PASSIONATE RATIONS

(From prior posts, you know I’m embarking on a tour through James Peterson’s “Cooking” cookbook. This post relates to that adventure.)

There are certain foods that, although I know I have liked them (even loved them) in the past, I always recoil when I think about consuming them again. For some reason, tea falls into this category. As does liver. The liver part kind of makes sense to me (it is, after all, an internal organ which functions as a filter for icky things, so the idea is hard to overcome). The tea? Not so much. But, it is what it is.

Nonetheless, as past posts will attest–and with apologies to my veggie/vegan friends–I have been experimenting in liver of late.

Last weekend I endeavored to make a duck-liver terrine and, today, finally, I was able to overcome my mental aversion enough to try it. The result? Well, let that wait until I tell you about my little adventure in acquiring and manipulating duck livers.

Originally, I had to skip over the terrine recipes in Peterson’s book. Why? Because duck livers are surprisingly hard to come by in my smallish community, despite ample agricultural activities nearby.

I had just determined to try the recipes using chicken livers when, lo and behold, I finally entered the specialty foods store that just opened in my town (in a space we previously had used for our swing dances, which explains why it took me so long to visit–I had to overcome my disappointment at losing the great space).

There, tucked back into a small refrigeration unit, were vacuum-packed foie-gras-quality duck livers! Only $30 for 0.33 lbs! (Yes, I meant that sarcastically).

Intent on my mission, I shelled out the money for the yellowish-pinkish organs (purchasing some duck legs confit into the bargain) and took them home.

There I was, my 0.33 lbs of duck livers and Peterson’s recipe that calls for 2.5 lbs. (7 times more!). Luckily, I had purchased these adorable, and very small, retro-blue loaf pans. I looked at the livers; I looked at the pans. Yep, two would do it.

Aside from finding the ingredients, and taking out the mortgage to pay for them, making terrine is actually really easy. I took some prosciutto and lined the two tiny loaf pans. Then salt-and-peppered the livers and smooshed (is that a technical cooking term?) them into the little loafy rectangles. I lovingly covered the pans with parchment and foil and soaked them in simmering water (taking care that the water didn’t boil into the pans themselves), then stuck ‘em in a 300 degree oven for 45 minutes, then placed ‘em in the fridge.

For six days.

My refrigeration was a little longer than the recommended 24 hours, so I was a bit apprehensive. When I finally unpeeled the wrappings at lunch today, I was delighted to see the buttery-yellow outline of the fat that had congealed around the edges (Looked like Peterson’s!).

As I sliced into the rectangular delicacy, the smell of roasted duck wafted up and piqued my appetite, rendering senseless whatever aversions I had been feeling. My little loaf pans yielded tiny slices 2.5 inches long by 1 inch high–perfect sizing for a cracker, so cracker them I did (La Panzanella rosemary croccantini crackers work quite well…or just a knife and no crackers at all).

Can’t remember now why liver sets me awry. Salty from the prosciutto, the liver was infused with the full flavor of a well-roasted duck (my favorite poultry for eatin’). Delicious!

I would say that the small size of my loaf pans probably upset the liver-to-prosciutto ratio a bit, so that it was somewhat saltier than ideal, but still completely divine. And so rich I couldn’t eat the whole serving, despite its smallness. But that just means appetizers for dinner!