Pâté en croûte — pastry-wrapped pâté with pistachios and aspic

Mix the flour with 6 g salt. Add the cold diced butter and briefly rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg intended for the pastry and all 70 g water. Quickly bring the ingredients together, without prolonged kneading, until no dry flour remains. This makes about 650 g pastry. Flatten it, wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Have ready a metal loaf pan with internal dimensions of about 25 × 10 × 7 cm. Line the base and sides with baking parchment, leaving two overhanging edges to lift out the cold pâté later; do not add extra fat to the pan. Pat the thigh meat dry, remove any tough tendons and cut into cubes about 1 cm across. Finely chop the garlic. Keep both portions of meat cold and take them out only when ready to mix the filling.

Add the egg intended for the filling, all the cream, garlic, thyme, 12 g salt, pepper and nutmeg to the ground pork. Mix with a spoon or a clean hand for about 2–3 minutes, until sticky and cohesive. Add all the diced chicken and all the pistachios and mix thoroughly. Do not taste the raw mixture. Cover and refrigerate while rolling the pastry.

Roll about two-thirds of the cold pastry between two sheets of parchment into a rectangle about 40 × 25 cm and about 4 mm thick, without dusting with extra flour. Carefully line the pan, pressing the pastry against the base and sides. Fit the corners without thick overlaps and carefully patch any cracks with a piece of the same pastry. Add all the filling in several portions, pressing with a spoon so no large empty spaces remain. Level the top; the filling does not need to reach the top rim of the pan.

Roll the remaining pastry between parchment sheets into a lid slightly larger than the pan, about 27 × 12 cm and again about 4 mm thick. Adjust the side edges of the pastry to the filling level so the lid can rest on the filling. Use a little of the measured 15 g beaten egg to moisten the edges, lay on the lid, seal thoroughly and trim the excess. Brush the top with the rest of the same portion of egg. Cut two holes about 1.5 cm in diameter along the center and insert short chimneys made from rolled baking parchment. Set the offcuts aside for baking separately or discard them; they are not part of the ten pâté portions. Refrigerate the assembled pan for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C with conventional top and bottom heat. Put the loaf pan on a rimmed baking sheet and bake on the lower-middle rack for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 170°C and bake for about another 70–80 minutes, about 90–100 minutes in total. If the top browns too much, cover loosely with foil without blocking the chimneys. Do not shorten baking just because the pastry colors early; the filling inside is raw. Do not later add any fat or juices that leak onto the outer baking sheet to the aspic.

Put the pan on a rack and leave for about 30 minutes, without removing the pâté. Carefully remove the parchment chimneys. Then put the pan in the refrigerator with free space around it; do not wait several hours for it to cool completely on the counter. Do not cover tightly at first, then cover once chilled. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Do not drain the contents and do not remove the fat: the juices and fat remaining inside the pastry belong to the pâté.

The next day, measure 30 g from the full amount of cold stock, mix with the gelatin and leave to bloom for about 10 minutes. Heat the remaining 220 g stock almost to a boil, take off the heat and thoroughly dissolve the bloomed gelatin in it. Cool for about 10–15 minutes, stirring, until lukewarm but still freely flowing. Use a small funnel or spout to pour it into the completely cold pâté, alternating between the two holes in small additions. When the liquid stops disappearing, pause briefly and stop if the level no longer falls. Usually about 100–180 g prepared aspic fits, depending on the gaps; do not force in all 256 g. Chill any excess separately, outside the portions of this recipe.

Return the pâté to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, until the aspic is firmly set. Only then carefully lift it out using the parchment and remove the paper from the sides and base. Cut into ten portions with a sharp serrated knife, without extra decoration or unlisted sides. Serve chilled. Immediately refrigerate the remainder in a closed container and eat within the next 2 days.