When is a pâté a terrine and vice versa? The two terms have come to be virtually interchangeable today, but their origins are different. The former described a forcemeat baked in a pastry crust, whereas the latter was cooked in the eponymous earthenware container.

Changes that have occurred in food fashion over the last three decades have given a completely new take on these two classic terms. Traditionally meat pâtés and terrines were the privileged domain of charcutiers, pork butchers. Their recipes were substantial, high in protein and fat.

When chefs began applying their talents to this particular branch of the culinary art, they introduced lighter mixtures,mousses for minced and chopped pork. They also created “pressed” terrines, held together only by the cooked fish, meat or vegetables themselves. Modern terrines reflect the complete spectrum of creative cooking. They can be colourful, intensely flavoured reflections of regional dishes or suave adaptations of classics, such as Frédéric Rivière’s foie gras cuit en terrine:

Foie Gras Cuit En Terrine - Terrine of Foie Gras

If you’re French and throwing a party, it’s likely that foie gras will figure somewhere on your menu. Along with champagne, it’s treated as traditional festive food. Both geese and ducks, specially fattened to produce the characteristic large, buttery livers are used for this delicacy, but duck foie gras, smaller, cheaper though with more taste tends to be more readily available. The south-west of France the major foie gras producing area, which specialises in using duck fat for many recipes, has the lowest incidence of heart disease in the country.


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