Duck Terrine with Figs | David Lebovitz

I like eating duck pâté and terrine. When it comes to making one, I’m not so sure. I thought making charcuterie is only for the professionals. Without a cooking club project, like the duck terrine with figs from David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen at Cook-the-book-Fridays, I doubt I’ll take the leap. I’m delighted I made the terrine in spite of my initial reservations.

Ground meat of any varieties doesn’t usually appear in my food cart; I bought a pork shoulder. Deboned and ground it (close to two pounds) in the food processor and set aside. That’s the best I can do.

Getting chicken liver is not that easy in my area, although I managed to find a few bags of veal liver hidden in the back of the freezer section of a local supermarket. For a moment, I thought that was the best I could do. Not until I rummaged through my freezer, I was amazed to find a bag (8 ounces) of duck liver sausage. It’s like a treasure hunt to uncover forgotten and hard-to-find items in my own freezer!

By and large, ground pork makes up the base of the terrine. It’s the duck liver sausage, which anchors that unique gamey flavor. With the skinless chicken thigh meat (12 ounces) and unsmoked bacon (1 3/4 cups), both in cubes, I’ve gathered all the meats that this recipe calls for. Following David’s recipe, the next step is to puree the duck liver, chicken and bacon in the food processor until the mixture is almost a smooth paste, but still slightly chunky. Using partially frozen meat is key to achieving the desirable texture.

The rest of the ingredients are familiar pantry items: shallots, garlic, Dijon mustard, thyme, ground allspice, ground cloves, ground ginger, salt and pepper. Combine the pork, liver mixture and the above-mentioned items in a large bowl. Then add two eggs which bind the mixture to a smooth paste. Finally, add the sweet and sour flavor components. These are the coarsely chopped cornichons (1/3 cup), pickle juice (1/4 cup) from the cornichon jar and the diced plumped dried figs (3/4 cup), with their soaking liquid (1/2 cup of Cognac or brandy). Mix until thoroughly combined.

The 1.5 quart 9 x 5-inch cast-iron loaf pan with a lid comes in handy for baking the duck terrine with figs. I often use this pan to bake breads and cakes. Little did I know the specifications say it’s good to bake meat loaves too. I lined the pan with parchment paper sideway like a sling to ease unloading the terrine. There was excess terrine mixture to fit into a single cast-iron pan. The solution was to use another small loaf pan to bake alongside. I sealed the large pan with parchment paper folded on top, and covered it with the cast-iron lid. The small pan was wrapped and sealed with aluminum foil.

Next, the two pans went into a 350°F convection steam oven with 60% humidity. Alternatively, you can put the loaf pan in a larger baking vessel filled half-way up with hot water. The setup is to promote even cooking. Peeking into the oven, there was a lot of juice spilling out from the pans. I guess that’s normal. Be sure to put a baking sheet underneath to catch the liquid. With the convection-steam and two terrines setup, it took me about 70 minutes for the instant-read thermometer to reach 160°F when inserted in the middle of the large terrine. The terrines were done baking.

 

Here comes the hard part: the long wait. It’s necessary for the terrine to cool and the flavor to fully develop in the refrigerator for two days before serving. Moreover, the duck terrine has to be weighed down with a flat heavy object. Once again, the lid of the cast-iron pan works like a charm. I turned the terrine out and put it on the lid. Then placed the loaf pan, like a brick, right on top. The compression and the cooling has certainly improved the texture, as well as the flavor, of the terrine. As you can see, there is no crumbling as I cut into the terrine.

The duck terrine with figs may look dull and gray from the outside. Slicing it open, you see chunks of meat in pink, bits of cornichons in green, and specks of figs in brown. The grainy texture of the dried fig seeds is surprisingly pleasing in the mouth. That’s when I realized I was in for a real treat. My meat-loving husband commended me repeatedly: “well done!”

I served the duck terrine with figs with a grilled radicchio and sugar snap pea salad and multi-grain sourdough bread. The salad gives the undistinguished grayish tone of the terrine a much-needed vibrancy that reveals its exciting character. You don’t have to like meat to love this terrine.