PORK AND DUCK LIVER TERRINE

Between high school and university I worked at a mailing centre. They had machines that folded direct response letters and put them in envelopes, which another guy and I would drive at dangerous speed to the post office to send off to recipients who weren't interested in the enclosed offer. I worked there for maybe two months. The highlight at the time was the office Christmas party, where they had wine and Dubonnet. I don't recall anything else being served. Dubonnet seemed a very random beverage to offer. I was 18 and like all 18 year olds would drink anything. I recall vomiting out the window of my mate's car as he drove me home. I have never drunk Dubonnet since. The moral? Make sure the first alcohol that gives you a hangover is something you will never miss. The other highlight of my stint at the mailing centre was that publishers Doubleday had their warehouse nearby and they offered us many of their titles at ridiculously low prices. I bought a copy of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking for 20 cents. I still have it forty years later. I bought some duck livers and pork mince at the markets from a breeder with a farm near Bangalow. I immediately thought terrine. And so I opened French Provincial Cooking. So this terrine is based on a recipe for terrine de campagne. Here's what went into it - about 600 gms of pork mince, about the same weight of chopped duck livers and the same again of lightly smoked pork belly, cognac, vermouth, mace, pepper corns, juniper berries, garlic and salt. Put into a terrine and this into a bain marie and baked at 160C for 1 1/4 hours. Served with toasted slices of whole grain sour dough, cornichons and mesclun.

PORK AND DUCK LIVER TERRINE