Creamy Chicken Liver Pâté

By Mark Bittman

Creamy Chicken Liver Pâté
Evan Sung for The New York Times
Total Time
20 minutes, plus 3 hours' refrigeration
Rating
5(353)
Comments
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French pâté is in fact easier to make than my grandmother’s chopped liver, which called for rendering chicken fat. Here, you just soften onions in butter, cook the livers, cool, purée and refrigerate.

You don’t have to bother with soaking the livers in milk, a step found in many recipes. Season aggressively: you want to taste the pepper, the coriander, the brandy and even the allspice and clove.

Finally, cook the liver quickly, over pretty high heat. What you want is to brown the outside while keeping the inside pink. This, perhaps, is another major difference between pâté and chopped liver, in which the livers are almost always cooked to death.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings
  • 10 to 15peppercorns
  • 2allspice berries
  • 1clove
  • 4coriander seeds
  • ½cup butter
  • 1onion, chopped
  • 1pound chicken livers
  • Salt
  • ⅓cup cream
  • 1 to 2tablespoons brandy
  • Bread or crackers for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

192 calories; 15 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 9 grams protein; 201 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder, combine peppercorns, allspice, clove and coriander seeds; grind until fine and set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; when foam subsides, add onion and cook until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add livers to pan and sprinkle with salt; cook livers on one side until they begin to brown, about 2 minutes, then flip them and cook the other side. Be sure to keep heat relatively high so that the outside of livers sears and inside stays pink.

  3. Step 3

    Put onion, livers and their buttery juices into a food processor or blender with remaining butter, the cream, spices and brandy. Purée mixture until it is smooth; taste and adjust seasoning.

  4. Step 4

    Put pâté in a terrine or bowl, smooth top and put in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours or until fully set. Serve pâté with bread or crackers.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
353 user ratings
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Comments

Janet

In a pinch, you can put the spices in a small plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin, bottle, or glass. Or pound the heck out of them with the smooth side of a meat mallet.

Grace Hinton

Delicious. I deglazed the pan with cognac so I wouldn't lose what my grandmother called "the jewels of the kitchen" at the bottom of the pan.

Neal

I would add about half again the amount of spices. While the finished pate was tasty, it was, at least for my palate, a little too close in taste, to a standard pureed chopped liver. The amount of brandy was enough. Would definitely make again. Thanks.

Tansy

This is amazing. I’m not sure how it’s even possible but this tastes like turkey dinner- the whole turkey dinner!! I followed the recipe exactly.

Matthias Pychlau

Melt the onions first and put aside or they might turn brown when cooking the liver. Add the cooked liver to the onions and use the brandy to loosen the remainder from the frying pan.

Els

Do I need to do anything to the liver to prep it for cooking? Trim or whatever? I can’t find any info on this

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