FRENCH TERRINE

Steps:

• The evening before: Marinate the chicken livers overnight in the cognac (or port, or Madeira). If you do not have time to do that, simply sauté them lightly with butter and reserve. Sauté slowly the shredded onions and shallots in some butter, they must get transparent but not brown. Grind the bread (if no grinder, boil it with a little milk and purée with fork). Put the sausage meat, ground pork, bread, shredded onions and shallots and the eggs in a big bowl and mix thoroughly (it might be useful to use your hands instead of a spoon!). Add the spices and 4 tbsp of the cognac (or port, or Madeira wine). Cover all the sides of the terrine dish(es) with caul fat of bacon slices. Depending on the depth of the dish, you can do three layers or five layers of meat: Start with one layer of the mixture, add one layer of chicken livers, repeat if possible, and always finish with one layer of the mixture. Cover with the bay leaves for decoration. Close the crépine on top, (or cover with a few slices bacon) so as to completely surround the terrine. Make a dough with some flour and a little bit of water, roll it and put it all around the edges of the dish. It must be placed is such a way that when you cover with the lid, no air will be able to get in between the dish and the lid. Push in the lid. It will cause the dough to bulge slightly. Put the terrine dish in another bigger dish filled with water, and cook at high temperature (525 Farenheit) for 1 ½ hour. Let cool and put in the fridge. Wait at least 12 hours before eating. Enjoy with cornichons. Serves