THECOCONUTWHISPERER

 

What’s cooking today: Game biltong, Gorgonzola & rosemary pâté

It’s game season, to the delight of those who live in the country and relish the game meats available in the colder months. But this recipe will also be good with beef biltong.**

Biltong dust is a useful ingredient to buy if you have a biltong pâté in mind. My biltong pâtés are usually textured, using soft biltong that I chop finely. Once in a while, though, I buy biltong dust, for a finer pâté, although I did also include a small quantity of finely chopped fresh biltong in the mix, for added texture.

Ingredients

200 g venison biltong dust

50 g soft, lean game biltong, chopped finely

250 g mascarpone

100 g cream cheese

100 g Gorgonzola

Juice of half a lemon

Leaves of 2 rosemary sprigs

5 Tbsp milk

Salt and black pepper to taste (but don’t add salt if the biltong is very salty)

Method

Put the rosemary needles and milk in a small pot and bring it to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Strain and use the rosemary milk for the paté. Discard the rosemary needles. (Or do this in a very small pot on the stove top.)

In a bowl, mix the biltong dust, chopped biltong, mascarpone, cream cheese and Gorgonzola until well combined. Stir in the lemon juice and rosemary milk and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Spoon into ramekins and garnish with slivers of biltong and rosemary flowers. Serve with crusty bread or crackers. DM/TGIFood

** Biltong is a form of dried, cured meat that originated in Southern African countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia). Various types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef to game meats such as ostrich or kudu. The cut may also vary, either fillets of meat cut into strips following the grain of the muscle, or flat pieces sliced across the grain. It is related to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats; however, the typical ingredients, taste and production processes may differ.

The word biltong is from the Dutch bil ("buttock") and tong ("strip" or "tongue").

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-05-17-whats-cooking-today-game-biltong-gorgonzola-rosemary-pate/