Goose and Venison Terrine

[Brian Miller]

We speak today of jellied meatloaf. Terrines, that wonderful pressed meat dish that turns cast-off odd bits into tasty treats. Headcheese is a form of terrine. Basically any meat mixture that once cooked has a weight placed on it to compress the ingredients is a form of terrine. The recipes are numerous: pigs feet terrines, foie gras terrines, lamb kidney terrines are just a few gleaned from a random perusal of our cookbooks.

 

Technically a terrine is the container in which the dish is cooked. But, over the years it has come to be synonymous with the end result. That is a least according to Elizabeth David in her classic French Provincial Cooking. Below is my version of a goose giblet and venison terrine.

 

The roast goose at the New Year and the confit made with the legs and goose fat were quite good, in our humble opinion. But, what to do with the giblets besides just add them to the gravy? A terrine, that French jellied style meatloaf served cold, was our answer.

 

I include this in the farm notes because it gets to the heart of one core value in farming: thrift. Making use of everything is not limited to farming, of course. But, for Cindy and I, and we seem to move along this line more than when living in town, it is a natural part of spending time in growing food and raising animals.

 

A covenant with the animal you eat (or vegetables) to make thorough use of every part seems expected. And to make something wonderful tasting… what better way to honor that animal.

 

Goose Giblet and Venison Terrine

 

Chop up some stock vegetables; add the goose neck (cut into a few pieces), the gizzard, heart and a bay leaf. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1.5 hours. Discard the veggies (our pigs loved them), save the stock for gravy, pick the meat off of the neck and roughly chop the gizzard and heart.

 

To this meat-mixture add the liver, finely chopped. Add a nice sized dollop of goose fat, fresh thyme and sage leaves (chopped), freshly grated nutmeg, 1-2 tablespoons of brandy, 1-2 tablespoons of bread crumbs and an egg. The recipe called for a ½ pound of sausage. Conveniently our friend Melanie had gifted us some of her homemade deer sausage. Toss it all together and mix well. Add plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.

 

Place mixture in a terrine and cover with foil. Place the terrine in a water bath. Place all in a 330 degree oven for 1.5 hours. Remove and weight down with a heavy object that fits within the terrine until cool. Slice thick and serve cold with chutney and a pickle.

 

Pretty damn good, I must say.

 

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[Brian Miller]

Ah, headcheese. That is an interesting process, albeit gruesome, that results in a great tasting dish. Long live homemade spam!

[Jeremy Spiers]

Very nice. My PawPaw used to make chicken head cheese in using a similar method. Tasted like Spam. I like Spam... =:-)