Game Paté

Game Paté

Serves 6 -8

• 3 herby pork sausages


• 700g (1½ lb) pheasant thigh meat


• 2/3 woodcock intestines (optional)


• 110g (4oz) game or chicken liver


• 50g (2oz) butter


• Olive oil


• 2 onions


• 1 large clove of garlic


• 1 small glass of port


• 1 tablespoon of brandy


• 1 large egg


• 1 dessertspoon of redcurrant jelly


• A pinch of ground mace


• About a dozen rashers of streaky bacon


• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat half of the butter and a little oil in a large frying pan. Chop the onions and garlic finely and fry slowly until golden. Remove from the pan and place in a large bowl. Add the rest of the butter and turn up the heat a little. Quickly fry the pheasant meat and livers in batches so not to overcrowd the pan. Remove from the pan and add to the bowl. De-glaze the pan with the port and pour this on top of the pheasant and onion mixture, allow to cool.

Remove the sausage skins and add the sausage meat to the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Transfer to a food processor, season with salt and pepper and blend to required texture. Add extra port to bring the consistency to a paste-type mixture, which is reasonably firm. Place the rashers of bacon on a board and remove the rind, stretch the bacon out with the back of a knife.

Cover the bottom and sides of a terrine dish, leaving enough bacon hanging over the side to cover the top. Fill the dish with the mixture and fold the bacon over, covering the mixture. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F, Gas mark 4). Place the terrine dish in a bigger roasting tray which is approximately half full of water, place in the oven for about 1½ hours. Remove from the oven, press down with a weighted board, or similar. Put in the fridge when cool enough and when completely cool run a knife around the dish and turn out. Two or three days standing in a fridge always improves the flavour.