Duck Liver and Heart Pate
I reserved the heart and liver of the two muscovy ducks that we processed, because I am a fiend of offal and really wanted to make a pate. Due to the muscovy’s large size, foie gras de canard (duck fatty liver) is usually made from the livers of moulards–a sterile hybrid between a muscovy duck and a mallard derived duck like the peking. The peking duck has the fat content, while the lean muscovy duck brings its size into the new mix of genes.
My muscovies free range, which means that they’re even lower in fat than the ones that live the entirety of their lives in a box (click here to read about the pros and cons of keeping muscovies). The tender liver, lacking much fat, is closer to that of a chicken’s, with the delicate flavor of duck that I so love.
I used an egg to stretch the pate and give it a smoother texture, so I suppose this is like a hybrid between chopped liver and pate. I capped it with a layer of butter, so that it will keep for longer and the pate won’t oxidize and dry out from coming into contact with air.
It came out beautifully, the duck hearts were surprisingly tender, and I ended up with two adorable little ramakins of it. I didn’t have any rendered duck fat, but I would have used some of that in place of part of the butter for a deeper duck flavor. Muscovy has a sweetness to it that I find quite delicious. Serve with melba toast or sliced French bread.
Ingredients
- 2 muscovy duck livers
- 2 muscovy duck hearts, chopped
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons diced shallots (or red onion)
- 1 pinch thyme
- 2 tablespoon sherry or bourbon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter (or 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon duck fat)
1. Boil an egg, peel and put to the side.
2. In a pan, place 1 tablespoon of butter and sautee shallots over medium heat until fragrant. Add pinch of thyme, salt, and pepper.
3. Cook liver and hearts until just done (overcooking will lead to toughness) and add 1 tablespoon of sherry or bourbon to the pan. Immediately remove from heat.
4. Place egg and all the contents of the pan into a food processor. Add two tablespoons of cold butter (or 1 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of rendered duck fat). Process until desired consistency.
5. Place pate into ramakins. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and pour over the pate. Refrigerate until butter cap is set.