When I made my first pâté en terrine, the recipe called for weighing it down overnight. Later I came across advice about not weighing pâtés and terrines down. I wanted to know which advice was correct, so I did some research and put it all together in a helpful article for you.
Should you weight your pâté or terrine?
Yes. Weighing down a pâté en terrine removes the air bubbles, gives it a uniform texture and shape and protects any pattern (from interior garnishes) you’ve put into the pâté. Weighting—basically pressing with weights—a pâté helps make the pâté more appealing visually and easier to slice (which also helps the presentation).
Now that you know the basics, keep reading to discover how long to weigh down your terrines, who agrees with this advice, who disagrees and some quick tips on how to weight your pâté en terrine. But first, let me just clarify what kind of pâté we’re talking about here for this weighing down issue.
What kind of pâté are we talking about weighting?
To add clarity and remove confusion, I want to be specific about what kind of pâté I’m talking about weighing down. It’s the sliceable kind that’s usually cooked in a terrine dish. This is called pâté or terrine; both are short forms of the French term, pâté en terrine.
What I’m not talking about is the spreadable chicken liver pâté, chopped liver, chicken liver parfait, etc.
Throughout this article, I use the terms pâté, terrine and pâté en terrine interchangeably, as you can too.
[For more on whether pâté and terrines are the same, check out my article, Are Pâtés & Terrines the Same? Mostly Yes: 10 Chefs Tell You Why.]
What does weighting a pâté en terrine do?
In their book, Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie, Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman say, “As a pâté cools, it contracts. To help give it a uniform texture and shape as it does so, it’s best to put a weight on top.”
The weight pushes out any air bubbles that are still left in the cooked pâté, which contributes to the uniform texture. A uniform shape and texture help your pâté en terrine look good during the presentation of this dish. A uniform texture also allows you to slice your pâté cleanly, without it falling apart.
In his 1981 New York Times article, Kitchen Equipment; a Terrine for Pâté, French cook Pierre Franey says, “When a pate is cooking something regrettable often happens to all that work: The pattern starts to break up as the pate expands, bubbles begin to form and the compactness of the pate is lost.”
So, the weighting process also keeps the design of your interior garnish (or structured inlay) in place. The more artistic your design, the more you’ll appreciate this element of the process.
After you cook your pâté, whether you weigh it down or not, it always has to be chilled in the fridge (once it’s cooled down) for hours to days. This is part of the setting process where the flavours gel together. And, as you’ll see shortly, this step should not be rushed!
When should I weigh down/weight my pâté en terrine?
According to the 1985 Los Angeles Times article, The Best Way to Weight Down a Terrine for a Good Texture, you shouldn’t weigh down your terrine when it’s right out of the oven. Instead, author Minnie Bernardino says, “An important thing to remember before putting on the weights is not to put them on right after baking because the dish continues to cook and the juices are still moving about. Instead, allow the terrine to stand for about 20 to 30 minutes (or according to the recipe) in order for the juices to recede back to the meat.”
This time frame sounds about right when compared to the advice Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman give. They say to weigh down the pâté once it’s “cool enough to handle.”
Julia Child, in her legendary book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, The 40th Anniversary Edition, doesn’t mention waiting before weighting. Her instructions go from taking the pâté out of the water bath to weighing it down immediately with no intermediary step mentioned.
Wayne Gisslen, in his epic book, Professional Cooking, College Version, Seventh Edition, says, “[The terrine] should not be weighted when it is still hot because it is too fragile and may split or fracture, and the weight may force out too much juice.”
How long should I press and weight a pâté/terrine?
With this question, we get some vague and some specific answers and a lesson on why you have to read more than just the recipe in your cookbooks.
In Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen, Fourth Edition, The Culinary Institute of America (the CIA) says about pressing, “Apply a press plate and weight to it until it is completely set.”
These are in their general instructions for making forcemeat terrines. However, when you go into their recipes for venison terrine, mushroom terrine and chicken and foie gras terrine in gelée (among others), they say “press overnight in the refrigerator.”
I also want to point out that not all the CIA terrine recipes call for weighting.
The read-the-instructions-well lesson I learned from Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman in their excellent book Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie is the opposite one. In their recipes—for example, their Chicken, Pork, Liver, and Mushroom Terrine recipe—they say to “refrigerate until thoroughly chilled” after weighting the terrine. Fortunately, in each of these instances, they also refer the reader to page 30 to see more information about how to weigh down the terrine and what fully chilled means.
For the case of terrines, they say chilling overnight or for at least 12 hours is a proper chill. They also warn us that we can be fooled into thinking a terrine is properly chilled after six or eight hours, but this isn’t so!
So, now we know more about how long to weigh down terrines as they settle, we also know why it helps to read those introductory sections in cookbooks that are so easy to skip over.
[If you want to hear more reasons about why I love Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman’s book Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie, check out my resource page called, The Best Cookbooks for Pâtés, Terrines, Charcuterie and Other French Cooking.]
How much weight should I use to weight a pâté?
In this section, we’ll assume you’re making a fairly standard sized pâté, like with a Le Creuset enamelled cast iron terrine or something of a similar size. The Le Creuset enamelled cast iron terrines are 1.5 quarts and I’ve just learned—15 seconds ago!—that quarts are not actually the same as litres. This explains why when I bought the same “industry standard” 1.5-quart Le Creuset terrine, it was labelled as 1.8 litres. Though it doesn’t explain it completely as 1.5 imperial quarts equals 1.7 litres, which isn’t quite the 1.8 litres promised on the picture. (I also learned that 1.5 US quarts converts to 1.4 litres.)
There are different ideas about how much weight to use when weighing down your pâté en terrine, so I’ll tell you what a few folks say to give you a general idea.
How much weight is recommended when pressing your pâté en terrine?
| Weight | Recommended by | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2 pounds or 1 kilo | Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman | Book: Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie |
| 2 pounds/907 grams | The Culinary Institute of America | Book: Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen, Fourth Edition |
| 3 to 4 pounds | Julia Child | Book: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, The 40th Anniversary Edition |
| “Weight it gently” with a few tins of food | Jane Grigson | Book: Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery |
| 2 pounds or 1 kilo | Anne Willan | Book: French Regional Cooking |
| “A brick … or some heavy food tins.”* | Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall | Article: Press to impress: Terrine, potted meat and confit |
Who says weighing down a pâté/terrine is a good idea?
If you weight your pâtés, you’re in good company!
Culinary folks who recommend weighting your pâté en terrrine:
- Julia Child (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, The 40th Anniversary Edition).
- Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman (Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie).
- The Culinary Institute of America (Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen, Fourth Edition).
- Jane Grigson (Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery).
- Anne Willan (French Regional Cooking).
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (The River Cottage Meat Book and the article mentioned earlier).
- Valentine Warner (How to make a terrine – in pictures).
- Pierre Franey (Kitchen Equipment; a Terrine for Pâté).
Who says weighting a pâté/terrine is not a good idea and why?
Not everyone presses their terrines under weight. For example, in the book, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, by Julia Child and Jacques Pépin, Jacques does not mention weighting the terrine in his Country Pâté recipe. Of course, that doesn’t mean he never presses a terrine or that he thinks it’s a bad idea.
And in Professional Cooking, College Version, Seventh Edition, Wayne Gisslen provides guidance on why you wouldn’t want to weight your terrine. He says, “If a looser texture is desired, cool the terrine without weighting it.”
However, Taylor Boetticher and Taponia Miller, in their book, In the Charcuterie: The Fatted Calf’s Guide to Making Sausage, Salumi, Pâtés, Roasts, Confits, and Other Meaty Goods, suggest pressing is or can be detrimental to your pâté. They say, “Pressing is a technique that is sometimes used to compress the terrine so that it can be sliced thinly without crumbling, though it is usually not necessary if the terrine is packed carefully prior to baking. It is preferable to avoid pressing, however, because pressing a terrine leaches out the delicious cooking juices that help to keep it moist.”
Their example of the juices getting pressed out might be why some folks say to wait until the terrine is cool before you place the weight on top. But you can decide for yourself!
How do I weigh down my pâté en terrine?
There are lots of ways to weight your pâté including buying a terrine that comes with a press, making your own press with wood, carboard or a brick wrapped in foil or plastic wrap and buying a spring-loaded terrine press instead of using tin cans to weigh down your terrine.
For all the details on your many options for weighting your pâté en terrine, read my article, How Do You Weight a Pâté or Terrine? Tips from DIY to Fancy.
Conclusion
Well, that’s all for now. If you want gorgeous, sliceable pâté, press it with weights. Not too many, not too few. May all your pâté en terrine be well formulated, juicy and delicious—and come out in perfect slices!