Venison Liver Pâté

Ingredients:

400g venison liver
200g belly pork
600ml milk
freshly-grated nutmeg, to taste
8 black peppercorns
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bayleaves
1 shallot, halved lengthways
90g plain flour
90g butter
3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp anchovy essence
2 garlic cloves
rashers of streaky bacon

Method:

Combine the venison liver and belly pork and mince finely. In the meantime, combine the milk, nutmeg, thyme, black peppercorns, bayleaves and shallot and set aside to infuse for 60 minutes.

After this time, strain the milk and set aside. Melt the butter in a pan, scatter the flour over the top and work in to form a roux. Whisk the milk into this mixture until smooth then bring to a simmer and cook until thickened.

In the meantime, work together the salt and garlic in a mortar and mix with the anchovy essence. Mix this into the white sauce then take off the heat. Allow to cool slightly and beat in the pork and liver mince with a fork.

Grease a pâté or terrine dish then stretch the streaky bacon rashers with the back of a knife and use these to line the dish, ensuring that enough bacon hangs over the side of the dish to fold over the top of the pâté. Now fill the dish with the meat and white sauce mix and fold over the bacon overhang to completely cover the pâté.

Cover completely with a layer of greaseproof paper and a layer of kitchen foil then place in a large, deep, roasting dish. Half fill this with boiling water then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 190°C and cook for 90 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

Turn the pâte out of the dish and set aside to chill in the refrigerator before serving.

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