What's Pressoir Cooking
April 11, 2022
by Justine Puaud
Pâté Lorrain
Pâté Lorrain is a French dish with marinated meat that is wrapped in puff pastry. In traditional French cuisine, the meat needs to be a mixture of pork and veal. The meat is sliced and marinated in a flavorful mixture of white wine, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and shallots. It has to be completely enclosed in puff pastry before putting it in the oven. The dish is usually associated with Baccarat, a commune located in the Lorraine region, which, as you might have guessed, is the location of the celebrated Baccarat glassworks which can trace its existence back to 1764 when King Louis XV initiated its construction.
Ingredients
300 g of pork shoulder
300 g of veal
1 shallot
1/2 onion
1 bay leaf
3.5 oz or a small cup of white wine
1 tbsp. teaspoon of fine salt
600 g of puff pastry (it is really long and difficult to make puff pastry. I usually order it from the boulanger (the bakery)
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. of milk for brushing on top
Instructions
The day before, chop the meat, cut the shallot and onion into medium pieces and put everything together in a salad bowl. Add the white wine, salt, bay leaf, mix well and reserve the preparation, covered, for 12 hours in the refrigerator.
The next day, roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle of 12 x 8” on each side and 2 mm or 1/4” thick. Drain the stuffing, remove the herbs and arrange it in a strip 4 inches wide by 8 inches long in the center of the rectangle of dough.
Fold the long sides of the dough over the stuffing, then fold the short sides. With the rest of the dough, make a rectangular pastry and place it on top of the pâté (blend the 2 doughs together by moistening them with water). Brush the pastry with beaten egg yolk and milk.
Leave the pâté for 20 to 30 minutes in the refrigerator so that the dough firms up in order to make a nice incision with a knife for decoration.
Bake the pate in a preheated oven at 350°F. Count about 55 minutes of cooking.
The best way to serve this French classic is warm or chilled, with a green salad on the side.
For the wine, I will recommend a Pinot Noir from Alsace - close to the Lorraine region.
Bon appétit!