Ground meat, fat and liver baked in a mould, or liver blended with butter until smooth. Country pâté is coarse and rustic; a parfait is silky and roughly half butter. Both live or die on being cooked to temperature rather than to time.
Pâté de campagne is coarsely ground pork shoulder and fat with a proportion of liver — usually 10-25% — bound with egg and seasoned, packed into a terrine mould often lined with caul fat or bacon, and baked in a water bath. A parfait or mousse is the smooth end: liver cooked briefly, blended with a large quantity of butter and often cream and brandy, passed through a sieve and set in the fridge under a butter seal. Terrine technically refers to the mould, though it's used interchangeably. Caul fat — the lacy membrane from around the stomach — melts during baking and bastes from the outside.
For a baked pâté, the water bath is doing the essential work: it caps the effective cooking temperature and heats the mould evenly, so the proteins set gently instead of contracting and squeezing out fat and moisture, which is what produces a greasy, crumbly terrine sitting in a pool. Internal temperature is the reliable control at 150-160°F. For a smooth parfait, the emulsion of liver, butter and liquid depends on temperature: too hot and it splits, too cold and it won't come together, so the butter is added to warm — not hot — liver. Both improve after two or three days as the seasoning distributes and the texture firms.
The bath moderates heat so the mixture sets rather than shrinking and weeping fat.
HowLine the mould with caul fat or bacon, pack the mixture in and fold over, cover with foil. Into a roasting tin with hot water halfway up, 300°F for one and a half to two hours to 150-160°F internal. Cool, then weight it overnight in the fridge.
The smooth, rich end of the category, and much faster than a baked terrine.
HowSear livers briefly still pink, deglaze with brandy and reduce, then blend hot with an equal weight of softened butter and pass through a fine sieve. Set in ramekins under a layer of clarified butter.
Pressing while it cools compacts the mixture and removes air pockets, which is the difference between a terrine that slices and one that crumbles.
HowA board and a couple of tins on top, overnight in the fridge. Some fat and jelly will be forced out; that's expected.
It's fat and salt, so it needs acid — every traditional accompaniment is a form of vinegar.
HowCornichons, pickled onions, mustard and bread. Nothing else is required.
The water bath is not a refinement. Baked dry in an oven, the outside of the terrine races ahead of the centre, the proteins contract hard and squeeze out fat and moisture, and what emerges is a shrunken, greasy block sitting in a pool of rendered fat with a crumbly texture. The bath caps the effective temperature and heats the mould evenly so the mixture sets gently. The second error is impatience. A pâté eaten the day it's made tastes flat and under-seasoned and hasn't firmed enough to slice cleanly — two to three days in the fridge under weight lets the salt and aromatics distribute and the texture set. It's one of the few dishes where the recipe genuinely includes waiting.
Country pâté should look coarse with visible pieces of meat and fat rather than uniform, and should smell rich rather than metallic — an aggressive liver smell means either too much liver or an old one. Smooth parfaits should be pale and even. Buy from a deli that makes its own if you can. Both keep about a week refrigerated once cut; a parfait sealed under butter keeps longer until broken. If making your own, pork shoulder, back fat and chicken livers cost very little, which makes it one of the cheapest impressive things to produce.
Doneness: Baked terrines to 150-160°F internal in a 300°F oven with a water bath — one and a half to two hours. Then cooled and weighted overnight. Serve at room temperature, out of the fridge twenty to thirty minutes, since cold fat mutes everything.
Terrine strictly refers to the earthenware mould and to anything cooked in one; pâté originally meant something baked in pastry. In practice the words are used interchangeably, with pâté leaning toward smoother preparations and terrine toward coarse ones. Nobody will misunderstand you either way.
Almost certainly baked without a water bath, or taken well past 160°F. Both cause the proteins to contract sharply and expel fat and moisture, leaving a dry crumbly texture and a pool of grease. Use a bath, use a thermometer, and pull at 150-160°F. Weighting it as it cools also compacts the texture and helps it slice.
Two to three days minimum, weighted, in the fridge. The seasoning needs time to distribute and the texture needs time to set — a terrine cut the same day tastes under-seasoned and falls apart. Five days is better. It keeps about a week after that, or longer sealed under a layer of fat.