for a couple of minutes. Then add the cream and cook for about another minute or two further.
The best ever chicken liver pate recipe
This is a really easy and delicious chicken liver pate recipe that will instantly become your favourite too.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
250gm free-range chicken livers
125gm butterand a bit extra to coat the top if desired
1large onionwhite, chopped
1– 2 cloves garliccrushed
2bay leaves
20 – 40mlbrandy
freshly ground black or white pepperI prefer white
Thinly sliced stale baguette for the melba
Instructions
Melt the butter in the pan and saute the onion for about 5 minutes until turning soft.
Add the chicken livers, garlic and bay leaves and cook over moderate heat, stirring until the chicken livers are just done – about 4 – 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the brandy just before finishing off and allow this to cook for a couple of minutes.
Remove from the heat and let it cool.
Remove the bay leaves and blend in a food processor until it is as smooth as it will go. It takes a few minutes. Season with salt and lots of freshly ground white pepper (to taste). Spoon the pate into ramekins or other serving dishes and cool.
When cool melt some butter (microwave is great) and pour over the pate which looks pretty decorated with a bay leaf. Cool in the fridge until serving.
To make the melba toast slice a stale baguette as thinly as possible and lay the slices out on a cooling rack which you have placed over a large baking tray. This allows for the warm air to flow under and over the bread to dry it out.Bake in an oven preheated to 150C for about 20 minutes until dried out and just starting to colour. They do not need to be golden brown. Store in an airtight container until you are ready to serve.
If you are making the canapes yourself vs allowing your guests to spread themselves, do so just before serving as the melba toast will soften quite quickly.
Refrigerator: Refrigerate chicken liver pâté tightly covered for up to 1 week. To refrigerate it longer than 1 week but no longer than 1 month, pour a little melted lard or clarified butter on top to seal. Each time you dip into the pâté, you will need to reseal the top to preserve it.
Always a favourite on any menu is a terrine / parfait or a pate. They are all similar in their intent, but are different in their appearance and texture. A parfait is a type of pate that has a very smooth consistency, whereas a terrine is traditionally more chunky and a pate would be somewhere in between.
Toasts are also a great partner with Pate. A grilled, properly spiky sourdough bread would be the ideal here, but any decent, thick-cut real white or granary bread will do.
Splashes can potentially contain campylobacters, which can cross contaminate other foods that may be consumed without cooking. After the milk is removed from the refrigerator, it will be pink from the blood removed from the livers. Blood can give the pâté a bitter taste.
Liver and liver products, such as liver pâté and liver sausage, are a good source of iron, as well as being a rich source of vitamin A. However, because they are such a rich source of vitamin A, we should be careful not to eat too much liver and liver product foods.
Homemade pâté recipes, for example, often suggest pouring a layer of melted butter on top of the finished product to extend its shelf life, even though pâté keeps well in the refrigerator. If the extra fat bothers you, you can take it off the part of the pâté you'll be consuming at the moment, but it's not necessary.
Liver is packed with lots of other vitamins too: A, B1 through B12, and C, along with minerals like iron, zinc, copper, phosphorus, folate, and selenium. It can boost energy levels, enhance brain function, and support healthy skin, hair, and more!
A 1-ounce portion of pâté provides 936 international units of vitamin A, which contributes 40 percent toward the recommended daily intake for women and 31 percent for men. Each serving also contains 0.91 microgram of vitamin B-12, which is 38 percent of the recommended daily intake.
Both types of pate are good with the sweet-and-sour flavours of chutneys. We would suggest trying Nigella's Spiced Apple Chutney from Domestic Goddess or even the Chinese Plum Sauce from the same book.
As the name suggests, hard cheese is firm and goes perfectly well with our creamy and decadent mousse pâtés. Often savory, hard cheese can be divided into two categories: hard (such as Parmesan), and semi-hard (such as Gouda). We suggest pairing the former with Black Peppercorn, and the latter with Chicken Liver.
Traditionally made with liver, and mixed with wine and spices until it's cooked down into a spreadable texture, pâté can also be created with liver or other parts of pork, venison, chicken, fish, duck and other game, and even created with veggies on occasion.
Liver has a distinct and strong flavor that is tough for some to get over. Cooking it with pungent foods really tones down the "liverness" of the dish. To Do: I believe onions and garlic are almost a necessity when cooking liver. Also try bacon, chilies, and aromatic herbs like thyme or sage.
This is because buttermilk (and milk in general) contains calcium. The alkaline calcium interacts with chicken liver and tempers its acidic nature to leave a mild-tasting liver. Milk also helps remove any blood left in the liver, making it taste less metallic.
After it's done soaking, pat the liver dry with clean paper towels and cook it however you'd like. Soaking liver in an acid can help cut down on some of the metallic or “iron” taste common in beef and lamb liver.
How can I find out if the product is spoiled? If the fresh meat paté is spoiled, the tube is usually bloated (caused by germs and bacteria) and the smell of the product becomes sour, musty.
When does Pate expire? Unopened commercial Pate from the grocery store typically has a best before date printed that lasts around 1-2 years when kept in a cool, dry place like a pantry. Once it's opened, it should be refrigerated and consume within 3-5 days.
After opening the package, we recommend consuming the pâté within 5-7 days. Each slice of Alexian Pâté is stamped with a sell-by date on the back of the package. We suggest consuming it within 5-7 days of the sell-by date listed. Alexian pâtés should always be stored in the refrigerator.
For raw ground meats, poultry, seafood and variety meats (liver, tongue, chitterlings, etc.), refrigerate them only 1 to 2 days before either cooking or freezing. Beef, veal, lamb and pork roasts, steaks and chops may be kept 3 to 5 days.
Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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