I like pickled morello cherries best, but you can also use sweet cherries. They can be eaten straight away but improve over time and actually keep for up to a year. You’ll need to begin this recipe 3 weeks ahead. Prepare the terrine 2 days before cherries are ready.
Ingredients
Pickled cherries
Method
Main
1.For pickled cherries, combine all ingredients, except cherries, and 100ml water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer to infuse (8-10 minutes). Pack cherries into 1.5 litre-capacity sterilised jars and pour over hot pickling liquid. Seal with lids, invert until cooled to room temperature (this helps to pressurise the seals), then stand in a cool dark place or refrigerate until pickled to taste (2-3 weeks for best results). Makes 1 litre.
2.Combine all ingredients except bacon in a bowl, mix thoroughly with hands, cover with plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour to marinate.
3.Preheat oven to 160C. Butter a 22cm x 12cm terrine mould and line with bacon, overlapping slightly and allowing to hang over sides of terrine. Spoon in mince mixture and press down to expel air pockets. Fold over bacon, place a double layer of baking paper on top, pressing down, cover with a double layer of aluminium foil and press to seal edges. Place in a roasting pan and fill with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of mould. Transfer carefully to oven and cook until terrine is just cooked through and internal temperature reaches 70-72C when tested with a meat thermometer (1-1½ hours). Remove from pan and stand for 10 minutes, then weight using a snug-fitting lid, oven tray and food cans and refrigerate for 1-2 days. To serve, briefly dip terrine into hot water and invert onto a board, thickly slice and serve with crusty bread and pickled cherries.
If you don’t have a mincer, ask your butcher to prepare the minced pork for you in advance. For quatre-épices, finely grind 1 cinnamon quill, 2 tsp allspice and half a nutmeg in a spice grinder. Alternatively, quatre-épices is available from
.
Drink Suggestion: Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc or Kiltynane Estate Pinot Noir. Drink suggestion by James Broadway
Notes