Homemade Chicken Liver Pâté
A chicken liver pâté blended with its own cooking liquid and bound with cream cheese instead of butter: lighter, with a tang the classic version does not have. It comes from a children's cookbook — liver is among the densest sources of iron there is — but with a splash of brandy and some herbs it holds its own on any board. Fifteen minutes of work and four hours in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 400 g chicken livers
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 30 ml brandy, port or sherry
- 200 ml hot chicken stock
- 150 g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
Method
- 1
Clean the livers: pull out the white sinew and any greenish patches, which are what turn bitter. Cut them into even pieces and pat them thoroughly dry — wet, they steam instead of searing.
- 2
Heat the oil until it just smokes and sear the livers in batches, without crowding the pan, a minute a side. They should colour outside; the centre finishes later.
- 3
Lower the heat, add the onion and celery with a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes until translucent.
- 4
Pour in the brandy and scrape the base of the pan with a wooden spoon until the alcohol has burned off. This step is not in the original and it changes the most: liver without acid tastes strongly of iron, and the brandy lifts it.
- 5
Add the hot stock, the bay and the thyme, and cook gently for 10 minutes more. ⚠️ Chicken liver must be cooked through, with no pink in the centre: this is not a matter of taste — undercooked chicken liver is a common cause of food poisoning.
- 6
Remove the bay and thyme. Blend everything including the cooking liquid: half the flavour is in there, and it is what stops the pâté drying out.
- 7
Let it cool to lukewarm and only then blend in the cream cheese, until smooth. Added hot, it splits.
- 8
Season generously with salt and pepper and add the nutmeg. Taste it cold before adjusting: cold mutes salt, so warm it always tastes more seasoned than it will end up.
- 9
Transfer to a dish and cover with cling film pressed onto the surface, with no air between. Liver oxidises and greys on top within hours; film against the surface prevents it.
- 10
Chill for at least 4 hours. It is better the next day, once the bay and thyme have spread through. Well covered it keeps three or four days.