The total weight of meat is important here, not the selection -- anything you have or want to use is fine. Also, the grind is important: You want it varied, so everything from big chunks of tender stuff to finely ground meat, and everything in between. It makes for a more interesting terrine.
1/2 cup dried small berries: lingonberries, blueberries, cranberries, etc ((optional))
1/2 cup brandy or whiskey
2 slices bread, crusts removed
3/4 cup half and half
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 large shallot, minced
3/4 pound bacon ends or pork fat
1.6 pounds assorted game meats
30 grams kosher salt
3 grams curing salt No. 1
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 or 2 teaspoons chopped dried juniper berries ((optional))
1/2 cup shelled, roasted & salted pistachios
1 pound thinly sliced bacon
Categories
Appetizer
Cured Meat
Cuisine
French
Steps
Start by soaking the dried berries in the brandy. Set that aside while you work. Get a large roasting pan and fill it halfway with water. Set that in the oven and set the oven to 225F.
Wet down the insides of your terrine pan and carefully line it with plastic wrap. Leave enough extra plastic wrap so you can cover the top of the finished terrine later.
Tear the bread into bits and mix with the half-and-half and beaten eggs. Blend or mash this into a cohesive paste. Set it in the fridge.
Saute the shallot in the butter over medium heat until translucent and just beginning to color, about 4 to 6 minutes. Turn off the heat, let it cool a bit, scrape the shallots into a little bowl and set that in the fridge.
Now, the meats. Select some to be in large-ish pieces -- I did this with snipe breasts I pounded thin. Any other small bird breast would be good here -- some to be diced, some to be ground coarse, and some to be ground fine. In this terrine, I left the breasts of 4 snipe whole (so 8 pieces), diced about 1/4 pound grouse breast and another 1/4 pound snipe breast, ground the remaining snipe and grouse coarse, along with half the bacon, and the liver and dove hearts fine, along with the remaining bacon ends.
You want at least 1/4 of the total mixture ground fine. About 1/2 ground coarse, and the rest in chunks or whole.
When you have done this, set it all in the freezer while you clean up.
Get a large bowl and add the egg-bread-cream mixture, the shallots, the meats and the salt, curing salt and spices. Mix this well with your (very clean) hands until it comes together as one mass. Add the brandy and berries and nuts and work them in now, which should take another minute or so. Set all this in the fridge while you clean up and lay down the bacon slices.
Get your thinly sliced bacon out and carefully line the terrine pan in the way you see in the picture above. Lay a slice across the bottom of the pan, roughly halfway across, and drape it over the side. Press gently to make sure the bacon is flat against the terrine pan. Set the next slice going the other way, slightly overlapping the previous slice. Do this until you have the whole pan set up. Take your time, as you need to get the hang of it.
Take your meat mixture and firmly press it into the terrine pan. Do this bit by bit, pressing down to make sure there are no air pockets. Fill the terrine up to the top, or even mound it slightly -- it shrinks as it cooks. Fold the bacon over the meat and close the plastic wrap on the bacon. Put the lid on the terrine pan. Or, if you are using a bread loaf pan, cover it in foil.
Gently set the terrine pan in that roasting pan with water that 's been sitting in your oven since you started. The water should come up to about 2/3 of the way up the sides of the terrine pan. If not, boil some water and add it.
Cook the terrine gently for about 2 hours, 15 minutes, or until the interior reaches about 145F to 150F.
Carefully take the terrine out of the oven. To press, use scissors to cut a piece of cardboard that fits over the top of the terrine -- minus the edges -- and wrap the cardboard in tin foil. Remove the terrine lid and place the foil-wrapped cardboard on top. Set bricks or heavy canned goods on it. Let this come to room temperature.
When cooled, set the terrine in the fridge to chill overnight. To eat, remove the weights and cardboard, then open the plastic wrap. Lift gently on the edges to free the terrine, and carefully pop it out of the pan onto a cutting board. Remove the plastic wrap and slice.
You can store your terrine in its pan in the fridge for a week or so. After that, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 328 kcal
Carbohydrates: 11 g
Protein: 21 g
Fat: 19 g
Saturated Fat: 7 g
Cholesterol: 106 mg
Sodium: 1239 mg
Sugar: 4 g
Reviews
Lisa on 2025-03-10 (5 stars): I loved this receipe and used wild rabbit with vension, chicken and vension livers since that is what the freezer held. One of my critics was a former butcher and had years of experience making pates and terrines for high end restaurants and gave it ten thumbs up!
David Little on 2021-04-04 (5 stars): This was a great introduction to terrines for me. But I did make one change to your methods. I used 3 boxes of shot shell to press the meat - one box of 2 3/4” #4, one of 3” BB and one box of 2 3/4” #9. Like with all terrines substitution of loads will work fine!
Brian Layman on 2020-06-26 (5 stars): I tried this recipe this week with a few twists. I used squirrel and rabbit instead of upland birds and added some green olives for a little kick. I ground the squirrel fine and use the tender rabbit as the shredded/course grind. I could not find juniper berries. Requires some patience, but well worth it in the end. I did use parchment instead of plastic and it worked great. Served it with some brie (yep, brie and squirrel) on some fresh bread with mustad and crackers. Delicious! Will make again.
Mike on 2020-06-05 (5 stars): Pate is related to "paste" or "dough" and originally referred to forcemeats enveloped in a pastry crust. Terrine is a forcemeat mixture cooked in a dish known as a terrine (thus the name), and is what most people are referring to when they use the term pate now. Just an interesting tidbit.
Galantines are another thing altogether..it might be fun to try making one with a wild turkey.
Love your site and your books, I use your recipes all the time! Your venison barbacoa might be my favorite recipe of all time.
Cheers,
Mike
Krystal on 2019-12-15 (4 stars): Made this for Thanksgiving with venison, pheasant breasts, goose hearts, and goose gizzards. The juniper was a little strong for my tastes but overall came out great! I might just skip the bacon next wrap next time since I think it needs to be even thinner than I can get at the store.
Steve Rhodes on 2019-02-02 (4 stars): 30 grams of kosher salt and 3 grams of sodium nitrite yields 2550 mg of sodium per 100 grams finished product which to me tasted incredibly salty. This doesn't include sodium contributions from any already cured meat added and naturally occurring sodium. The second time I made this I used 15 grams kosher salt and 3 grams cure and no bacon and was happy with the result. Otherwise, I love this recipe. Great use for those tid-bits of miscellaneous meats.
Paddy Batchelder on 2019-01-31 (5 stars): This was fabulous. I used some ground venison and some wild boar that a friend gave to me. Also used dried huckleberries that we had picked locally. Then we took it to a Christmas party where we knew our hunter friend would be. Seved with party rye, country mustard and cornichons. It was a big hit.
I have to admit, I have never been really fond of the bacon that is traditionally placed around the terrine, even though it is fully cooked. So after the terrine was cooked and chilled, I ran it quickly under a broiler to brown it slightly and then rechilled it. It worked.
Alexander S Beveridge on 2018-12-26 (5 stars): Using your recipe I just tried my first terrine. It came out very well. I used wild pheasant and chukar breasts and pork belly instead of bacon ends and did not include any liver or offal. I included the chopped pistachios and currants soaked in Calvados ( apple brandy ) and the juniper berries. Next time ( and there will be one ) I think a good addition would be some crushed pink peppercorns
Russell on 2018-12-25 (5 stars): Was looking for something to make for the holidays using the last of some venison I had frozen. Used about 1.1 lbs of lean venison, 0.5lbs of smoked duck breast, and homemade bacon ends for the pork fat component. Diced the duck breast (it was pre-cooked) as the chunky part, ran the venison and bacon through the large die once, then half of it through again. Fruit was dried Bing cherries soaked in Madeira.
Only problem was my terrine dish is the little LeCreuset 3/4 quart one, so I had leftover pate. Spooned it into pint mason jars.
I know you just did a post against sous vide Hank, but here's a good use for it... :) Popped the terrine and the jars in 167 degree water up to their necks in a pot on the counter for about 90 minutes on the jars and about 2.5 hrs on the terrine until they hit 148 inside. Capped the jars with some rendered lard and put them in the fridge, terrine was pressed overnight.
Came out great! Good with a little mustard and cranberry chutney.
