Silky-Smooth Chicken Liver Pâté
If you’ve only ever had chicken livers fried with onions or chopped up with hardboiled eggs, then it’s time to experience liver in a more decadent way. Not that Grandma’s chopped liver doesn’t hit the spot sometimes, but the smooth, whipped texture and buttery flavor of Chicken Liver Pâté is really something special.
The secret to silky, smooth pâté is twofold. First, simmering the liver in liquid instead of browning it prevents the liver from drying out while cooking. The second “secret” – and actually, this shouldn’t be a surprise, since we’re talking about French cuisine here – is butter. Lots and lots of butter. Some traditional French recipes call for so much butter that the end result is more like butter pâté with a little bit of chicken liver thrown in. Some recipes also add whole cream and many have a dash or two of Cognac or other liquor for good measure.
This recipe, which is based off one by the great French chef Jacques Pépin, uses a little bit more restraint and gives the chicken livers first billing. With less butter, the result is no less delicious. The liver flavor is slightly stronger but the texture is still perfectly smooth and creamy. If you want to add more butter, by all means, go for it. Either way, this chicken liver pâté is a perfect snack, one loaded with flavor as well as protein, vitamins and minerals. Eat it by the spoonful, or use the pâté as a dip for raw vegetables or Primal crackers.
Makes between 1/2 and 1 cup of pâté
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound chicken livers
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 to 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature). For pâté that is very dense and buttery, add between 8 to 12 tablespoons of butter
Instructions:
Rinse the chicken livers and pat them dry. Cut off any white connective tissue.
In a saucepan, combine the chicken livers, shallot, garlic, bay leaf and salt. Add the water and bring to a simmer.
Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer 3 to 5 minutes, stirring once. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
Discard the bay leaf. Drain the liquid out and transfer the livers, shallot and garlic to a food processor. Add nutmeg. Process just until the livers are finely chopped, then, with the blade still running, start adding the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.
Once the butter is blended in, season with salt and pepper then continue to process until the pâté is completely smooth.
Scoop the pâté into one large or two small ramekins or bowls. Decorate the top with fresh herbs if you like. Cover with plastic wrap pressed down onto the pâté (to protect it from air) or pour melted butter on top, creating an edible seal (when melting the butter, skim as much white foam off the top as possible).
Refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or overnight so the pâté firms up. The pâté will stay fresh up to 1 week.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
Looks delicious!
I thought chicken liver (raw or cooked) was for cats; I never liked it.
I am so excited! As excited as one can get about
liver on a Saturday morning! I have been striving to include more liver in my diet, and this is very inspirational. I was just about to head out to my local co-op, and now “chicken liver” has been
added to my list! Thank you!
Looks like a great way to sneak some offal into my family’s diet. Both my kids and husband love veggies with various dips so I’ll add this to the rotation without telling them what it is.
the last liver recipe I’ll try has been revealed! lol. The bacon wrapped livers were a classic fail, with me being the only one to eat more than a teensy weensy taste. I ate three of them and then felt nauseated for the next few hours. Maybe it was just too rich. The only way I’ve been able to enjoy liver in the past is in the cornbread dressing and giblet gravy I’ve traditionally made with Thanksgiving dinner. Livers are inexpensive and beneficial enough that we’ll give this a go amd hope for better results!
I use to do homemade chicken liver paté. It’s very tasty. And now that I am primal I can fully enjoy it without bothering the fats
My base recipe is a bit different. Instead of Cognac I add some Marsala, but that’s a question of preference. Also, I put some finely chopped marjoram. Never thought of the nutmeg, I’ll try to add some next time.
Btw, to the base recipe, you can add mushrooms, ideally morchels to make a “foie gras aux morilles”.
Do you sauté the mushrooms first? Or add them on raw?
I always cook mushroom apart. This is particularly true for morchels as they may be a bit toxic due to a toxin which, fortunately, is easily destroyed with prolonged cooking.
The marjoram is a must. Also try thyme, gives it a nice extra punch.
Ohhh, I make a version of this all the time but with duck livers, orange zest, brandy or cognac, pepper, nutmeg, mustard and cloves and a 50/50 mixture of butter and goose fat
Oh, that sounds so wonderful! Care to share your recipe, celticcavegirl?
Sure – its very similar to the above. Unfortunately I’m not big on measuring though
The fat content is personal preference – I use 1 part fat to 3 of liver, but you can do a 50-50 mix for a richer pate.
360g duck liver (chicken in a pinch)
60g goat butter or ghee
60g goose fat
2 cloves garlic, crushed
brandy, rum, cognac, Cointreau or other alcohol (I usually use brandy)
seasoning – salt, pepper, allspice, cloves, mustard seeds, nutmeg (all fresh ground – important)
the zest of 1 orange
ghee for sealing
1) chop the the livers up quite small and gently brown in fat in a frying pan, as they start to look done add the garlic (if the liver pieces are too large they tend to get burned on the outside and undercooked on the inside. But it’s important not to overcook the liver, it should be brown on the outside and a tiny touch pink on the inside. I usually chop each duck liver 3-5 ways)
2) At the end of the cooking, add the orange zest and then the alcohol and allow most of it to evaporate. Remove contents of frying pan and transfer to jug or blender
3) melt the remaining fat (butter and goose fat) in the pan, add to jug/blender
4) add the seasoning to taste. You need quite a lot.
5) blend using hand/regular blender to smoothness desired.
6) Pour into ramekins and set in fridge. 7) seal each dish with a thin layer of melted ghee
This one is really delicious!
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/chicken-liver-and-orange-pate
This one is quite delicious! http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/chicken-liver-and-orange-pate
I’ve sampled liver and onions throughout my childhood and into adulthood. I have never liked it and all our recipies were from southern family ones. Last time I tried I identified what I don’t like, other than the consistancy. Liver tastes like old socks to me.
I’m scared to try pate. I’d hate to waste perfectly good liver on something I won’t eat.
did you try chicken livers? they do not have the stronger test of the others
I mean: taste
I don’t like liver either but I love my Mum’s pate which is very similar to this recipe! She adds port instead of cognac and sometimes chops up some pickled gherkins and mixes that in! Mmmmmmmmm
It was probably cooked for too long. Sliced liver should be fried on one side till the juices just start to run out, and then turned over and fried for even less time. Takes about 30 seconds. It should still be rare in the middle. It’s easy to overcook it if you don’t know this, and then it become foul and rubbery.
You also need to serve it with a sauce, because it tends to be quite dry: once it’s done, pop it in a low oven to keep warm and make a sauce using the pan juices and e.g. cream, port, and nutmeg; or stock and fat to make a gravy.
mmmm. going to give this a try!
If you want to acquire live animals you can purchase them at pet stores. Imagine the potential nutrition waiting in the tanks and cages.
It’s been a while since I have tried liver. More than a year. This looks amazing and is simple. I’ve only had beef liver so giving chicken liver a try is needed.
Chicken livers at the farmers market costs me 99 cents per pound!
Chicken livers are much more mild than beef (or even calves’) liver, so to my palate, much easier to eat!
They also pale in comparison to beef liver in terms of vitamins/minerals.
Nice.
Personally, I prefer the Nourishing Traditions recipe with mushrooms.
You CAN freeze the paté, by the way! My husband makes up a big batch that lasts us for 6 weeks.
Could I use duck fat? Or is the butter integral to the flavour? This looks delish and eager to try!
I actually think duck fat tastes better than butter.
I substitute duck fat for butter since my body reacts to dairy. I made this recipe yesterday and it is amazing! What I really like about this recipe is no alcohol. Many chicken liver pate’s call for sherry or brandy. This recipe tastes just as good or even better. So simple and a great snack. Thanks Mark!!
I’m wondering if the flavor could be intensified by cooking the liver in chicken broth instead of water, or would that just be a waste of chicken broth? Has anyone tried that?
personally when I make pate I just fry the livers, then you get nice browning flavours
Chicken broth would be a fine addition to taste and nutrients especially if homemade.
I’ve been making my chicken liver pate with the addition of chicken hearts. I use one package of livers and one package of hearts. I start the hearts cooking first and add the livers later because the hearts take longer. Other than that my recipe is pretty much the same. The food processor completely smooths out the hearts and livers and the pate is really rich and satisfying. You get all the goodness of the liver plus the advantages of the nutrients in the hearts as well.
Plus, chicken hearts are a cheap buy and this is a great way to sneak them into your meals.
I will do this tomorrow for sure. The related recipe of the terrine (posted a while ago) was a big success at home.
Will add the hearts from Sitara’s comment, just read it as I type this!
I do a very similar thing with beef liver and it is delicious, too. I grew up with chopped liver, though, so a trip down memory lane may be in order!
I use chicken broth instead of water and schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) instead of butter. Gives it a much richer flavor.
MMMM. I know what’s on menu for my next wine tasting! (Actually, it will be an olive oil tasting, so the buttery pate will go great, without adding a different oil flavor that might distract.)
I just made this today and it is wonderful! I always make it with mushrooms and bacon which is also wonderful but there is something about the liver and lots of butter that is magical! I did not use the bay leaf, added a touch of wine.
THE TRUE SECRET OF SMOOTH PATE –
The problem with liver pate of any kind is that you just never get all the conective tissue out, and blend all you like you will never make it like the canned variety soooo smooth. They just pulverise/overcook it to use all that stuff up.
Just do the recepy and then right at the end press it through a sive. Use a broad spoon and press all the pate through the sive. You’ll be amazed just how much connective tissue will be eliminated. What will come through the sive will be a smooth delicious pate. Do a bit at a time allowing to remove the sinue between presings. At least try it when you want to impress someone, or starting out with pate. It is extra work, but the result is just so supperior that its well worth it.
The second thing that I do is to then place the pate into bowls and then pour melted butter/lard over the top. This stops the browning / oxidisation on the top and drying out of the crust. The added benefit is more fat! lets face it you can never have enough fat !
OHMAHGAWD, this looks unbelievable! Easy too! I need to pick up some chicken livers this work for sure. I bought butter imported from Poland too, and I have to say, it’s delicious!
Pate is a favorite of mine. I also recommend using a swivel to remove connective tissue. I eat it garnished with onion and cucumber. I also pour it into a loaf pan and slice it. Make a wrap using lettuce leaves, rolling it around raw veggies. Be imaginative with the garnishes and you’ll have a new dish for every day of the week. It is lovely served with onion soup on a cold day.
I had only tried chicken liver twice in my life (didn’t really love it at the time) but suddenly had a craving for it about a month ago (about 24 hrs after a minor surgical procedure). I’m glad I gave into that craving because I really liked it this time around so I’m excited to try the pate recipe!
I don’t have any chicken livers atm but have a bunch of pork liver in my freezer. Does anyone know if I can use the same recipe for pork liver? This would be FAB, I love pates but am frequently turned off by the standard ingredient “fillers.”
late to reply, but i just made this with pork livers and it came out very good. a stronger liver flavor than chicken livers would give you, but very nice.
I bought some chicken livers on a whim. I’m trying to like them, but all my previous attempts have been failures. The flavor is too strong. But just tonight I made this recipe – went with 8 tablespoons of butter, managed to get it all done in a blender, and… man, it is delicious! I might have found a way to truly enjoy liver. Thanks mark!
What do you eat the pate with? I’ve never tried liver, but I just got some chicken livers at the farmers market yesterday and want the first try to be a success!
This makes a great omelet filling.
I don’t get it. Why use unsalted butter and then add salt?
Most commercial products use standard table salt – we add sea salt – much healthier.
I assume that home-made pate lacks the listeriosis risk of shop-bought stuff?
I generally use unsalted butter because salt, being a preservative, allows even good organic companies and stores to sell older butter. Using unsalted ensures that it is fresher. Also, don’t know about you, but once I started eating unprocessed stuff, my tastes changed and this allows me to control the level of salt to my own taste.
Thanks Mark for this, but I think I will pass on this one. I am not a liver fan in any way. I used to eat it as a kid but now as an adult I just can’t do it. Taste buds change.