At yesterday’s conference in Kliczków, the jury chairman said that there are still many flavors to discover in cuisine. – there are no two identical chefs, and it is mistaken to think that everything has already been cooked – said Zbigniew Łęgowski. – We are still served dishes that delight us.
Piotr Szczygielski praised this year’s competition and its standard and announced that rabbit pâté reigns at the castle. – It is a forgotten product, much like millet groats. Preparing these groats well is a true art. Chefs therefore reach for old recipes and rediscover them for us, drawing on their knowledge – said Szczygielski.
Today, still at Kliczków Castle
14:00 Culinary Demonstration by Zeelandia
14:00 Charity refreshment for invited guests
A brief history of pâté
The modern history of pâté owes its greatest development to France. It was in the country of Louis XIV that foie gras was created, one of the most expensive and exquisite dishes of French cuisine, whose flavor and aroma were exceptionally valued by the seventeenth-century aristocracy. Although the dish is eaten around the world, the variety of ways in which it is served and prepared means that the phenomenon of pâté cannot be defined unambiguously.
Old Polish cuisine made pâté one of its signature dishes. They were richly decorated and created from scratch in unusual sizes by pâté makers, also known in Poland as marcepniki. Unlike the modern version of the dish, pâtés were initially made from finely chopped pieces of meat bound with egg yolks. The dish was boiled or baked, and the preparations included not only game but also fish and farm animals. Over time, to ensure a delicate flavor, cooks began using a water bath, making pâtés exceptionally delicate. Having a pâté maker at the court testified to the host’s prestige and status.
The pâté makers’ craftsmanship became almost completely forgotten in Poland during the first half of the twentieth century. World War II forced housewives and cooks to deceive the palate with various tricks and by creating new dishes. One of them was pâté prepared from herring, which, alongside cabbage pudding and bean cake, was part of everyday life. Soaked beans or boiled potatoes were added to the dish. Even 80 years ago, the name pâté was also used for various vegetables and meats in pastry, as well as meat-filled dumplings.