Manfred Mann or Supermann
Jan. 20th, 2019 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: King Manfred's Torta.
Crust:
1 1/2 c flour
7 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp salt
Filling:
1/2 lb chicken livers
1/2 lb chicken gizzards, membranes removed
1/2 lb pork belly
2 Tbsp lard
4 eggses
1 tsp pepper
salt
Mix the flour and salt and cut in the butter. Work in the water to form a smooth dough, then chill. Remove and let warm to room temperature.
Chop all the meats. Mix together, season with salt and pepper, and saute in the lard until browned. Allow to cool, then mix in the eggses one by one. Heat the oven to 425.
Roll out 3/4 of the pastry and line a terrine mold, leaving some dough hanging over the sides of the mold. Roll out the remaining dough to form a cover for the pie. Pack the filling into the mold, moisten the overhanging dough, and cover the pie with pastry. Seal well and trim.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Serve hot or cold.
What worked: It was a reasonable pate en croute. The cooled torta really did taste pretty good, milder than a liver pate de campagne - but it needed some oomph like mustard or horseradish. Good texture, surprisingly.
What didn't: I hurried through this and that caused some problems. First, I had crust failure - it just fell apart completely. I had to scrap it and start over. This is not a request for your pie crust recipe "that always works". At least it was when I was lining the mold, so I didn't have to throw out anything else.
I wasn't able to get gizzards, so I substituted livers for 1 lb total. Following the recipe, I used the fud processor - but the livers liquefied, and since the belly had a rind, it didn't chop much. I didn't get a farce that I could fry, but a mess of glop. (Which I did fry, but it didn't work the same way.) Gizzards would have provided more body (although I think the livers would still have liquefied; freezing and using the grinder on the belly and gizzards would have been better, and hand-chopping the livers).
The terrine mold is tall and small. I didn't want to heat up the whole oven so I used the toaster oven. That put the top of the mold uncomfortably close to the heating element, and the crust burned a bit. It also smelled unpleasantly liver-y. The wife and I both like liver, but this was just unappetizing. It also caused a slight burned-crust flavor.
It also didn't age well, probably because it wasn't refrigerated on Saturday. I tossed the remains Monday night.
Will I make it again? Probably not, although surprisingly not for the reasons I imagined when I made it.
The excellent and celebrated torta Manfreda. Take chicken gizzards and livers, and take pork belly, and chop them together with a knife, then add pepper. Take a deep pan and fry everything, then remove it and let it cool; then add eggs(es) and make a cust, then put it in a pan and cook it gently. (Anonimo Veneziano, 14th c)
Crust:
1 1/2 c flour
7 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp salt
Filling:
1/2 lb chicken livers
1/2 lb chicken gizzards, membranes removed
1/2 lb pork belly
2 Tbsp lard
4 eggses
1 tsp pepper
salt
Mix the flour and salt and cut in the butter. Work in the water to form a smooth dough, then chill. Remove and let warm to room temperature.
Chop all the meats. Mix together, season with salt and pepper, and saute in the lard until browned. Allow to cool, then mix in the eggses one by one. Heat the oven to 425.
Roll out 3/4 of the pastry and line a terrine mold, leaving some dough hanging over the sides of the mold. Roll out the remaining dough to form a cover for the pie. Pack the filling into the mold, moisten the overhanging dough, and cover the pie with pastry. Seal well and trim.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Serve hot or cold.
What worked: It was a reasonable pate en croute. The cooled torta really did taste pretty good, milder than a liver pate de campagne - but it needed some oomph like mustard or horseradish. Good texture, surprisingly.
What didn't: I hurried through this and that caused some problems. First, I had crust failure - it just fell apart completely. I had to scrap it and start over. This is not a request for your pie crust recipe "that always works". At least it was when I was lining the mold, so I didn't have to throw out anything else.
I wasn't able to get gizzards, so I substituted livers for 1 lb total. Following the recipe, I used the fud processor - but the livers liquefied, and since the belly had a rind, it didn't chop much. I didn't get a farce that I could fry, but a mess of glop. (Which I did fry, but it didn't work the same way.) Gizzards would have provided more body (although I think the livers would still have liquefied; freezing and using the grinder on the belly and gizzards would have been better, and hand-chopping the livers).
The terrine mold is tall and small. I didn't want to heat up the whole oven so I used the toaster oven. That put the top of the mold uncomfortably close to the heating element, and the crust burned a bit. It also smelled unpleasantly liver-y. The wife and I both like liver, but this was just unappetizing. It also caused a slight burned-crust flavor.
It also didn't age well, probably because it wasn't refrigerated on Saturday. I tossed the remains Monday night.
Will I make it again? Probably not, although surprisingly not for the reasons I imagined when I made it.
