I must admit that I was a little apprehensive to go into class this morning. Pates and terrines? Molded piles of cold, mushy stuff? No thanks. However, while it certainly wasn’t my favorite day in terms of preparation or tasting, it was a different experience. The endless things you can do with beans, nuts and vegetables is kind of amazing.

Pates originated in France, and are traditionally a cold meat loaf made of high-fat animal products- think duck or goose liver. A terrine is just a pate in a special terrine mold. Much simpler than it sounds.

Our recipes today contained on classic pate, made from chicken liver, and eleven “contemporary” vegetarian ones that used pureed beans, egg whites and nuts as binders. My group was responsible for a layered “sunset” terrine, a polenta, goat cheese and black bean terrine, a red lentil terrine and a sundried tomato and sunflower seed pate.

Since the sunset terrine was pretty time intensive, a classmate and I teamed up to tackle it. First, we made three separate cashew-based pates using agar as a thickener: a roasted red pepper one with lots of cayenne, a bright pink roasted beet one with rosemary and orange extract, and a spinach one that tasted similar to pesto. Then, we chilled each pate into the terrine separately, so that we could produce two distinct layers with a circular center.

Came out gorgeous, right? Separately, I enjoyed all the layers, but together, I thought they lacked a cohesiveness. The red pepper was incredibly spicy, and though it was my favorite, it kind of overwhelmed the two less potent flavors. Still, with an adjusted amount of cayenne, this would be a beautiful and impressive party appetizer.

The polenta, black bean and goat cheese terrine was also quite pretty once it was finished. These layered terrines look hard to make, but they’re actually amazingly simple.

Once again, I liked the components separately, but together, there was something weird about them. Polenta and black beans go together, and polenta and goat cheese go together, but goat cheese and beans aren’t quite right. The goat cheese part was fabulous, though, enhanced by the chopped cilantro throughout it.

The red lentil terrine turned out to be quite a flop. Red lentils aren’t too attractive, and the recipe was a little heavy with the umeboshi paste and white miso, so it didn’t contain any of the earthy flavor you associate with beans.

The sundried tomato and sunflower seed pate, however, was amazing. Despite looking kind of like cat food, it had a rich, salty tomato flavor and a firm, spreadable texture. I thought it would make a great appetizer served more as a spread, and less as a molded…thing.

In terms of taste and texture though, the chicken liver pate was unsurprisingly the unanimous winner. My mom used to make us eat pate sometimes as little kids, and while the liver factor grossed me out too much to enjoy it back then, I really loved it today. There’s a reason it’s a classic! By the way, don’t you just love the “chicken” shape? :)

Another terrine I really liked was the green bean walnut pate- it was probably my favorite of the vegetarian dishes. Green beans are an unexpected choice for a pate, but these added just enough “green” flavor, which was complemented by the other ingredients of Madeira wine, miso, sherry and walnuts.

My mushroom aversion kept me from trying this mushroom walnut pate, but my classmates said it was one of the best ones in the group. My loss, I guess. We agreed that it looked more like a walnut brownie than a pate, though! I’ll take brownies over mushrooms any day.

Several more terrines rounded out the recipes. There was a plain lentil one, which was pretty good, though I think I’d prefer it as an entree in a loaf form.

As well as a yellow and green split pea terrine, another pretty one that would probably be better served as a main course than as an appetizer.

In general, the class’ consensus was that while most of the dishes were pretty tasty, the “pate” molds made them less appealing. “Pates” are best as real pates, and lentils and nuts are better as less formal spreads or loaves. Funny how just the presentation or name of a food can make or break it!

In other news, a new group of students started today, meaning that my group is no longer the “newbies”! It’s hard to believe we’ve been in the program for two months already- the time until December 2 is going to fly, and I’m already excited to put everything I’ve learned to use in an internship afterwards.

And a random aside: a recent grad is now a Green & Blacks representative, and brought in samples for everyone to try. Made my afternoon.

Have you ever had a classic pate? What did you think of it? And does anyone have anything they’d like me to post about regarding culinary school? I feel like every day I’ve just been posting what we do, but if you guys have any questions or things you’d like me to cover just ask!