pate with pickled okra & persimmons

Thank you everyone for showing your love and interest in Vietnamese Cinnamon! The enormous enthusiasm was beyond our expectations. Our Vietnamese Cinnamon post and giveaway drawing drew over 200 entries and that was more than enough proof to show just how prized this amazing spice is.

We were just enthralled to read all your comments, insightful information and interest on this post. But the thought of giving away just one prize amongst so many excited cooks was just….depressing.

So after much discussion and inventory count of our Vietnamese cinnamon stash, we’ve decided to give away the prize to a total of  8 winners!

Yes! We can spare 7 extra, smaller pieces of Vietnamese Cinnamon bark!

We’re sharing the love and still sticking to the original commitment of giving 3 sticks to one lucky winner, but have decided to add 7 extra winners. The additional 7 winners will receive one smaller bark and we figured that would be enough to get those lucky winners get off to a delicious start.

From our random number generator: *loud applause* , *Hooting* , *Whistling*

The Grand Prize Winner of 3 Vietnamese Cinnamon Barks is:

#36 - Evil Chef Mom - Congratulations! Now someone go make friends with Evil Chef Mom. Maybe she’ll share two of her other sticks with you!

The other 7 additional winners of one cinnamon bark are:

#50 - Nabeela

#17 - Sandy Sandie

#80 - Allen of EOL

#118 - Zoe Francis

#154 - Jeanne

#152 - Sefa

#55 - Robin

Congratulations everyone!!! For all the winners, send us an email with your address and we’ll get it out in the mail to ya soon.

For those of you who missed out on the drawing, you can read about it all here: Vietnamese Cinnamon Post

We have another fabulous giveaway in a few weeks, check back for more details.

Four Spice Liver Pate:

Our kitchen was cranking out pate like nobody’s business. With the holidays approaching, gifting a plate of homemade pate is always a hit and appreciated gift. Not only is it delicious, but it’s a gift that comes from the kitchen and the heart.

We’ll be writing about all 5 various type of pate we made later, but today’s addition is this wonderful, four spice mixture that we added to a pate recipe: Vietnamese cinnamon, star anise, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. The combination of these four spices gave a delicious aromatic touch to the earthy, flavorful pate.

Spread this pate on some warm baguette, a few pickles and it’s a whole meal!

We used whole seed spices and pieces of Vietnamese cinnamon bark that were later pounded to a powder in our mortar pestle. But if you only have the pre-ground spices, those will work well too. It’s important to adequately salt your pate  for a flavorful pate, thus the plentiful spices in our recipe. We’re all about flavor, flavor, flavor!

Printable Four Spice Liver Pate Recipe

The four spice mixture that we added to a pate recipe: Vietnamese cinnamon, star anise, coriander seeds and cumin seeds, gives a delicious aromatic touch to the earthy, flavorful pate.

We used whole seeds, spices and pieces of cinnamon bark that were later pounded to a powder in our mortar pestle. But if you only have the pre-ground spices, those will work well too. It’s important to adequately salted and flavorful pate, thus the plentiful spices in our recipe. We’re all about flavor, flavor, flavor!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground pork shoulder/butt

1 pound of pork/chicken liver, or combination of both. For a richer pate, use all chicken liver.

1 1/2  pound back fat, pork fat

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 large shallots, minced

2 eggs ( 1 whole, 1 yolk)

1/2 tsp crushed anise star (powder form)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

1 Tablespoon Cognac

about 1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 bay leaf

about 1 lb caul fat or 10-12 strips raw bacon strips

1. Trim liver of sinews and skin. Chop liver into cubes.

2. In meat grinder, grind together chopped liver, ground pork, back fat, crushed garlic and diced shallots. Grind it twice for a smoother texture. If using food processor, add same ingredients and pulse until all ingredients are combined. Continue to pulse until mixture is smooth.

3. In bowl, add liver/meat mixture and remaining ingredients, except for the bay leaf & caul fat or raw bacon.

4. Preheat oven to 350º F. In one 8×6×3 bread loaf pan, or equal size casserole/ramekin dish lay base with caul fat or bacon. Let it overlap sides of your pan. If the caul fat/bacon lay outside of pan, it’s OK. The excess will be used to cover the mixture later.

5. Lay one bay leaf on bottom of pan. Fill pans with liver mixture and cover with remaining caul fat or bacon. This extra insulating layer of fat will keep the pate from drying out, as well as adding extra flavor. Add another bay leaf on top of the mixture before it’s covered with remaining caul fat/bacon.

6. Place mixture pan in a large roasting pan. Add enough water to fill the roasting pan with about 2/3 up the sides of the loaf mixture pan. This will keep the pate moist as it bakes. Bake pate for about 1 to 1.5 hours in 350º F or until internal temperature reaches about 160ºF.

7. The pate will shrink in size, leaving it in a bath of fat. Allow the pate to remain in the fat while it cools to continue absorbing the fat, for added moisture.

8. When cooled, remove from pan. Remove excess caul fat/bacon.

9. Serve warm or cold. The pate will last in the fridge for about 5 days.

hot pate from the oven, still encased with caul fat for moisture.

If spices intrigue you, you might like a post we did a while back called, “The Art of Spicing” Check it out.  It’s a goodie.

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