Chicken Liver Mousse

Here is the recipe of my good friend Chef Jason Bond (Bondir), for his chicken mousse. What I like about this recipe is that it is exactly what makes a real chicken liver mousse like the original one from the Montreal l’Express. *You can also add 4 oz of shelled and unsalted pistachios if you wish. Thank you, Jason, for sharing this offal recipe with us.

Chicken Liver Mousse

16 oz (450 g) chicken livers

2 oz (50 g) chicken fat (unrendered)

4 oz (100 g) chicken hearts

4 oz (100 g) shallot

40 g thyme, sprig

1 tablespoon (15 g) kosher salt

1 demitasse spoon (5 g) black pepper

1 tablespoon (15 g) good American bourbon or cognac

4 oz (100 g) chicken stock

8 oz (200 g) heavy cream

Prep Method

Dice the chicken fat and hearts. Slice the shallots. Tie the thyme branches in twine to make it easier to remove later. Add these to a saucepan with the salt and pepper and cook gently to start rendering the fat. Cover à cartouche (with paper) to help the fat render gently.

Cook this mixture until the color is a rich brown all over. Remove everything except the rendered fat from the pan and

reserve to the side.

Add the livers to the hot rendered fat a few at a time to sear on one side only. You want these to remain rare. Once seared, place them with your shallot mixture.

After searing all the livers, discard the used fat. Add the cognac to the pan, then the stock and cream. Use a wooden spoon to deglaze the bottom of the pan while this reduces. Cook to reduce by about half, and the cream looks to be thickening.

Add the livers and shallot mixture to a food processor. Add in the cream mixture while still hot and process about one minute, until smooth. Work in batches depending on the capacity of your processor. If you don’t have a food processor,

chop the liver-shallot mixture finely by hand, then press through a sieve, then mix into the cream reduction.

After processing, pass this mixture through a course sieve and then into a serving crock, terrine, or dish. Cover the top with cracked black pepper and refrigerate for several hours to chill and set. Served with toasted baguette crouton.

*Before transferring the mousse to the terrine or small ramekins, mix the pistachios with the mousse and gently fold them in with a spatula so that they are well dispersed in the final mixture. In this case, do not add the cracked pepper on top. Refrigerate covered (plastic wrap or parchment paper) to prevent the foam from drying on top.