I didn’t get around to posting last week, but I have an extremely good excuse that I plan to employ again a year from now.
It was my birthday.
I baked this cake.
Or rather, I baked myself this birthday liver pâté.
To celebrate, I took a train out of the city to spend the day with a close friend who lives in Princeton. I greeted her at the train station with a sheepish grin on my face. Our birthdays are usually cause for part-reflection, part-lamentation over the state of our lives. Year after year, we never seem to accomplish as much as we’d like or visit enough of the wondrous places in this wide world. Still, we almost always try our best, and that has to count for something.
The night was dark and snowy. Ample flakes fell relentlessly as the evening progressed. Inside, we cranked up the thermostat to a toasty eighty degrees and lit a few candles to mark the occasion. A good crusty loaf accompanied the birthday pâté, and a glass or two of wine made the evening considerably more celebratory.
The pâté was, if I do say so myself, the best birthday cake I’ve ever made. It’s a mixture of liver, butter, and cream set in a bain marie, which in itself isn’t altogether novel. But in lieu of salt or other flavors, I added a very large scoop of shiro miso (white miso) to the mixture; then, tasting a bit of the raw, smoothie-like concoction on my tongue, I added another nub of brown miso for good measure.
Volumes could and have been written about the deliciousness of the miso-butter combination. Miso is already described as buttery, though the adjective is used in reference to the texture of the miso paste rather than its flavor. Describing the taste of miso is difficult: it’s salty; it’s sweet, it’s winey because of the fermented soybeans, rice, and barley from which it’s made.
Shiro miso is especially sweet and less salty because it’s made with more rice, and it’s aged for a much shorter period of time than brown miso. (Hence the extra nub of brown miso at the end.) If you make this pâté, play around with the taste until you get a miso combination that suits your palate. Decrease the paste by half if you’re working with a stronger, darker miso.
Over the years I’ve made this pâté with chicken, duck, and calf’s liver, or a combination thereof. Chicken is the mildest and lightest of the three, but I always use duck liver, richer in texture and deeper in flavor, when I save up enough in the freezer from having confited a lot of ducks. (This particular pâté was made with chicken and calf’s liver.) Whatever liver you end up choosing, make sure that it is impeccably fresh and sweet-smelling. Like sea urchin, fresh liver smells so sweet that I’m always tempted to eat it raw.
Miso-Butter Liver Pâté
- makes 3 four-ounce ramekins of pâté, enough to serve six to eight as an appetizer-
Ingredients
1/2 cup finely chopped onions or shallots (about one small onion)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes
a few garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup miso paste (a combination of white shiro miso and brown miso)
1/2 pound chicken, duck, or calf livers, or a combination thereof, trimmed of fat and sinews
Procedure
Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 300ºF.
Saute the onions or shallots in a small pat of butter in a saucepan set over medium-low heat, covered. Lift the lid to stir occasionally, until the onions are softened and translucent, about 5 minutes minutes. Stir in the garlic and cream and simmer, covered, until onion is tender, about 2 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining butter, stirring slowly to melt the butter. Set the pan over low heat if needed to completely melt the butter.
In a blender or food processor, purée the livers with the onion mixture and the miso paste, scraping down the sides, until the mixture is smooth. Force the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium sized bowl.
Meanwhile, bring a teakettle or pot of water to a boil.
Divide the liver mixture among the ramekins; then cover each ramekin with foil and place them into a roasting pan. The ramekins should be spaced about one inch apart. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to fill it halfway. Bake until the pâté is just set, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer ramekins to a rack to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Then chill the pâtés, covered, for at least 2 hours.
The pâtés can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To freeze, wrap tightly in saran wrap.
OMG. Meat cake!!! Awesome. I can imagine this paired with a sauternes or riesling. Happy birthday!
You should tell people it’s a chocolate mousse cake and watch people’s faces as their minds adjust to the input from their tastebuds. Actually, I think I would enjoy the split second in which my mind tries to fit this cake into the spectrum of past chocolate experiences.
Happy Birthday! Looks like a really delish birthday cake.
I have a 17-year-old who would absolutely love this. Too bad my wife is already making faces wbout my suggestion we make it for him …
Happy belated birthday!
Thanks guys! I made too much of the birthday pate and have been freezing and defrosting it in the subsequent weeks. Still delicious!
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