Sweet parfaits are everywhere in Japan. Despite limitless varieties (cornflakes included), they probably shouldn’t contain chicken livers.
In this country, no part of the chicken is left uneaten — from seseri (neck) to bonjiri (tail), kawa (skin) to nankotsu (cartilage) and everything in between, including chōchin (immature yolks still inside the oviduct). This low-waste ethos extends to yakitori, where sunagimo (gizzards), hatsu (heart) and kimo or reba (liver) are mainstays served sometimes salted but more often in tare (sauce).
If you can conceptualize parfaits not as the dessert item they usually are in Japan but rather, as the French do, as a smooth textured cousin to pates and terrines, then feast your eyes on this unique parfait recipe.
Chicken liver can be bought fresh in smaller servings or frozen in bulk. It is also inexpensive, so despite the premium price of butter for this parfait, there’s no need to break the bank up and down the ingredients list. Spices and herbs can be adjusted to individual tastes or even omitted, but the gelled wine topping is fairly classic, set here with seaweed extract. If you prefer, it could easily be replaced with a splash of tare since that flavor combination works well also. Any sweet wine can work, though I recommend sauternes or other noble rot wines. Serve with toasted bread, crackers and assorted pickles.
Serves 8
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 300 grams chicken liver
- 155 grams butter
- 25 milliliters whisky or brandy
- 150 milliliters sweet wine
- 20 grams shiokōji (salted kōji mold)
- Small bunches thyme and sage, leaves picked
- 2.5 grams allspice
- 0.5 grams kanten (vegetable gelatin) powder
- 1 gram black pepper
Ingredients:
1. Clean any visceral fat from the chicken liver. In a hot frying pan, add five grams of butter and sear the liver for 30 seconds on each side.
2. Transfer the seared liver to a bowl or food processor and deglaze pan with 50 milliliters of wine. You can add the whisky and boil off the alcohol, though I like how a little residual booziness cuts the richness. Blend the liver with your deglazed wine, brandy, herbs, allspice and the remaining butter.
3. Once smooth, tap the blending jar to release air bubbles, then pour the mixture into a small loaf tin or several small ramekins. Place in the fridge to set for at least 20 minutes.
4. In a small saucepan, mix together the remaining 100 milliliters of wine with your kanten powder. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour this over the blended liver mixture to cover the top surface with a depth of about 2 or 3 milliliters.
5. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper and any extra herbs. Return to the fridge and serve chilled with rustic bread, crackers or other charcuterie. The parfait will keep refrigerated for a week and can also be frozen and defrosted when needed.
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