Charcuterie

What is Paté?

Pâté (pronounced pah-TAY) is French for "pie." It is traditionally served baked in a crust (en croûte) or molded as a terrine.

The crust, interestingly enough, was not originally intended to be eaten, but to hold the pâté together.

Today, the terms pâté and terrine are often used interchangeably. Pâté is simply a mixture of seasoned ground seafood, poultry, meat or vegetables, and often a combination of several different base ingredients/
Beef, pork, liver, ham, seafood, wild game, poultry, and vegetables are all candidates for pâté. The grind can be smooth and creamy or on the chunky side. It may be served hot or cold, molded or unmolded.

What is Terrine?

A terrine is a French term used to describe a preparation made in a deep glazed usually rectangular earthenware dish with tall sides.
Terrines are often made of mixed meats or game, as in a pâté or foie gras; but the term can also apply to terrines made from vegetables, seafood or fruits.
Ranging in style from the rustic -- served straight from the container and making handy picnic food -- to the elegant, served in neat slices that show off their ingredients, terrines may be served warm or cold, depending on the preparation.
Terrines are flavored with a variety of seasonings, and often enriched with alcohol, then usually cooked covered in a bain marie to ensure even cooking and to prevent the ingredients from drying out.

What is galantine?

In the culinary arts, a traditional galantine is a deboned chicken wrapped in its own skin along with ground meat and other ingredients, and then cooked. A galantine is cooked either by poaching it in stock or roasting it.
Traditionally, a galantine is made only with chicken. Galantines are served cold, coated inaspic.
Galantines come under the culinary category of charcuterie, or sausage making, which in turn is a part of the classical garde manger.

What is rillettes?

Rillette is a seasoned meat spread traditionally made with pork, although a wide variety of other meats can be used, as well as seafood. It is often called the “poor man's pate,” since it has the creamy, smooth consistency of pate, but it is far less costly. This spread is also used much like pate on things like crackers and bread as an appetizer. Some specialty butchers and delis make rillette for sale, and it is also possible to make this dish at home.

To make rillette, or rillettes as it is also known, cooks start by cubing a cut of meat, salting it, and adding it to a cooking pot with some fat and seasonings. Some cooks like to make rillette on the stovetop, while others prefer to bake it. In either case, the meat is allowed to cook for four to six hours, until it is falling apart. At this stage, the meat is drained, shredded, spiced, and compressed. Compression is usually accomplished by packing the meat into a ramekin or small bowl, and then weighting it.

Once the meat has compressed for several hours, it is covered in a thin layer of fat and refrigerated for three days. This resting period allows the flavors in the rillette to more fully mingle and develop, enhancing the spicy taste of the dish while also allowing the meat to soften a little more. Once the meat has rested, it will keep for approximately 10 days under refrigeration.


Rillette can be served straight out of the dish it is cured in, or it may be unmolded and presented on a plate. In some regions of France, rillette is molded into fanciful shapes like pyramids and garnished with cured meats or vegetables to create a centerpiece. As a general rule, rillette is served chilled, and spread lightly across crackers and breads. This meat paste is quite rich, so a little bit tends to go a long way.

Goose, duck, chicken, and game birds are all popular choices for rillette, along with the classic pork. Seafood rillette made with salmon, tuna, anchovies, and other fishes is also sometimes available, and the meat may be blended with bread crumbs and vegetable fillers to make the dish a little less intense. Vegetarians can make their own version of rillette with slow-cooked vegetables browned in olive oil and heavily spiced.

Forcemeat ?

Forcemeat is a combination of meat, fat, seasonings and other ingredients that are blended together through grinding or puréeing to form an emulsion.

Forcemeat is used as the main ingredient in making sausages, pâtés, terrines, galantines and other charcuterie items.

Traditional or straight forcemeat is made with pork meat and pork fat, along with a primary meat such as fish, seafood, veal, poultry or game.

Country-style forcemeat has a coarser texture and traditionally includes pork liver along with some garnish of nuts or vegetables. It usually uses some sort of binder, called a panada, such as cubes of bread soaked in egg and milk.

Charcuterie is a way to utilize product. It is also considered a method of preservation. The others preservation methods are canning, freezing and drying.

Canning is the process of applying heat to food that’s sealed in a jar in order to destroy any microorganisms that can cause food spoilage. Proper canning techniques stop this spoilage by heating the food for a specific period of time and killing these unwanted microorganisms. During the canning process, air is driven from the jar and a vacuum is formed as the jar cools and seals.

Freezing foods is the art of preparing, packaging, and freezing foods at their peak of freshness. You can freeze most fresh vegetables and fruits, meats and fish, breads and cakes, and clear soups and casseroles. The keys to freezing food are to make sure it’s absolutely fresh, that you freeze it as quickly as possible, and that you keep it at a proper frozen temperature (0 degrees).

Drying is the oldest method known for preserving food. When you dry food, you expose the food to a temperature that’s high enough to remove the moisture but low enough that it doesn’t cook. Good air circulation assists in evenly drying the food.

An electric dehydrator is the best and most efficient unit for drying, or dehydrating, food. Today’s units include a thermostat and fan to help regulate temperatures much better. You can also dry food in your oven or by using the heat of the sun, but the process will take longer and produce inferior results to food dried in a dehydrator.

Experiment with Gelatine Sheet and Gelatine Powder:

Gelatin powder is gelatin that has been dried and broken up into individual grains, which has the advantage if dispersing more easily throughout a dish. Gelatin sheets are made from gelatin that is dried in a flat sheet. Sheets result in a clearer, more transparent final product than powder.

Desserts made with gelatin should chill for at least eight hours, but twenty four hours is best. After twenty four hours, gelatin will not set any further.

Be aware that freezing gelatin will cause syneresis upon thawing. This is the disintegration of the gel, which is accompanied by the weeping of liquid from it.

The type of gel created is dependent on how much gelatin you use. For powdered gelatin the ratios often range from 0.5% to 1.0% for soft, tender gels. For very hard, firm gels it can be used in ratios of upwards of 6% but the typical range for firmer gels is 1% to 3%. If you are using sheet gelatin you will use 0.27-0.55 sheets per 100 grams of liquid for soft gels and 0.55 to 1.6 sheets per 100 grams of liquid for firmer gels. For very firm gels more than 3.3 sheets per 100 grams of liquid is sometimes used.

What would be an alternative to gelatin and how can it be used

1. Agar-agar, agar or Kanten
It's made of: cooked and pressed algae and often used: Asian desserts and firm jellies
Flavor and texture: Flavorless and has a firmer, less jiggly texture than gelatin.

How to use it: Agar needs to be heated to dissolve properly. The powdered form of agar is easiest to measure and use; bars and flakes should be dissolved in water first or can be broken down into a powder using a coffee or spice grinder. It sets in about an hour at room temperature.
1 teaspoon gelatin = 1 teaspoon agar powder (this will set 1 cup of liquid)
1 teaspoon agar powder = 1 tablespoon agar flakes = 1/2 agar bar

2. Carrageenan, Carrageen, or Irish Moss
It's made of: dried seaweed; carrageen extract called carrageenan is used in some vegan Kosher gel products like Lieber's Unflavored Jel often used: soft jellies, puddings, mousses, soups, ice creams, dairy products
Flavor and texture: Flavorless and sets things more softly than regular gelatin; melts in the mouth. Use iota carrageenan for soft gels and puddings and kappa carrageenan in harder gel products.

How to use it: To use the carrageen in its dried seaweed form (look for whole, not powdered), rinse it well, soak it in water for about 12 hours until it swells, then boil it thoroughly with the liquid you want to set before you strain it out.
To set 1 cup of liquid, use 1 ounce dried carrageen

3.Vegan Jel
It's made of: Faith highly recommends Unflavored Vegan Jel by Natural Desserts, which is made of vegetable gum (we're not sure what kind), adipic acid, tapioca dextrin, calcium phosphate, and potassium citrate and often used: Anywhere gelatin is used
Flavor and texture: As Faith wrote in her panna cotta post, Vegan Jel "sets softly, melts in the mouth, and is by far the closest thing to regular unflavored gelatin that I have found."
How to use it: Beat this powder into cold water until dissolved.
1 teaspoon gelatin = 1 1/2 teaspoons Vegan Jel