Dad’s Banh Mi Pate- Chicken Liver Pâté / Pate Gan Ga

Dad’s French Banh Mi Pate- Chicken Liver Pâté (AKA Pâté Gan Ga)- Blog Post

FYI this blog post is about pâté, the history of, and the story of how it came into our household (PS- there’s no recipe in this post).

When we talk about pâté, the best pâté particularly for Banh Mi, has the perfect balance of color, texture (super smooth and smooth), and a nice pleasant and subtle flavor. 

Pâté that is super buttery and silky makes for great spreadable pâté.  The mild flavor makes it a perfect pairing with slathering a warm baguette with or spreading on a Vietnamese Banh mi sandwich. 

History: Pâté was brought over by French colonialism and French cuisine to Vietnam circa 1858 to 1954.  Although, many Vietnamese recipes have been incorporated to include pork liver, beef liver, or ground pork (aka pâté de campagne, or country pâté), my dad stresses that his recipe is a little more French than the traditional country recipes (no additional spices, red food coloring, fish sauce or spices…).  Most recipes I found online have other meats/livers other than chicken in the recipe, my dad stresses that 100% chicken makes the best tasting & smoothest tasting pâté.

Throughout the streets of Vietnam, pate for Banh Mi can be prepared using asian spices like black cardamom, star anise, clove, fennel seeds, cinnamon powder and even fish sauce.  My dad's recipe is so good on it's one, it really doesn't need any of these flavorings. 

Story time: My dad actually learned this recipe from his father. Apparently when he was younger in Vietnam, a French Captain stayed at their house in Hanoi.  This Frenchman in return made pate as a kind gesture for their hospitality and taught his father (my grandfather) how to make it. 

Over a century later, my dad still makes it exactly the same, the way that this kind French soldier taught my father and I'm so excited he was able to pass this on to me.  I'm still trying to convince my father to share his recipe but he did show me how to make this delicacy.

TIPS: 

1. Chicken liver can be quite gamey but you can mellow out the taste through thoroughly washing the chicken livers from any blood and removing all fat and connective tissues from the liver (and, yes, we know many families that will soak the liver in a fatty milk for 20 min up to a few hours to help mellow out the gamey flavor.  Personally, from my dad's experience using fresh chicken liver preferably organic without the use of pork liver, ground pork or and beef liver will make it taste much milder and less meaty or gamey tasting). 

2. My dad loves his pate super smooth so pulsing and blending for a few minutes will give it that super smooth and silky texture. 

3. Don’t use previously frozen livers, and don't overcook the livers, that will cause a more bitter, off, or grittier/dryer or clumpier pate. 

4. Don’t eat it all at once, freeze in freezer safe, airtight containers for up to 3 months. 

5. To seal the pate you can also add a layer of clarified butter to the surface of the pate to keep it longer.  

PS- My dad says his pate keeps up to 2-3 weeks in the fridge but I've never had it last in the fridge for more than a week because it's such a staple for bread and sandwiches with my family.