Fillet of beef pâté

This was the first-ever recipe we tried from the From the Hearth recipe book, and we’ve made it three times now. It’s a bit intense, with four different types of meat (in various form factors) in a pastry casing. Basically it’s a fancy multilayered meatloaf with a crust.

We made it again for Thanksgiving this year, along with carrots à la Portugaise, dessert cream, and tarts. It’s an absolute brick, but despite it’s rather pretentious name and intimidating appearance, it’s not all that difficult to prepare. A few notes, however:

First, avoid substituting any meat with another fattier meat, as your loaf will end up swimming in the loaf pan at the end (we tried using lamb instead of veal in one instance, and I do not recommend it).

Second, with it’s inclusion of both veal and fillet mignon, this dish is on the pricier side.

Third, as written, this recipe has you add juices to the pâté after it is cooked: a bit of meat juice if you plan to serve it hot, or melted butter if you plan to serve it cold. Melted butter might seem like an odd choice, but this was a preservation technique rather than flavouring, the intention being that the liquid fat solidifies and seals the meat from the air. Regardless, I would suggest that adding either of these liquids is optional. Your pâté will likely be plenty juicy without any additions and, in terms of preservation, you almost certainly have access to a refrigerator. Of the three times we made this recipe, we only made this addition once, and it was not missed in the subsequent iterations.

Traditionally one would bake this dish in a pâté mold, but that is a rather unlikely artifact in the average kitchen. A regular loaf pan, 2½ – 3 inches deep, will do the trick.

Serves about 8 people.

Ingredients

1. Pastry

Sufficient pastry to line and cover pan (one recipe for a covered 9" pie)
1 egg (for glazing)

2. Forcemeat

1/2 lb. ground veal
1/2 lb. ground ham (not pork!)
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried chervil
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
pinch nutmeg or mace
pinch pepper
1 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
4-6 tbsp. fortified wine or reduced bouillon

3. Meat Layers

1¼-1½ lb. fillet mignon
1/2 cup fortified wine (for marinade)
Selection of spices like those in the forcemeat (for marinade)
6 slices bacon

4. Optional Extra Juiciness

3-4 tbsp. meat juice (if serving hot) OR 2-3 tbsp. butter (if serving cold)

Instructions

Cut the fillet mignon into thin slices, then flatten the slices further using a rolling pin. Make a marinade using the fortified wine and spices, and marinade the fillet mignon in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Create a batch of pastry sufficient to line and cover the loaf pan. Wrap it in something airtight and place it in the refrigerator for later.

Mix the forcemeat. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly, adjusting seasonings to your taste. The mixture should be wet enough to pack easily, but not dripping.

Line the loaf pan with pastry, leaving a generous flange at the top so you can crimp on a pastry cover.

Layer the meat and forcemeat into the pastry. Start with a layer of forcemeat at the bottom, then add a generous layer of fillet mignon, then two strips of bacon. Repeat, adding a second layer of forcemeat, fillet mignon, and another two strips of bacon. Finish with a final layer of forcemeat, and place the remaining two strips of bacon on top. 

Add a pastry cover. Dampen the exposed flange of the pastry with cold water and crimp the cover into place.

Using any remaining pastry, optionally cut out some pastry shapes and decorate the cover.

Cut a round vent in the center of the cover.

Brush the cover with beaten egg.

If you intend to add the optional extra juices, create a small funnel or spout using parchment paper or thin, buttered cardboard, and stick it into the vent in the cover. If the funnel tends to unravel, use a few loops of kitchen string to reinforce it.

Brush the cover with beaten egg a second time.

Bake the pâté for about 1½ hours (or about 20 minutes per pound). Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. It is done when the temperature reaches 160°F / 71°C.

If you intend to add the optional extra juices, do so now. If you intend to serve the pâté hot, add the meat juice through the funnel. If you intend to serve the pâté cold, add melted butter through the funnel.

After removing the pâté from the oven, let it rest for several minutes to re-absorb its liquids before cutting it. Do this regardless of whether you added the optional extra juices or butter.

You can probably get the butcher to grind the ham for you, but if you have a hand-cranked meat grinder they’re delightful to use.

Putting the forcemeat together.

Ready to layer in the meats. We used boar bacon in this recipe, but there is no requirement to do so.

The filling can exceed the top of the pastry somewhat. As long as you can get the cover on.

You may want to have some lemons on hand during assembly but note they provide no benefit whatsoever.

We added a parchment paper funnel to this pâté for the sake of illustrating the process. In our case it was never used, but something like this would do the trick.

Hot out of the oven.

Observant readers will notice that we only put in two layers of bacon, rather than the intended three. Simply a mistake on our part.

At least four animals died to bring you this image. Five if you count the lard in the pastry.

The Verdict

It looks impressive, is historically authentic, contains a long and somewhat unusual set of ingredients, tastes lovely, and can be prepared by a chef of only modest talents such as myself. At the same time, the ingredients are expensive and it takes a decent amount of time to put together. It’s clearly not an everyday meal, but for an amateur chef, this pâté can make a wonderful centerpiece to a holiday meal or special occasion. You can serve your guests something they’ve probably never had before, then regale them with your stories of flatting fillet mignon with a rolling pin and funneling butter into a colonial French meat ingot.

Also, notice how there is no salt in the recipe. The pastry and ground ham certainly contains some, but I would suggest this is insufficient. The recipe here is copied from the source material and for the sake of authenticity it has not been modified, but if you chuck a tablespoon of the stuff into the forcemeat you’ll have fewer people reaching for the salt shaker once the pâté reaches the table.