Terrine de porc et champignons Chopin

If you read a few days ago, you know that I made a tasty attempt (and, I believe, a successful attempt, although I did not have any actual Poles test it) at Polish schnitzel. I did, however, make way too much for the four of us who were eating it that night (and there are only so many lunches a week in which one can eat fried pork balls). So, confronted with a rather large tub of ground pork, mushrooms, dill, etc, I decided to take Melanie's advice to make a meatloaf. Sort of. I don't detest meatloaf. I just don't like it very much. So the idea of taking my pork filling and turning it into meatloaf just didn't excite.

Until I remembered reading Julia Child's suggestion that any meatloaf recipe, cooked in the manner of a French pate, will yield superior results than simply baking it would. And, one thing leads to another, and the next thing you know, I am making a pate.

So, I took the remaining mixture, added the three leftover baby Yukon potatoes that had previously been cooked in brown stock, a large mound of goose fat, a generous (and I mean generous) splash of cognac, and the handful of breadcrumbs I had saved in case I did end up frying the lot. I mixed it all together, pressed it into a loaf pan, put a couple of bay leaves on top, covered it with foil and set it in a pan of boiling water in a 350 degree oven (see Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 for details on the method). When it had cooked for about an hour and a half, I removed it, and let it cool to room temperature, overnight, with weight on the foil. This morning I chilled it.

Tonight we ate it with Taylor's Honey Truffle Mustard on bagels. I liked it, but Melanie thought the dill overpowered. She is right, but it did not overpower in a way that bugged me that much. But, next time, I will cut back on the dill. And I will finish it with an aspic coating, because it looks cool and I like aspic.

No photo, because it is not much to look at.