Every year at either Thanksgiving or Christmas I make pâté. Not just any pâté, but the Pâté de Porc et Veau avec Foie from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1. It is beloved by both Steve and me, and a big hit with my in-laws as well, and, call me crazy, I enjoy doing it.

Making pâté is not for the squeamish.

I’m not doing a Jules and Julia thing, working my way through every recipe, but Julia’s Volumes 1 and 2 are my go-to books for basic French, and they never disappoint. Julia was part of my life long before Jules and Julia was written. She shopped at Savenor’s Market in Cambridge back when we (Anco Foods and Richter Brothers) called on them, and many of the things we sold them were at her request. And it used to make us all cringe when she’d say that the Parmesan in the shaker container at the grocery store was just fine, when we were trying to convince the world only Reggiano Parmesan from Italy that you grated yourself would do. But she was one of the few on TV at the time, along with Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet), and I was star struck. I bought her books, I cooked complicated, interesting dishes, and I loved it. So, because of a talented hospital cook grandmother, a good basic cooking mother, a specialty food career (I’ll always be grateful to Ron Cardoos for teaching me about gourmet food and merchandising) and Julia I became a lover of all things food and pretty good at cooking them.

Making pâté is not for the squeamish. Cubing organ meats and grinding up pork belly in the Cuisinart is not for the faint of heart, but I must say the availability of ground pork and ground veal has made life much easier. It starts with minced onions sautéing in butter, to which cubes of liver (veal, chicken or pork) are added. The pan is deglazed with brandy, and the onions, liver and brandy are added to the pork, veal, ground pork belly along with eggs, thyme, salt, pepper, allspice and a minced shallot. And more brandy. This mixture is beaten until light and all ingredients are incorporated, and then placed in a bacon-lined terrine. Mine happens to be a partridge topped beauty that was a birthday gift from my husband several years ago and has had a lot of use since. The pâté is cooked in a bain-marie, a water bath, for an hour and a half, and then cooled with a 5 lb. weight atop it to make sure there are no air spaces in the meat. The pâté can be served with crusty bread, Dijon mustard and cornichon as a first course or appetizer, or as a hearty sandwich for lunch.

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It never lasts long at our house, and based on the ingredient list is certainly not a dieter’s dish, so I’m happy to enjoy it once a year, and in doing so Julia stays alive and well to me.

So, as Julia would say, “Bon Appétit!”

Deborah