A coarse country pâté of pork shoulder, pork belly and liver, flavoured with cognac, garlic and spices, baked in a water bath and pressed. The French picnic and apéritif classic, made with Canadian pork, chicken livers and bacon in place of barde.
Terrine is one of the things I miss most from home, and mostly because of apéro, the drink and nibbles before dinner. In France someone sets the terrine on a board, still in its dish or cut in thick slices, next to a baguette, a jar of cornichons and the mustard, and everyone helps themselves with a glass in hand. Nobody gets a plate: you cut a slice, put it on bread with a cornichon, keep talking, and it's usually gone before anyone sits down.
Made here, it tastes a little different, and I don't mind. Lining the mould with thin bacon instead of barde adds a light smoke a French terrine doesn't have, and it goes well with an apéro glass of red.
The same terrine is a starter at the table and a picnic lunch. Outside Quebec, a good coarse terrine is hard to find at the deli counter, so it's worth making: it's mostly chopping, then waiting.
What makes it a country terrine
Campagne means countryside, and here it means coarse: pork shoulder, fatty belly and liver chopped rather than puréed, seasoned with garlic, shallot, cognac and spices. It bakes slowly in a water bath, then gets pressed overnight, which is what makes it slice cleanly instead of crumbling.
Three things a French recipe assumes you can buy
Pork liver, at every French butcher. Here it's patchy; chicken livers are easy to find and give a milder terrine.
Barde, the thin sheets of back fat that wrap the meat. Supermarkets don't sell it; thin bacon does the same job.
Quatre-épices, the French spice blend. You can mix it in two minutes from ordinary jars.
Making it in Canada
The 4 French ingredients, and what to buy for them in Canada.
Foie de porc→Chicken livers, or pork liver where you find it
Pork liver gives the stronger, traditional taste; chicken livers make a milder, softer terrine. Use the same 250 g either way, and trim off any green patches: they're bitter.
🛒 Metro lists fresh pork livers and fresh chicken livers in Quebec. Nationally, Walmart sells chicken livers by the tray and Loblaws lists kosher chicken livers. For pork liver outside Quebec, ask at a butcher or the meat counter of an Asian supermarket.
Barde de lard→Thin-sliced bacon, plain smoke (not maple)
Sheets of back fat aren't sold in Canadian supermarkets. Regular thin bacon keeps the outside moist and adds a light smoke; avoid maple-cured, which sweetens the crust, and thick-cut, which is too heavy to fold.
🛒 In Quebec, Metro lists salted pork back fat (Secret Gourmand), the closest thing to barde when it's in stock: slice it thin and blanch it 2 minutes in boiling water to take off some salt.
Quatre-épices→Homemade mix of white pepper, nutmeg, ginger and cloves
Mix 1 tsp ground white pepper, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp ground ginger and ¼ tsp ground cloves, and use ½ tsp for this terrine; keep the rest in a jar. Ground allspice alone works too: rounder and a little sweeter.
Chair à saucisse ou échine hachée→Regular ground pork, plus the belly chopped yourself
Many French home cooks start from chair à saucisse, ready-ground pork. Here, 600 g of regular (not lean) ground pork can replace the shoulder; then grind or pulse only the belly. The terrine comes out a little finer and smoother. Keep the 16 g of salt: unlike chair à saucisse, Canadian ground pork is unseasoned.
Good to know: If your store has a staffed meat counter, ask them to coarse-grind the shoulder and belly together: it saves the hardest step.
Ready to cook?
Country Pâté
Terrine de campagne
A coarse country pâté of pork shoulder, pork belly and liver, flavoured with cognac, garlic and spices, baked in a water bath and pressed. The French picnic and apéritif classic, made with Canadian pork, chicken livers and bacon in place of barde.
Prep time
45 min
Cook time
1 hr 30 min
Resting time
24 hr
Total time
26 hr 15 min
Servings
12
Minimum 24 hours total maturation, including the 30-minute cooling period and overnight press. Mature up to 48 hours for fuller flavour.
Ingredients
Original recipe: 12 servings.
Instructions
Grind the meat. Chill the meat well; 20 minutes in the freezer helps. Grind the shoulder and belly coarsely, or pulse in a food processor in small batches until the pieces are about 5 mm. Pulse the livers until smooth.
Mix. In a large bowl, mix the meats, livers, shallots, garlic, cognac, egg, cream, salt, pepper, spice and thyme with your hands until sticky.
Taste. Fry a spoonful in a pan, let it cool and taste it cold. Adjust the seasoning: cold terrine needs more salt and pepper than seems right warm.
Line and fill. Heat the oven to 160°C (325°F). Line a 1.5 L terrine mould or a 23 × 13 cm (9 × 5 in) loaf pan with the bacon, letting it overhang. Pack in the mixture, tapping the pan on the counter to knock out air, fold the bacon over and lay the bay leaves on top.
Bake in a water bath. Cover with a lid or foil and set in a roasting pan. Pour boiling water halfway up the sides. Bake 1¼–1½ hours, until a thermometer in the centre reads 74°C (165°F) and the juices at the edge run clear. Health Canada's minimum is 71°C (160°F) for ground pork and 74°C (165°F) for poultry, so with chicken livers in the mix, 74°C is the number.
Press. Let cool 30 minutes. Lay a piece of cardboard cut to fit inside the pan and wrapped in foil on top, weigh it down with two or three cans and refrigerate overnight.
Rest and serve. Keep chilling until the terrine has matured for at least 24 hours in total, or up to 48 hours for fuller flavour, then unmould and slice thickly. Serve with bread, cornichons and mustard.
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Notes
Keeps 1 week in the fridge, well wrapped. Freezes for 2 months.
Serve at cool room temperature: take it out 20 minutes before.
If it crumbles when sliced, it was overbaked or not pressed long enough.
Some French recipes wrap the terrine in crépine (caul fat). Supermarkets here don't sell it; a butcher may be able to order it. The bacon lining does the same job.
No terrine mould? A 9 × 5 in metal loaf pan works. For a real one, Ares Cuisine, a Quebec kitchen store that also sells online, carries an Ateco stainless terrine mould with a lid, and Le Creuset and Emile Henry terrines are on Amazon.ca.
Cut slices about 1.5 cm thick: thinner ones break on bread.
Course: Appetizers · Cuisine: French · Adapted for Canadian kitchens
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