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Mock Pate De Foie Gras

A mock pâté made from calf liver, spices, and onion‑infused water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Pate De Foie Gras

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver and tongue

  1. Boil the calf's liver in slightly salted water until tender.

  2. Boil the tongue in another vessel the day before it is needed.

  3. Cut the liver into small pieces.

  4. Rub the pieces gradually to a paste, moistening with melted butter.

Season and pack

  1. Add a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper, half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg, some ground cloves and mace, a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon of French mustard, salt to taste, and a tablespoon of boiling water in which a large onion has been steeped. Mix thoroughly.

  2. Pack the mixture in jelly pots very hard, inserting bits of the tongue here and there.

  3. Cover the pots with melted butter and fasten the lids.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

86Calories
2 gProtein
2 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Calf's liver (in the method)
Forms the main body of the pâté, becoming smooth and spreadable when rubbed to a paste.
Melted butter (in the method)
Adds richness and moisture, helping the liver paste spread and sealing the top of the pots.
Tongue (in the method)
Adds meaty texture in pieces set through the pâté.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the liver and fat.

The step that matters

Packing the mixture very hard. Firm packing removes air pockets, so the pâté holds together when turned out and keeps better with less air contact. Sealing the top with melted butter further limits spoilage by excluding air.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, nutmeg, clove, mustard):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, nutmeg, clove, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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