Friday, January 18, 2013

FFwD - Chicken liver gateau with pickled onions


French Fridays with Dorie this week ventures into the slightly scary - Chicken Liver Gateau with Pickled Onions.

This did not appeal to me at all, and the chicken livers were not that easy to find, making this a double challenge.

Despite my misgivings, I went ahead and made it (though there was no way I was going to make the tomato sauce to go with this - gross me out!).  One thing - it was quick and easy to make - just blitz everything together in a food processor and bake.  Here is an inside look:  




I ate it warm because Dorie made it sound appealing - like a custard.  On cooling, it is  more like pate.

I liked the onions, and the mouthfuls of gateau I ate with the onions were fine. Sans the onions, I found the gateau rather bland - kind of like a strange sausage sans spices, and definitely nothing like a custard.

I liked it much better cold, when it was indeed like a pate.  However, I am not a fan and won't be making it again.

To se what the other Dorie cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the website.

18 comments:

Kayte said...

You are a brave, brave woman. There is no way I would have made or eaten this one...lol! You are such a trooper!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Oh what a shame that it wasn't more magnificent after the effort you went to! :D

Cher Rockwell said...

No, I was not a fan... But I am glad I gave it a go.

Here's to being brave. Cheers!

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

I didn't even try it warm, but I enjoyed it as a cold pate :)

Choc Chip Uru @ Go Bake Yourself said...

Brave and beautiful photos :D

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

Mardi Michels said...

I didn't realise you were meant to serve it warm (ahem! I need to work on reading instructions!) but everyone here enjoyed it cold. Good for you for trying it out!

Andrea_TheKitchenLioness said...

Although you did not really enjoy eating the Chicken Liver Gâteaux all that much, it does look very nice and creamy and delicious. I must say that I would not have minded a bit more herbs or spices in this dish but with the accompaniments, either pickled onions or, as in my case, tomato confit, we thought that it tasted really good. There is a nice recipe coming up on Friday and it has no liver in it...
Have a good weekend - I assume my comment from yesterday disappeared but if you have two comments now, please delete the one from yesterday, thanks!

Rose said...

I actually thought that it was better cold too, but maybe that's only because that's how I am used to eating pate. But I thought that the warm version was nice too.

Sara said...

I haven't tried it cold yet, but I'm planning to. It seems like most people liked it better as a pate, so I'm guessing I will too! ;) Yours looks very lovely, very well put-together! Mine got a little ragged, so I'm loving how smooth yours looks!

tricia s. said...

Kudos to you for trying. I did as well but only because Nana literally dropped off cleaned chicken livers for me. Which makes me feel even more guilty as I see some folks had trouble even finding the livers. And too funny- mine got tested at room temp so I fall into the non of the above category. Will need to see how the cold leftovers are :)

Unknown said...

I have to agree this was much better cold. Warm the flavors just weren't there for me.

Betsy said...

I liked it cold, though I didn't try it warm. You were a good sport to track down the chicken livers and try them. Sorry they weren't a favorite, but I say onward to next week's recipe.

Lawyer Loves Lunch said...

This description made me laugh! Glad you were brave enough to go through with it. Hopefully, the next assignment will involve cake to make up for it! :)

Teresa said...

This may have been the most challenging recipe in the book for the group. I had a little trouble finding the chicken livers, too. We enjoyed it cold, too.

Anonymous said...

I read your post last week but didn't have a chance to comment. I was iffy about this recipe, and I'm glad I skipped it. Here's to a better recipe next week!

Elaine said...

This was a good exercise and I am glad I made it. I also thought it tasted a bit better with the onions, but definitely didn't care for it by itself - hot or cold.

The Caked Crusader said...

I never liked pate when I was younger...now I love the stuff. This looks amazing - what a shame it didn't float your boat

Mary Hirsch said...

Your thoughts are like many others. Although I did like it cold as a paté and loved the pickled onions, I found the warm liver mixture very bland also. I may make this again. The onions, for sure. I'm still glad most of us tried it - just part of the FFWD game.