All About Pate

by Dan Taylor

Hello food lovers, haters, don’t care-ers and just got lost and found this post by accident....ers. I’m writing here because it’s come to my attention that a rather large amount of people have trouble when it comes to classifying and dealing with a certain type of food. This product is a staple of DiBruno Brothers at Rittenhouse, and certainly needs to be given more attention. I’m talking about PATE.

There are many types of pate that can be matched to many different tastes. Before getting into the plentiful array of pates at DiBruno’s, let me first establish the definition of pate.

The Queen’s Dictionary, or maybe it was dictionary.com, defines pate as
follows:

1. French Cookery. a paste or spread made of pureed or finely chopped liver, meat, fish, game, etc., served as an hors d'oeuvre.

The most popular pate would be the Pate de Campagne, or Country-style pate. This is a traditional French pate enjoyed best in urban areas, as it is out of its natural suburban environment. This makes it more of a delicacy. It is made with pork, and spiced with onions, garlic, parsley and thyme. It’s simple taste can be enjoyed on all occasions, and by a large variety of people.

Another pate that is featured at DB is Pate Forestier. This is a wild mushroom-style pate, created to celebrate cepes, a wild mushroom hand picked in the forests of France. While certainly not as universally accepted as the Campagne, this pate still can be enjoyed year-round, especially after a few glasses of fine wine. This combination is certainly a winning one.

If looking for a truly special, magnificently delicious product, you may want to move on to Mousse, which is sold side by side with the pate. Mousse and pate are both made mostly with liver, but mousse has a fine, creamy texture, and is not as rough around the edges. A real winner is the Mousse Royale. Made with goose liver, pork, and mushrooms, then sweetened with Sauternes wine, this is my personal favorite type of mousse. This is the type of Mousse that you want to take home to your parents for dinner. Its beautiful look and exquisite taste almost give it it’s own personality. The only problem here, is that if for some reason Royale goes out of stock, it will be very hard to move on to a different style.

If you like your creamy liver young, you may be interested in Foie Gras. Foie Gras is made from the liver of baby geese or duck. You must be careful when dealing with this product, however: a section of society frowns upon it.

Other pates offered are the Canard a’ l’Orange, for those with an Oriental taste, Terrine au Trois Legumes, a blend of carrots, cauliflower, spinach and broccoli, for those Veggie lovers who just can’t settle on one ingredient, or the new Wild Boar Pate, for pate fanatics who are trying to find something new.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. What if none of these pates are right for me? I’ve tried them all, and just haven’t found what I’m looking for. Well, my friend, to that I say keep your head up. There are thousands, maybe even millions of different pate styles that you’ve yet to try. Keep on trucking, and one day you may find your match made in heaven. If not, you can at least have some fun sampling all the different pates along the way.

If you’d like advice on pate, or would like to set me up with a pate you’ve tried and think I would like, feel free to come down to DiBruno’s at 18th & Chestnut. You’ll often find me in the center island of the store. See you soon!