isithalal.food

Halal-conscious recipe

Chicken liver pâté without Madeira

Smooth buttery chicken liver pâté with garlic and thyme, made with Halal chicken livers and no Madeira, set under garlic butter and served with toasted brioche.

  • Cuisine French
  • Meal Snack
  • Difficulty Easy
  • Yield 4 small jars (70 ml each)
  • Time 4h 25m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A slice of chicken liver pâté with toasted brioche and a spoonful of chutney on a white plate
Photograph from our ingredient library: chicken liver pâté with brioche, not the finished dish.

Photo: stu_spivack · CC BY-SA 2.0

Why Halal checks matter here

BBC Good Food's chicken liver pâté cooks Madeira, a fortified wine, into the livers, the livers are only Halal from Halal-slaughtered chickens, and the chutney and cornichons served with it are made with vinegar.

Chicken liver pâté is livers fried in butter, blended smooth with more butter and set in jars. BBC Good Food's recipe adds Madeira, a fortified wine, to the pan and simmers it for 2 minutes before blending. This site does not treat wine cooked into food as Halal, and the pâté still has its garlic, thyme and butter without it.

This version puts 3 tbsp of water in the pan where the Madeira was, so the livers and garlic still loosen before they go into the processor. The livers need Halal slaughter like any chicken. The onion chutney and cornichons served alongside are made with vinegar, which scholars differ on, so follow your school.

Let the jars chill for the full 4 hours so the garlic butter on top sets.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Madeira The original simmers 3 tbsp of Madeira, a fortified wine, with the livers before blending. Cooking it does not make it Halal on this site. Use water, as here. See Wine.
  • Chicken livers Chicken, livers included, is Halal only from Halal slaughter. Buy livers from a Halal butcher or a certified pack. See Chicken.
  • Chutney and cornichons Both are made with vinegar, and scholars differ on commercial vinegar. Follow your school: Hanafi, MUI and IslamQA rulings permit commercial vinegar; others ask for certified vinegar. See Vinegar.

Safe substitutes

  • Madeira → The same amount of water

Allergens

milk (butter), gluten, egg and milk (brioche, to serve)

Ingredients

Pâté

  • 375 g (1⅔ cups) unsalted butter
  • 400 g (14 oz) Halal chicken livers, trimmed
  • 2 large garlic cloves, 1 crushed and 1 finely sliced
  • 3 thyme sprigs, leaves only
  • 45 ml (3 tbsp) water, in place of the Madeira

To serve

  • 4 brioche slices
  • 1 Bramley apple, cored and diced
  • to serve onion chutney (see the vinegar check below)
  • to serve cornichons (see the vinegar check below)

Method

  1. Fry the livers. Heat 1 tbsp of the butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. When it foams, add the chicken livers and fry for 2 minutes on each side.
  2. Add garlic, thyme and water. Stir in the crushed garlic, some of the thyme and the 3 tbsp of water where the original adds Madeira, and let it bubble for 2 minutes.
  3. Blend and fill the jars. Tip the mixture into a food processor. Set aside 200 g of the butter and add the rest to the processor, then blend to a smooth paste. Season to taste and spoon into four 70 ml clip-top jars.
  4. Seal with garlic butter. Melt the reserved butter in a medium frying pan with the sliced garlic, turning the garlic until it is lightly golden. Pour it over the pâté so each jar gets a few slices of garlic and some of the remaining thyme, then chill for at least 4 hours, or until set. It keeps for up to 2 days.
  5. Serve. Toast the brioche and cut it into triangles. Stir the diced apple through the chutney and serve the pâté with the toast, chutney and cornichons.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Chicken liver pâté' (livers fried in butter for 2 minutes a side, garlic, thyme and Madeira simmered in for 2 minutes, blended with most of the butter, spooned into four 70 ml jars, topped with garlic butter and chilled for at least 4 hours; served with toasted brioche, apple stirred through onion chutney, and cornichons). We left out its 3 tbsp of Madeira and loosen the pan with water instead, and specified Halal chicken livers. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Chicken liver pâté — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    Serves 4: 375 g unsalted butter, 400 g chicken livers, 2 garlic cloves, 3 thyme sprigs, 3 tbsp Madeira; fried 2 minutes a side, blended with butter, set in four 70 ml jars under garlic butter for at least 4 hours; brioche, Bramley apple, onion chutney and cornichons to serve. We replaced the Madeira with water.

  2. Wine analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why wine cooked into food is treated as not Halal on this site.

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