PFB2010 Challenge #4: Laurent Tourondel & BLT's Chicken Liver Pate

BLT

8720 W Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 360-1950

It's no secret to anyone reading this blog through time that I love to recreate at home things I have eaten out; from Jonathon Sedlar's Mexico City Sundae and Andre Guerrero's Oyster Po' Boy Sliders to Chaya's Happy Hour albacore poke and Nob Hill's pear/pomegranite/tarragon highball. Usually without a recipe, throwing caution to the wind. Today I took a more well traveled path.

chicken liver spread at BLT

I have been in love with the chicken liver pate at BLT since first bite.  BLT is one of our favorite steakhouses in town, in the world. It is sleek in that Hollywood way, with deep leather booths, sofas in the lounge area, soft lighting. But BLT is also earthy. Place mats are anatomically correct maps of prime beef cuts, salt & pepper are served in giant stainless steel shakers, and the raw bar menu is published on a board with plastic letters like the ones kids stick to the refrigerator door. Best of all BLT starts your meal off with huge popovers and a heavenly chicken liver pate in glass hinged Mason jars.

equally infamous popovers at BLT

This chicken liver pate is ooh'd and aah'd about all around the country. It is raved about from Hawaii to White Plains.  Foodies Like Us comment, “This pate is so good I want to take it on a naughty weekend to Las Vegas.” Even the Chowhounds are chatting about its delicious decadence.  When we dine at BLT it is this dish I am anticipating with mouth watering preoccupation. So when I advanced to the fourth round of the FoodBuzz Project Food Blog, I decided to take on this simple and somewhat seductive offal spread.

Challenge #4's prompt:

Sure, you can take a pretty picture. But your task here is to go above and beyond and use the photography to create a step-by-step, instructional photo tutorial of how to make something. It could be anything from how to bone a chicken to how to make your favorite recipe, but it must tell us how do it using the photo series to show us as you tell us. Choose your recipe wisely and create a photo series that's easy to follow and tasty too! The Text should support your Photos, but the emphasis of the Post should be telling the story through the Photos.

I did some digging and found the recipe published online at The Washingtonian in the Best Bites blog. Happy day! Although Chef Laurent Tourondel is no longer with the BLT group, The Washingtonian reports that this is his recipe and is published in his cookbook, New American Bistro Cooking.

ingredients

Warm Chicken-Liver Spread

Serves 6
1 bay leaf
7 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup ruby port
1 shallot, thinly sliced, plus 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced, plus 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 pound chicken livers, trimmed
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1¼ teaspoons pink salt (or regular sea salt)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons duck fat or extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Fleur de sel, as needed
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 thick slices country bread, toasted
Cornichons or pickled vegetables for garnish

Clockwise from upper left: bay leaf, thyme sprigs, garlic and shallots, one pound chicken livers, ruby port, olive oil, Spanish brandy (the good stuff, it's all we have, I took a sip maybe), sweet butter, duck fat, three kinds of salt (kosher, fleur de sel, Hawaiian red salt) and freshly ground pepper. When I am my best cooking self, I organize my items ahead of time. Being this organized while cooking causes less of a maelstrom in my mind but I admit to enjoying playing the mad scientist from time to time in the kitchen.

Time to get started with the mise:

Thinly slice shallot.

Garlic tutorial: When chopping or slicing garlic, there is a fast and easy way to get garlic out of it's shell.  Place flat edge of chef's knife against clove. Hit the side of the knife rather hard with the heel of your palm, above left. Above right, see how the shell is split open? Below left, the paper peels right off and you are left with a slightly crushed clove completely shell free.

For this stage of the recipe, slice garlic thinly, like a smaller version of the shallot.

Make the reduction:
Tie the bay leaf and 2 sprigs of thyme together with kitchen twine. In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the port, herb bundle, sliced shallot, and sliced garlic to a simmer. Cook until the port is reduced to the consistency of a thick syrup. Remove the herb bundle.

reducing

Above, to the port I add herbs, garlic, shallot all loosely rather than tied together for lack of kitchen twine.  

When reducing a liquid, you need to bring the mixture to a rapid boil. Then back off heat so liquids are at a slow simmer.  

A reduction is a physical process, not chemical like so many things that happen in the kitchen. Reduction is simply when the water from your liquid evaporates due to the heat and escapes as gas into the air around you. This leaves your liquid thicker with more concentrated flavors.  You can see the results of the reduction above. There is much less liquid in the pot and as I swoosh the wooden spoon through the thickened liquid the syrup-like texture oozes slowly to refill the space.

The recipe asks that I remove the entwined herbs from the syrup, but since I don't have twine I have to strain the herbs from the liquid using a small hand strainer. The entire original cup of liquid barely makes a quarter cup reduction in the bottom of my Pyrex measuring cup.

Cook the chicken livers:

Season the chicken livers with the sea salt, pink salt, and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the duck fat in a large skillet over high heat. When the pan is nearly smoking, add half the livers and brown on 1 side, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side until golden brown but still pink in the center, about 1 minute more. Stir in half of the chopped shallots and chopped garlic. Pour in 1½ tablespoons of the Cognac and heat 1 minute. Scrape the mixture into a bowl. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Heat duck fat on medium-high until very hot.

Cooking the liver is not the prettiest stage of the process.  The recipe asks that we cook the pound of liver in two halves. I imagine this is so you can keep a close eye on the cooking process. Overcooked liver is not luxurious and seductive. Also, instead of seasoning the livers themselves, I seasoned the very hot duck fat in the saute pan.

Next, I added the fresh chicken livers, tossed with the seasoned duck fat, brandy, garlic and shallots. 

I sauteed until one side was nicely browned but I could still see pink in the middle.  I gently turned the livers and browned the other side, then removed to a glass bowl. Both sides should look nicely browned as below.

It was really starting to smell fantastic in my cozy kitchen.

Blend the mixture: 

In a food processor, combine the livers and port syrup. Process until smooth. Blend in the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape the mixture into a bowl. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. (The pâté can be made ahead up to this point. Cover and chill for up to 3 days. To reheat, place the spread in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, until warm.)

Top left, cooked liver in the glass bowl. Moved to the ancient Braun processor top right. Bottom left, I added the ruby port reduction/syrup. Bottom right, I pureed the deliciousness.

To blend in butter, I quartered the two tablespoons of unsalted (sweet) butter. I used the pulse function on my Braun to blend the butter slowly, creating some fluffiness in the pate.

To serve:

Remove the leaves from the remaining thyme sprigs. Garnish the pâté with the thyme leaves, a sprinkling of fleur de sel, and the extra virgin olive oil. Serve warm with country bread and cornichons or pickled vegetables.

Naturally, because I am more of an executor than an innovator, I spooned mine into a Mason jar. Garnished with a tiny sprig of thyme and a little olive oil, it is waiting in the fridge for tomorrow's mah jongg. I licked all the spoons. My reproduction is equally as wonderful as what I could have for dinner just 9 miles west on Sunset at BLT. 

I caught my sous chef taking a nap in the back room again. He is so fired.

Tourondel's chicken liver pate in action at mah jongg the next day. On a slice of ciabatta with thyme leaves and a little apricot jam from The Cheese Store of Silverlake.  Delicious.