homemade pates

[rzn]

my husband hunts, & I have a friend that really enjoys pates. So I thought that this year I'd try to make her some homemade duck (maybe goose) pate. Any suggestions for recipe sources, preferences (personally I don't really care for the stuff-but we are talking about someone that I gave kidneys to one year for Xmas for steak & kidney pie, so let's just say our tastes are different!) I am very plain vanilla compared to her. I'd like to make a couple of different kinds, the duck livers at least are in abundance this year.

How long does stuff like this keep, & does it freeze?

[maguire1]

pates are fun to make. they take a little practice to figure out what your looking for in the final product.
if giving it for a gift, i like to make them in smaller batches such as ramekins or other small oven proof glass. after the pate or mousse is cooked and cooled, top it in enough melted duck fat or clarified butter. this creates a seal that will keep it perserved for up to 2 months. once the sealed is broken it should be eaten within a week or so. but with the smaller the batches that you give, the longer the gift will last.
also, the lower the tempeture of the oven when you cook it the better, has something to do with the coagulation of the proteins.
hope it helps a little bit

[rzn]

what do you seal the top with?

can they be "canned"?

Do you have a good source for recipies? The ones I have seen so far have seemed mostly like liver, cream, onions & a little bit of spices. If that is all there is that's fine, but if there are some more unusual ones out there that are good that would be even better. This is someone who would go out & buy good pate for themselves on occasion, so if I could make something that they are not likely to reproduce at a store that they would enjoy that would be gravy.

apparently, goose season & duck season open back up just before christmas, so I should be able to get very fresh duck & goose livers, (we'll see), I'd like to do one of each of those, a mushroom based one & a cheese one in some sort of small decorative container for them to keep. This is of course assuming the great white hunter is sucessful, which is not always a given. I may be going to barnes & nobel.