August 12, 2014

Chinese Style Chicken Liver Pâté 中式雞肝醬

chicken, chinese style, liver, Liver Pâté,  中式, pate, recipe, 雞肝醬,
By Published: 2014-08-12
 
I love getting a bit of organ meat into our meals if I can, they are just so power packed full of vitamin goodness.  One of my favorite ways to do this is to make liver pâté (with a Chinese twist of course!) which we then have in the mornings for breakfast, smeared on a bit of toasted homemade bread.

Yummy!  I love liver!  It's just so tasty.  It is definitely one of my favorite organ meats.  And if you make this Chinese Style Chicken Liver Pâté, it's super easy to make, very yummy, pretty to look at, and a little pate goes a long way!

chicken, chinese style, liver, Liver Pâté,  中式, pate, recipe, 雞肝醬,

If you've never tried organ meats, let me tell, you're really missing out!  When I first moved to Hong Kong, I had only ever tried one organ meat which was liver (which I loved the first time I had it as a wee lass!)  However, being in Hong Kong and around serious traditional Chinese cooking, I soon discovered that there are tons of different kinds of organ meats to eat.  

Some of these organ based foods are simply spectacular!  Like the pork large intestine, slow cooked in a flavorful broth until meltingly tender, soft yet uniquely chewy, a special savory treat that you get hooked on!  Or Pork Lung and Almond Soup, a milky white deliciously soothing and detoxifying soup.  Incredible!  

And yet one just has to dive into a bit of the food history of any culture to discover that eating organ meats has been a part of all traditional food cultures all the way up until the modern age, when everyone got suddenly goose bumpy about it.  It's really tasty stuff when prepared properly and, you know what else?  Your body needs it!  Organ meat is an essential part of a truly well rounded, well balanced diet.

The secret to the this yummiliciously creamy pâté is to get livers as fresh as you can and then soak the livers in milk overnight.  The first couple of times I made this pâté I only soaked the liver for about an hour or so.  My 老公 was 'meh' about the taste.  Then one night I forgot about my lovely livers in their milky white bath (in the fridge of course) and left it over night.  Wow, that mistake was the winning ticket!  The slight gamey taste was completely gone!  

And now my delicious pâté disappears quick as a flash!  This quick, easy to make Chinese Style Liver Pâté has become our go to recipe for a flavorful, aromatic, organ meat taste blast.  Plus, guess what?!  My little girl loves the stuff, even asks for it!
Chinese Style Liver Pâté Recipe
(Prep time: 12 hours  Cook time: 5 mins)

Ingredients:


Directions:

Pour enough milk to completely cover livers in non reactive dish, cover and soak overnight in fridge.

Prepare liver by cutting connective tissue off with sharp knife.  Melt 2 tbsp butter in frying pan, add garlic.  When garlic starts getting golden brown add the livers.  Fry at medium heat until livers start browning then flip over.

When livers start to brown add thyme, anchovy, soy sauce and stir for another minute or til throughly cooked.  (Test doneness by slicing into a liver to check for a slight pinkness at the center.)  Add the rice wine, lower heat and stir until syrupy.  Let cool completely.

Pulse with a blender stick until liver is pureed.  Add 2 tbsp butter and pulse until just mixed.  Add cream and gently stir in.  Pack into ramekin and refrigerate.  Should set into a pâté consistency in an hour.  Keep in fridge and eat up in 3 days. (If it lasts that long!)

Tip:  For a lovely dense pâté texture try our Chinese Style Coarse Liver Pâté!  A bit more work but really a treat if you like pâté.

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2 comments:

  1. Hi Ellen,

    The anchovy in this recipe is the Western anchovy or the Chinese anchovy?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi PL - these are western anchovies ~ ellen

    ReplyDelete