TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Pâté en CroûtePâté en Croûte with Pork, Chicken and Pistachios
- Total
- 36 hr 40 min
- Difficulty
- ★★★★☆
- Serves
- 12 servings
- Prep 2 hr 20 min
- Cook 1 hr 20 min
- Rest 33 hr
A filling of pork, chicken and pistachios is enclosed in buttery pastry and baked in a mold. Broth jelly fills the gaps left as the meat cools and contracts. This French appetizer takes 3 days from preparation to slicing.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (12 servings)
100Authenticity- Plain cake flour250 gFor the pastry. Use plain soft-wheat cake flour without added starch or leavening.
- Bread flour for pastry250 gFor the dough
- Bread flour for dusting20 gFor dusting
- Unsalted butter for pastry250 gKeep cold and cut into 1cm cubes
- Granulated sugar for pastry15 gHelps the crust brown
- Salt for pastry15 gFor the dough
- Hen eggs2 eggsFor the dough; beat the eggs and weigh 90 g.
- Milk for pastry110 mlKeep cold
- Pork belly315 gSkinless; cut into 2cm cubes
- Pork tenderloin315 gCut into 2cm cubes
- Boneless chicken thighs270 gRemove skin and sinews and cut into 2cm cubes
- Chicken breast315 gRemove skin and cut into strips 2cm wide; keep whole rather than grinding to create the cut-surface pattern
- Salt for the marinade17 g14g per 1kg meat
- Ground black pepper5 gFor marinating the meat
- Quatre-épices1 g1/2 teaspoon; for marinating the meat
- Ruby port for the marinade18 mlFor marinating the meat
- Cognac18 mlFor marinating the meat
- Egg for the filling1 eggTo bind the filling
- Heavy cream, at least 35% milk fat50 mlTo bind the filling
- Raw unsalted shelled pistachios110 gMix whole into the filling. Use raw, unroasted, unsalted shelled pistachios.
- Unsalted butter for the mold14 gGrease the mold interior
- Egg yolk for glazing1 yolkFor glazing and joining pastry; dilute with 1 teaspoon additional water.
- Unsalted chicken stock400 mlFor the jelly. Use undiluted unsalted liquid chicken stock.
- 200 Bloom leaf gelatin13 gFor the gelée: weigh 13 g dry 200 Bloom leaf gelatin before soaking in cold water. Do not convert by sheet count.
- Ruby port for the jelly25 mlFor the jelly
Method
Mix and gather the buttery pastry
- 1 Combine 250g cake flour, 250g bread flour, 15g sugar and 15g pastry salt in a bowl.
- 2 Add 250g cold butter cubes and rub into the flour with your fingertips until sandy.
- 3 Beat the 2 pastry eggs, weigh out 90g and mix with 110ml cold milk; add and combine with a dough scraper using a cutting motion.
- 4 Turn out and press together with your palm 2–3 times, form a rectangle 3cm thick and wrap in plastic wrap.
Ready when
Continue when no dry flour remains and the pastry holds together with small visible butter pieces.
Caution
Overkneading makes the pastry shrink and crack inside the mold during baking.
Cut the pork and chicken and marinate with alcohol and salt
- 1 Cut 315g pork belly, 315g pork tenderloin and 270g skinless, sinew-trimmed chicken thigh into 2cm cubes.
- 2 Remove the skin from 315g chicken breast and cut lengthwise into strips 2cm wide.
- 3 Mix 17g marinade salt, 5g black pepper and 1g quatre-épices.
- 4 Arrange the cubed meat and chicken breast strips on a tray, season all over with the salt mixture, pour over 18ml port and 18ml Cognac and cover with plastic wrap.
Ready when
Continue when salt and spices coat all the meat and the alcohol is distributed throughout.
Rest the pastry and meat overnight in the refrigerator
- 1 Refrigerate the dough and marinated meat for 12 hours.
Ready when
Continue after 12 hours.
Coarsely process the cubed meat and mix with pistachios
- 1 Grease the inside of a pâté en croûte mold, internal dimensions 30cm long, 7cm wide and 8.5cm high, with 14g unsalted butter.
- 2 Process the cold cubed pork belly, pork tenderloin and chicken thighs in 3 batches, leaving coarse particles about 5mm across.
- 3 Leave the chicken breast strips unprocessed on their tray.
- 4 Transfer the processed meat to a bowl and add 1 filling egg, 50ml cream and 110g pistachios.
- 5 Set the bowl bottom in ice water and knead by hand for 2 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when the filling is sticky and clings together as a single mass when lifted.
Caution
Warm meat releases melted fat and the filling separates during baking.
Roll the pastry to 5mm, cut and line the mold
- 1 Take the pastry out of the refrigerator for 10 minutes and roll to 5mm thick on a surface dusted with bread flour.
- 2 Cut a 30×28cm piece for the bottom and long sides, 2 pieces of 8×12cm for the ends and a 35×12cm lid.
- 3 Dilute 1 yolk with 1 teaspoon water to make the glaze.
- 4 Line the mold with the bottom-and-side piece and press into the corners with your fingers.
- 5 Fit the end pieces, brush glaze on their joins and press together without gaps.
Ready when
Continue when the pastry fits the inside without gaps and extends about 2cm beyond the rim.
Caution
Warm, soft pastry tears easily when lining the mold.
Tips
If the dough softens, refrigerate for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle.
Layer filling and chicken breast, close and add chimneys
- 1 Preheat the oven to 210°C.
- 2 Put 1/3 of the filling in the mold and level it, then arrange half the chicken breast strips lengthwise.
- 3 Layer half the remaining filling, the remaining breast strips and the final filling. Press to expel air and level the surface.
- 4 Fold the overhanging pastry inward and brush with glaze, add the pastry lid and press the edges together.
- 5 Make 2 holes 1.5cm across, each 10cm from an end of the lid, and insert rolled foil tubes as chimneys to release steam.
- 6 Brush glaze over the whole lid surface.
Ready when
Bake when the lid and sides are joined without gaps and 2 chimneys are in place.
Caution
Without chimneys, trapped steam can split the pastry during baking.
Bake first at 210°C, then 190°C, to 75°C at the center
- 1 Put the mold on a baking sheet and bake on the middle rack at 210°C for 12 minutes.
- 2 Lower to 190°C and bake for 30 minutes.
- 3 Continue at 190°C in additional 10-minute increments until the center reaches 75°C.
- 4 If the lid becomes deep golden during baking, cover with foil and continue.
Ready when
Continue when the filling center has reached 75°C.
Cool in the mold and refrigerate overnight
- 1 Place the mold on a rack and leave at room temperature for 1 hour to cool slightly.
- 2 Refrigerate for 12 hours.
Ready when
Continue when cold throughout and the filling has contracted to leave gaps between meat and pastry.
Make the broth jelly and pour the first addition through the chimneys
- 1 Weigh 13 g dry 200 Bloom leaf gelatin and soak in cold water for 10 minutes.
- 2 Heat 400ml chicken broth and 25ml port for the gelée, broth set with gelatin, over medium heat; turn off just before boiling.
- 3 Squeeze the water from the soaked gelatin, add and stir to dissolve.
- 4 Cool to body-warm, 30–35°C.
- 5 Take the mold from the refrigerator and gently pour through the chimneys using a small funnel. Stop just before overflowing and return to the refrigerator.
Ready when
Continue when the liquid reaches just below the chimney openings and no more fits.
Caution
Hot liquid soaks into and softens the pastry.
Top up the jelly every 30 minutes to fill the gaps
- 1 Take the mold from the refrigerator every 30 minutes, add remaining jelly liquid through the chimneys and refrigerate again. Repeat 3–4 times.
- 2 If the jelly starts to set, warm the saucepan in a water bath until body-warm before pouring.
Ready when
Continue when the liquid level no longer drops after pouring.
Tips
Filling the contraction gaps with jelly keeps the crust and filling together when sliced.
Refrigerate for 6 hours to set
- 1 Remove the chimneys and refrigerate for 6 hours.
Ready when
Continue when the jelly in the chimney holes is firm enough not to move when pressed.
Unmold and slice 1.5cm thick
- 1 Remove the mold and take out the pâté en croûte.
- 2 Use a long-bladed knife to cut from one end into 1.5cm slices.
Ready when
The pâté is ready when jelly fills the gaps between crust and filling and the chicken breast and pistachio pattern is visible in the cut surface.
About this dish
Each year before Christmas, Lyon hosts a world championship for pâté baked in pastry. The contest began in 2009 when 4 Lyon food enthusiasts founded a confrérie, an association of devotees. Its makers need the charcuterie skills for the filling, pastry skills for the crust and cooking skills for the broth.
In medieval France, seasoned minced meat was baked in a pastry box. The pastry was a vessel for cooking the meat and was not necessarily meant to be eaten. Edible butter pastry became widespread in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Mass-produced versions damaged the dish’s reputation in the 1980s, and some makers abandoned it. The championship helped return pâté en croûte to restaurant menus. Japanese chefs have won repeatedly since 2014; in 2024, a chef from a Tokyo restaurant placed first and one from a Kobe restaurant placed second.
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