Traditional Chicken Liver Parfait is a traditional British recipe for a classic pâté-like starter of lightly-fried chicken livers puréed with butter, bacon, shallots, thyme, brandy, port wine, red wine and double cream before steaming in a bain marie to set. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic American version of: Traditional Chicken Liver Parfait.
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A parfait is subtype of pâté where the livers are puréed whilst raw before being mixed with the other ingredients and then cooked in a bain marie. This version, however, lightly-fries the livers in butter for more flavour.
Ingredients:
600g chicken livers, trimmed
400ml whole milk
150g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
50g streaky bacon, sliced
2 banana shallots, diced
2 tsp thyme leaves
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tbsp brandy
50ml port
100ml red wine
150ml double cream
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Sit the liver pieces in a bowl, pour over the milk, cover the top of the bowl then set aside to soak over night in the refrigerator.
The following day, drain away the milk and pat the livers dry with kitchen paper. Season the livers with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
Pre-heat you oven to 120°C (100°C fan).
Set a heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Add 25g of butter and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. When the butter is foaming add in half the livers and cook until just browned on each side. Quickly remove them from the pan whilst they still pink in the middle and transfer to a tray.
Add another 25g of butter and half a tablespoon of oil to the pan and repeat the process with the remaining livers. Transfer the fried livers to the tray with the other livers then pour any liquid remaining in the pan over them and set aside.
Set the frying pan back over high heat and add 50g of butter. Use to fry the bacon for 3–4 minutes or until browned. Add the shallots, garlic, thyme and some seasoning to the pan and cook for another 3–4 minutes or until the shallots have softened. Add the brandy to the pan and flambé.
Now pour in the port and wine, bring to a simmer and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated away. Put the shallot mixture into a jug blender followed by the livers. Blend until completely smooth. Continue to blend whilst adding 50g of diced butter to the mixture until it has all been incorporated.
Finally add the double cream and blend once again. Now pass the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve, pressing down wth a wooden spoon then pour into a 450g loaf tin that has been lined with two layers of clingfilm. Set a sheet of greaseproof paper directly on top of the parfait mixture and then cover the tin with foil.
Sit into a larger tin and fill with boiling water from the kettle until the liquid is half-way up the side of the parfait tin.
Sit the large tin on the middle shelf of your pre-heated oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a probe thermometer to make sure the centre of the parfait has come up to 64°C. If not, return to the oven and test the temperature again in 5–10 minutes. Once it's up to temperature, leave the parfait to cool in the tin.
Once cool, transfer the parfait to your refrigerator and chill for a minimum of 3 hours to chill, or preferably overnight if you have time.
When you are ready to serve, use a warm sharp knife to cut 1cm-thick slices of the parfait and serve two slices on each plate alongside toasted brioche, cornichons and fig chutney.
