"Pate" news and stories

As the ongoing recession/inflation/credit crunch drives the cost of food higher and higher, British chain Sainsbury's has begun working to minimize food wastage. Meanwhile, ever-increasing numbers of consumers are cooking from scratch in an attempt to stretch their food budgets. Clearly, thrift is back!

As you rush around in your search for cheap things to eat, it's worth remembering that, in the kitchen at least, poverty can definitely be the mother of invention. Although cheap gas, greenhouse gardening, and factory farming drove down the price of food for most of the last century, the vast majority of human history has been characterized by the desperate search for sustenance. Keeping that in mind, here's a reminder about a few of the techniques that long-gone chefs once developed to preserve the harvest, get their vitamins, and avoid throwing anything away:

Organ meats: In the days before easy canning and greenhouse gardening, it was incredibly difficult to get the necessary daily allowance of vitamins. Lacking access to fresh fruits and vegetables, medieval farmers turned to organ meats. For example, rich in iron and Vitamin A, the liver was a dietary staple for generations. Similarly, kidneys, sweetbreads, and brains are also great sources of necessary vitamins. Much later, immigrants and the lower classes continued to eat these organs, as they were healthy and relatively inexpensive.

One of my favorite things in the world is a thick wedge of pâté de campagne - rustic French pork pâté - served with crusty bread, coarse mustard, and a little jar of pickles. The buttery pâté is cut by a bracing smear of mustard, given body and crunch by the bread. And digging cornichons and pickled pearl onions out of the jar with a tiny fork and popping them, whole, in your mouth, is just plain fun. This combo makes a great dinner party appetizer because, like roll-your-own sushi, it gives guests something to do with their hands while they get to know each other (and you put the finishing touches on the lamb chops). But I admit I always thought pâté was something you bought, at exorbitant cost, at your local chichi market, not something you made yourself.

But a New York Times story about a new book, Terrine, by Stéphane Reynaud, has me ready to bust out the pork belly and a rectangular pan. The book includes recipes for terrines of all types, from pork head to chicken and lemon, to vegetarian zucchini with cream. Check out the article for two free recipes.

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When I saw a post on ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal about chitlins my first instinct was to exclaim, "Korean soul food? Say what!" Then I thought about it a little more, and I realized that with its hearty casseroles and stews, Korean cuisine has a lot in common with American soul food. It's just that the above dish of gobchang gui is, how to put this, a bit more soulful than other Korean fare I've encountered.

Technically, they're not chitlins, since they're beef, not pork, intestines. Either way, the dish sounds delicious. Some of you out there might be grossed out by the concept of eating a cow's small intestines. Not me, especially when I read that they taste like bacon and are stuffed with Korean pâté. Drool. To complete the organ meat orgy there was Makchang (sliced large intestine), beef heart and tripe smothered in pâté.

ZKFJ's author is lucky to be based in Korea. I've enjoyed Korean blood sausage in my native Queens, but have yet to encounter what amount to pâté-filled sausages. I gots to get me some gobchang y'all.

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Yesterday, August 22nd, was the last day that foie gras was served in Chicago without penalty to restaurateurs. All across the city, diners were savoring their last few bites of the rich, fatty delicacy that could be purchased within the city limits.

And instead of expressing resignation, people are still worked up over the ban. Chicago Mayor Daley, who had a change to veto the ban but did not take it, wants the City Council to reconsider and says that he won't push for aggressive enforcement of the law. Daley asserts that only a handful of restaurants even serve the food, though other sources note that even a number of "downscale" places added it to their menus, making the total higher than Daley's guess of 5 or 6 restaurants.

The city council has no intention of repealing the ban, according to Alderman Joe Moore, especially because they are not alone in banning foie gras, joining ten European countries and California that have total or partial bans on the manufacture and sale of the delicacy. Alderman also notes that the Mayor cannot "pick and choose which laws to enforce," so the ban will receive the same attention as other matters.

For those still looking to get a taste of foie gras in Chicago, chef Tony Mantuano at Spiaggia is serving up a vegetarian version "made from chickpeas, vin santo and olive oil, among other ingredients" on crostini. At Tru, the caviar lounge is serving a "faux gras" made with chicken liver.

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Until this dish, I was never a liver lover. Once again, I witnessed the amazing transformative properties of bacon, actually, in this case, pancetta. The following recipe has evolved since I started making it, and over the years I've incorporated aspects of recipes from Saveur, Marcella Hazan and Mark Bittman.

While this 'sauce' can easily serve as a fine pasta course with some pappardelle, my favorite thing to do is turn it into a paté by blending it in the food processor with a little tomato paste. The tomato paste adds an acidic sweetness to the liver and turns the color from that muddy paté-gray to a wonderful rust color.

[Photo: Nick Vagnoni]