Pâté Poulet de Campagne aux Canneberges

The other day I put together a pâté based on the pâté de campagne recipe from Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing — a great book, I heartily recommend it. Country style pâtés are quite easy to make. ecause of their mild liver flavor they're a good way to introduce people to pâté.

The original recipe is for a traditional pork pâté, but I had chicken and chicken livers, so I decided to go with what was on hand. Since it was my first time with the recipe, and because I was modifying it, I decided to halve the amounts. I used two indivual loaf pans to bake it in, since it would have filled less than half a terrine or a loaf pan.   I also omitted the brandy.  The (dried) cranberries were thrown in as a garnish because they seemed like a natural fit for poultry.


1 pound chicken, ground
2 oz chicken liver
4 Tbs coarsely chopped parsley
6 green onions  chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbs kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tsp flour
1 large egg
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup cranberries

Preheat oven to 300F/150C

Load liver, parsley, onions, and garlic in a blender or food processor and puree.  Combine with the ground chicken in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix together the  salt, spices, flour, egg, and cream. Stir this mixture into the meat and work together until it becomes a bit sticky. Finally, add the cranberries and mix them lightly into the mixture.

Line two mini loaf pans with plastic wrap, leaving enough wrap the pâtés.  Load the pâté mixture into pans, packing them down.  Fold the plastic wrap over the top, and cover the pans with foil.  (I stuck a thermometer into one of them so I could watch the temperature.

Place the pans in a casserole, and fill with hot water to 1/2 the height of the loaf pans, then bake untie the  pâté reaches 165 degrees.  (I got distracted and overcooked mine, but it turned out just fine.)

Remove the pâtés from the loaf pans, place a weight on them (I used a heavy dinner plate), and cool them overnight in the refrigerator.

They should be keep in the fridge for about a week — mine didn't last nearly that long. 

Wood Badge - Back to Gilwell (again)

This summer, my wife and I are going to be staffing Wood Badge course 591-12-5!  Pollyanna will be a New Troop Guide and I'll be the Quartermaster.  We're both pretty excited.  

Going through the materials reminded me that I set some Wood Badge-like goals last year and I thought I'd better revisit them:

• Complete "Bachelor of Commissioner Science" - I achieved this goal.  I'm now working on my MCS, and serving as registrar for a Commissioner College next month.  I have to admit, I'd forgotten about the goal, and accomplished it in spite of my lack of focus.  
• Engage ADCs and Unit Commissioners - I blew this one.  After posting the goal, I managed to forget all about it.  Without keeping my eye on the ball, I didn't make any blog posts or send any newsletters.  I'm going to try again though - albeit with a different, but related, goal. 

Obviously, I needed a good troop guide to keep me straight.

This year I'm going to work on three goals related to my role as District Commissioner:

• I will visit (and record in UVTS) at least three units/month at least ten months in 2012.
• In 2012 I will try to encourage/support the unit commissioners in my district by holding at least three Basic Training for Comissioners courses.
• I will invite the Unit Commissioners in my district to all of the Commissioner Colleges run in our council during 2012.  I'll especially focus on those who have not been trained.

It looks like Wood Badge ticket ideas are a big search term for folks landing here, so I thought I'd share some ideas that have been on my mind lately (note, these are not full-on goals, just ideas): 

For Commissioners - work with council to organize and index Commissioners College theses and get them online.

For Commissioners - work on staff at a Commissioners College or Commissioners Conference

For Commissioners - help plan and staff a basic training course for commissioners

For Commissioners - invite assigned units to attend roundtable and support their efforts 

For Scout Leaders - improve your own roundtable attendance

For Scout Leaders - invite other leaders in your own or nearby units to attend roundtable and support their efforts

For Scout Leaders - get involved in roundtable staff

For Scout Leaders - invite your unit commissioner to meetings and/or activities

For CORs - get involved in the District Committee

For CORs - help plan and staff a District Event