Pâté en croûte, the return of a French classic to Spanish tables
Classic is back in fashion . It seems that we have wanted to stop living in our time and move to times of yore. Part of the 'blame' lies with the pandemic, the lockdowns, curfews and that we have more time than ever to give the coconut. We want period dresses, wigs and ruff shirts like in The Bridgertons , we get excited remembering the first tourists in Spain and we dream of touring a Madrid from another era, like that of Ava Gardner. Any time passed was better?
Everything seems to point to the fact that, for the moment, we will have to take refuge in memories safe from these difficult times . Fashion, cinema, series... and also the kitchen return to the usual . Classicism returns to sit on the table of many restaurants. There was a time when it was the dominant part of Spanish cuisine. Before the culinary revolution that brought about the avant-garde, It was the French airs that prevailed . And they never left.
Among its star dishes was -and is- The pate . As we know it, in a terrine , and another variant, which is also prepared in a mould, but in this case it is covered with a crunchy puff pastry. It emerged in the Middle Ages as a way to preserve meat for longer and reached its zenith in the Renaissance . Then came mass production and it was hardly produced in an artisanal way.
It is a recipe where the hand in charcuterie is indisputable . It is succulent, laborious and high in calories plus, returns with force to the Spanish tables . Not without first conquering the world, which holds an international contest every year (one that was won this year by a Japanese and Instagram, because it even has its own page). These are the best Pâté en croûte that you can find in Madrid, Barcelona and the Pyrenees.
SADDLE, MADRID
If there is a restaurant in Madrid that has been able to recover luxury and French-style service, it has been Saddle. Tradition, elegance and temporality . Those have been and continue to be their hallmarks, trying to emulate what was already done in the mythical Jockey, the place where they are based.
"The art of table service"
It didn't take long for Michelin to recognize his work and award him his first star in the 2021 guide. There is not others equal. The room brought to perfection by Stefano Buscema as head of the room and Israel Ramírez as sommelier , is, without a doubt, one of the best in Madrid. Closeness, attention and an emphasis on those elaborations that are finished in sight of the diner and that have a special section on the menu, called ' The art of table service'.
Precisely one of those preparations, from the brilliant cuisine prepared by Adolfo Santos , is he pâté en croute . “We have been doing it since our first letter, the decision to include it was none other than to recover a practically forgotten recipe of an elaboration that practically goes back to the Middle Ages and has been present at the great tables of gastronomic history", the chef explains to Traveler.es and continues: "in addition, this recipe brings together the artisan work of charcuterie taken to haute cuisine and refers to our style of cooking and service in the room”.
In Saddle it is made a classic recipe with foie gras, beef tongue, pork jowls, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, peppers and different types of brandy . This mixture of elements macerate for 12 hours to later be cooked wrapped in a puff pastry with a high percentage of butter. Once it has rested, they fill it with a jelly of beef juice and brandy truffles. There is more, because in hunting season, they add another version stuffed with partridge, grousse and woodcock.
Pâté en croûte de Saddle
DSNCJ BISTRO, MADRID
Ivan Saez At the beginning of 2020, he changed his Desencaja for a concept adapted to new trends and baptized it as Dscnj Bistro . Plates to share or one unbeatable value for money were the signs of this new adventure. In it, he followed many of his classics, such as the morteruelo from Cuenca, ham croquettes or veal gizzard with mashed potato and pod salad.
There was also a legendary figure from this house, the pâté en croute . “It is one of those traditional kitchen dishes that is cool and comforting. I introduced it to the menu about 2 years ago and it never ceased to represent true passion in the kitchen”, he explains. “ It takes a long time to do the steps. . First we start with the dough, so that it rests, to continue with the filling and the gelatin". The one on the menu has the same filling as the pâté en croûte, but instead of using puff pastry, wrap it in a cabbage leaf.
Splitting a pâté en croûte
The one that does maintain, is a version, which is changing and it can be ordered at home through its online store, both whole and half portion . This emblematic dish of French cuisine stuffed with venison or wild boar , which uses different knife-cut or minced textures, foie, nuts such as pistachios, walnuts or almonds, seasonal mushrooms, truffles and Brandy, Port or even Oloroso. Then she mixes everything with a poultry mousse and bakes it like a cake. "Depending on which one, I change and combine the ingredients, so that it is always a mixture that goes well," he concludes.
BISTROT BILOU, BARCELONA
They say of him that he is an authentic bubble of authenticity in a cosmopolitan city . And the description could not be more accurate. opened as a parisian bistro which soon dazzled everyone. His success spread like wildfire, even more so, when even Ferran Adrià himself praised what the chef did there Eric Basset and Dany Martin , in a space with more than 40 years of history in Barcelona.
The letter is short, but it is full of French references with specialties such as marinated salmon graviax, pithivier de foie gras and mushrooms or a sweet beef bourguignon style . One of your most acclaimed dishes? The pâté en croute . They take more than 24 hours to prepare and they make it in the most classic way, marinating different parts of the pork and chicken livers, to which they add a mixture of secret spices. They add bacon, pork shoulder, foie gras, pistachios, confit onion and a Brandy gelée. The result? Superb. Also, they also have it available for take away.
AL KOSTAT, BARCELONA
That Jordi Vila he is a master of the kitchen, we already knew that. yours is a kitchen modern, avant-garde without being garish , rooted in tradition... "A kitchen that looks to the future, but knows where it comes from", as they themselves say. And all this materializes in alchemy , a surprising restaurant located almost in a clandestine space above the Moritz factory.
The first thing that overwhelms one upon arrival is the surprise. Walls with painted frescoes and coffered ceilings, as if we had landed in a Barcelona mansion of yesteryear . The open kitchen and next to the gastronomic restaurant, its most informal bet, Al Kostat. It is precisely here that he serves his already famous Catalan-style macaroni or the Caesar croquette, which they wrap with lettuce and sprinkle with cheese, as a Caesar salad.
Pâté en croûte from Al Kostat
The pâté en croute It is another of the constants of his menu and he has been with them for more than 5 years. "One of the keys to success is that we chop the meat by hand and give it the necessary rest that provides the ideal balance, with the crispy dough that surrounds it," they explain. This season's is ephemeral, because it is nourished by seasonal ingredients, such as the black truffle, which is added to duck meat and foie and served with pickled vegetables . Using the same technique as pâté en croûte, but without covering it with puff pastry, they prepare a pickled chicken terrine with foie gras and pistachios, which you should also try if you can.
THE AMBASSADE OF LLÍVIA
The chef Albert Boronat and Melina Allair , they have made their restaurant L'Ambassade of Llívia, a bastion of 'cross-border cuisine' , a space where the classic style, French cuisine, the tradition of Catalan cuisine and the product of the area come together. And it gathers all the keys to be it. First, the situation, in the middle of the Pyrenees , halfway between France and Catalonia. The second, the origin of each one, he Catalan, she French.
Albert decided to go to France to continue training and spent a decade working with Alain Ducasse in Monaco, Paris and Gstaad (Switzerland) and he even became head chef of one of his restaurants in Provence. He continued in other great houses of the Gallic country, until arriving in Llívia and setting up his most personal project. Among the dishes found there, one stands out above all the others, the pâté en croûte, which earned this Catalan a fourth-place finisher in the Championnat du Monde de Pâté Croûte in 2018.
The recipe is made with lean marinated meats, such as canetón, free-range chicken, poularda, foie gras, confit duck and veal sweetbreads, fresh pork belly and Iberian belly, to which are added pistachios, dried fig, Brandy and Port , to cover it in a shortcrust pastry or puff pastry. It's worth the trip, but if you couldn't get away, they also sell it at The Butcher Society , both cut into portions of about 150 grams, and whole, from which about 26 portions come out. And the best thing is that it reaches the entire Peninsula and the Balearic Islands in about 24/48 hours..
The pâté en croût from the Pyrenees