Recipe for the Ultimate Chicken Liver Mousse
You can make an amazing mousse from chicken livers that is barely inferior to exorbitantly expensive foie gras made from goose or duck liver. This is, so to speak, the poor man’s foie gras, but at least just as delicious. This mousse is wonderfully light and, as it should be, made with lots of butter. Super easy to make.
A few tips: clean the chicken livers thoroughly (cut away any unsightly spots and sinews) and never overcook them; they should still be light pink inside. Your butcher can provide curing salt (coloroso), which you can use instead of regular salt. The pâté will then turn gray less quickly and retain its beautiful pink color. And above all, make a large batch right away. Chicken liver mousse can be kept for weeks in a preserving jar.
How to make chicken liver mousse
1. Clean the chicken livers thoroughly: remove white sinews, membranes and green spots. Separate the lobes from one another, rinse them under running water and pat them completely dry.
2. Salt the chicken livers. Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. The butter does not need to brown. Add the garlic, shallots and herbs to the butter (the shallots should soften). Add the chicken livers and gently cook them in the melted butter for 5 minutes. They should still be light pink inside.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove the herb sprigs and bay leaf, then place the warm chicken livers and the butter mixture in a blender or food processor. Purée everything until you have a smooth, almost liquid cream. Cut the remaining butter into pieces and add it to the warm liver mixture while the machine is running. Add a splash of Madeira.
4. Press the chicken liver mixture through a fine sieve and cool it as quickly as possible by placing the bowl in ice. Season the cream further with plenty of pepper, salt and Madeira. Taste it; it may taste quite salty, because after cooling (for at least 1 hour), you will taste the salt and herbs much less.
Wine tip: The Royal Tokaji Late Harvest
Tokaji is famous for its sweet dessert wines made from moldy grapes. Er, excuse me, mold on grapes—is that delicious?! It is when the mold is called botrytis cinerea! Grapes affected by this noble rot (pourriture noble in French, Edelfäule in German) have lost almost all their moisture through evaporation, leaving the wine intensely sweet and concentrated in flavor. This naturally comes with a price tag, because this kind of mold only develops under certain climatic conditions, and it does not happen every year. On top of that, yields are very low. Not so with this gem, which you can buy for less than twenty euros.
Instead of selecting individual grapes shriveled by botrytis, this Late Harvest is made from different bunches of grapes: normally ripened, overripe and botrytis-affected grapes. The name of the wine refers to the grapes that remain on the vine longer and become overripe. Their juice is then highly concentrated. The result is a higher level of residual sugar in the wine. The art lies in keeping the wine’s acidity high, so that the wines remain beautifully balanced. This wine succeeds wonderfully. Addictive aromas of peach and apricot, with a hint of honey. Opposites attract: this is a fantastic combination with the chicken liver mousse. You can buy it for € 15.95 at Wijnkring.
