PATE

(French: paste), in French cuisine, a filled pastry, analogous to the English pie. The term pt is also used, with modifiers, to denote two other distinct preparations: pt en terrine, a meat, game, or fish mixture wrapped in suet or other animal fat or lining and cooked in a deep oval or oblong dish, without pastry, and served cold; and pt en crote, a meat, game, or fish filling cooked in a crust and served hot or cold. It is from pt en terrine, more properly abbreviated terrine, that the pt of British and American usage derives. Certain pts are traditionally associated in France with specific occasions. The Pt de Pques, for example, which is filled with either ground meat, slices of pork, chicken, or rabbit, and hard-boiled egg slices, is an Easter specialty of the Poitou region. Pt de foie gras, a pastry that is filled with liver of specially fattened goose or duck, is a world-renowned delicacy.