Eric Gestel Chicken Liver Mousse.
Eric Gestel Chicken Liver Mousse is an example of the treats that await you in Rise, the wonderful compendium of Black cooking curated by Marcus Samuelsson. Gestel, who is Executive Chef at Le Bernardin in NYC, likes to serve this with sliced croissants. Seems like a gimmick, but in fact it’s a perfect pairing. Makes about 2 c mousse which is a lot; expect to separate into several bricks and freeze for future use.
Ingredients
1 lb chicken livers*
¼ t pink curing salt (Prague #1 powder)**
¾ lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, each stick cut into several pieces
¼ c brandy or cognac
2 T balsamic vinegar or saba
½ t kosher salt
Do try this mousse the way Chef Gestel recommends, spread on a warm slice of croissant!
Method: clean the livers (remove the white fatty bits and connective tissue) and wash thoroughly; drain. Mix in a bowl with curing salt and cure for half an hour. Rinse the livers and pat dry. Melt 2 T butter and sauté livers until they are brown on the outside but still pink in the middle, about 5 minutes. Transfer livers to a food processor*** and add the brandy to the pan. Heat to just boiling (take care not to set the brandy on fire) and deglaze the pan, then pour contents into the food processor. Cool to room temperature, then add salt and balsamic vinegar. Process for about 4 minutes, adding the pieces of butter one at a time and waiting till each one is absorbed before adding the next. At the end the mousse should have a beautiful creamy texture like soft serve ice cream.
Using a flexible spatula, remove the mousse from the processor bowl and transfer to several serving ramekins or a small loaf pan which has been lined with plastic wrap as we have done. Cover and chill until hard before serving.
*Chicken livers seem to have avoided the price escalation which affects many other variety meats, so you can afford to buy some that have been raised on quality feed. (The liver’s role in the body is to filter out impurities, so what the animal ate makes a big difference.)
**To keep the mousse from turning brown when exposed to air. You can leave it out if you are opposed to cured foods.
***You really need an old fashioned device with a strong motor and a slow speed for this recipe, vs a mini-chopper. If you don’t have one you could try making the recipe in a blender, but if the end result is not silky smooth you might want to strain it by passing the final mixture through a chinoise or other medium-fine strainer.
That looks more like a pate than a mousse. Chicken liver mousse has been a holiday tradition in my family for as long as I can remember (50+ years). My mother always called it pate. 🙂
I would have called it pate as well… mousse implies something with some air beaten into it. But that’s what Chef Gestel calls it so mousse it is. And it’s really good… give it a try.