Author Notes
As I was nearing Meatless March I had a sudden craving for my dad's chicken liver paté (or Gehachte). He made it often and would deliver it in small tubs to friends with wobbly, hand-scrawled labels and notes. While I was rarely a fan of the smell of the cooking livers, the onions that he slowly browned until just this side of burnt filled the house with a wonderfully caramelized sweetness and the final product was always satisfying. —savorthis
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Ingredients
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1 pint
chicken livers
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1 tablespoon
butter
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1 cup
milk (enough to cover livers)
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1
medium onion, chopped
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4
eggs
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4 tablespoons
chicken fat
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1/8 cup
cognac (optional)
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parsley
Directions
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Rinse livers, trim the sinewy bits, then soak in milk in the fridge for a couple hours. Rinse, pat dry. Season with salt and pepper, then brown in butter until barely pink inside.
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Add cognac to pan and simmer until evaporated. Cool.
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Bring eggs to a boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit 6 minutes. Rinse under cold water, peel, set aside.
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Finely chop onions and slooowwwwwllllly brown onions in chicken fat or butter (I have also used duck fat) with a pinch of salt until very, very brown. Almost black, they are so slowly and perfectly browned.
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My dad would now just put the livers and eggs through a meat grinder and stir in the fat and onions, season and be done. For me, the grainy texture was never appealing, so I put the livers, onions, 2 eggs, s&p into the cuisenart and blended until smooth adding about 4 tablespoons of fat a pinch at a time until it was incorporated and velvety. I also stirred in some chopped parsley.
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Finally, separate the whites and yolks of the remaining eggs and push them through a sieve decorating the top of the paté like an egg.
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I served this with slices of grilled baguette brushed with oil but my dad served them with "tiny rye breads" or saltines which are equally good.
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