A typical Czech snack: Make your own liver pâté
Dinner in a jar
What do Amaso, Akonzerva and Naše maso have in common? Liver pâté! The recipe was created years ago at Naše maso. The butchers at Amaso grind it, stuff it into casings and smoke it, and Akonzerva jar it in glass. Will you try the recipe in your own kitchen, or will you stop by the Naše maso shop?
We have adapted the recipe slightly for home conditions – but a powerful meat grinder will come in handy!
Ingredients:
- 750 g of fatty pork, for example pork flank or pork neck
- 250 g pork liver
- 60 g onion (1 smaller one)
- 10 g Praganda butcher's quick salt
- spices (1 g peppercorns, 2 g cinnamon, 2 g allspice, 2 g nutmeg and 2 g ginger)
- 100 ml stock (left over after cooking the meat)
- pork fat (can be smoked)
- 7-8 small jars for preserving
Procedure:
- Cut the meat into cubes and cook until tender. Drain and allow to cool – set the stock aside.
- Finely chop the liver and cooled meat. Add the chopped onion, salt and spices.
- Mix everything properly to a mushy paste. While blending, keep adding stock until you reach the right, buttery, consistency. Warm the lard in a pot.
- Fill the jars with the pâté, leaving roughly a fingers' width space at the top. Then pour in a little of the still-warm lard (about 15 g of lard per jar).
- Cover with lids and cook in a saucepan at about 80 °C for at least two hours. You can also cook the pâté in a water bath in an oven heated to 110-120 °C.
How is the pâté matured at Amaso?
As with other products, the butchers went to great lengths to make the pâté. They grind the cooked fatty pork, which carries the flavour and binds well, and the pork liver on the cutter. This mixture is then used to fill the pork casings, which are then cooked and sent to the smokehouse, which is set at 70 °C. Then the pâté is ready!
And what goes on at Akonzerva?
Their colleagues at Akonzerva, located just one floor up in the production plant in Jenč, have devised their own process. They grind the uncooked pork liver and fatty pork on a cutter. Because pork liver is tougher than poultry liver, a cutter or a really strong grinder is a must. The chefs then fill jars with the raw pâté, cover it with smoked Prague ham fat, let it sit, and then jar the jars in a steriliser. The Akonzerva variation is perfect for travel and as a butcher's breakfast for the office!
