The Anatomy of a Pate de Campagne

• Pate de campagne is considered a hearty and rustic dish in France, not at all sophisticated. It's made with coarsely ground pork shoulder and occasionally veal, with pork liver added for its flavor and to help bind the meat together. The seasoning tends to be robust, with lots of onions and garlic, salt and pepper and the spice mixture known in France as quatre epices. It's usually spiked with brandy for extra flavor, and often contains bits of duck, mushrooms, ham, pistachios or other ingredients for garnish. The pate is baked in a special earthenware loaf pan, called a terrine, at a temperature low enough to keep the fat from cooking out.

The Structural Elements

• Creating a simulation of pate de campagne without pork is a challenge because pork's flavor has no direct equivalent. But chefs routinely make successful terrines and pates with other meats -- or even with fish or vegetables -- so there aren't any major obstacles to success. Grind your meats coarsely, or have your butcher grind them for you, so the texture will remain the same. Use the same mixture of seasonings, from the onions to the spice mixture, to retain the overall flavor profile. Finally, and most importantly, maintain the same balance of fat to meats.

Don't Be Stingy

• The notion of making a deliberately high-fat dish runs counter to decades of fat-conscious American cookery, but it's inescapable in a good sausage or pate. The careful balance of fat and lean is what gives the pate its richness, moisture and texture, and trying to change the need for fat is misguided. Manage your fat consumption through portion control, instead, and use as much as you need in the recipe. The meats you choose will contain some fat, and you can make up the balance -- about 30 percent fat to 70 percent lean, usually -- with chicken or other fats. If all else fails, look for "schmaltz," or rendered chicken fat, at a kosher deli.

Some Meat Choices

• Of all meats, veal is probably the closest to pork in texture and flavor, so it's a good choice for your pate. So are chicken and turkey, though turkey has a pronounced flavor of its own. Feel free to incorporate some rabbit or duck, if you have them, to deepen the flavor and make it more interesting. Chicken livers are the usual substitute for pork liver in a pate, but you can add a small portion of calves' liver for its deeper, earthier flavor. Prepare the meat mixture as directed in your original recipe, then cook a morsel of it in your microwave. Taste it and adjust the seasoning, then pack the pate into your terrine and cook it.