L'Authentique Chicken and Tarragon Parfait product reviews

I encountered a real dilemma when I opened my jar of Chicken and Tarragon Parfait and took a small taste, just a tiny amount on the end of a teaspoon. That first taste led to a bigger one, involving the entire teaspoon, and then I had to speedily replace the lid before I ate the entire contents. This was a texture and taste I had never previously encountered in a parfait or smooth pate - it was superb. In the past, when I was a farmer and had my own meat products to work with, I made my own fine pates but could never achieve this level of smoothness. As for the taste, it is perfect. Strong enough to release the tarragon flavour, with just a hint of the chicken liver behind it, but not so potent that it disguises the other ingredients (cognac, for example!) Well, what else would you expect from a product made by imported Frenchmen? That acknowledgement on the packaging made me smile.

I managed to control my urge to eat the entire jar, and looked at ways we could make it go further. It was almost lunchtime and we had some fresh bread rolls, so thought it might work well to spread some of the parfait on top. We used butter too so that we could be sparing with the parfait. This was a good way to serve it; one roll apiece made a hearty lunch when served with a mug of French onion soup (to continue the theme). I put the two halves of my bun together; my partner chose to spread some of the parfait on each and enjoy a deconstructed version. Either way, it was just great.

There was still half a jar left, but we did not want to waste it on crackers - everyone does that. and we wanted to try something different. Also, when you put out a cheese and crackers platter for people to help themselves, a small amount of pate does not go very far and the intended effect can be lost. So we tried two new ideas. A quarter of the jar was mixed with the contents of two baked potatoes and a little butter, and then stuffed back inside the cooked skins. We reheated the potatoes in the oven before serving. The parfait flavour was noticeable and gave the potatoes a welcome lift. Our other idea, to use up the last quarter of the jar, was to use it with cream cheese on bagels in place of our usual smoked salmon. Again, this was a new idea for us, but one that we thought a great success.

We enjoyed the various ways to eat this product so much that it is difficult to write anything negative. We did try but neither of us could come up with anything. Even the packaging was well thought out, with the hilarious reference to the imported Frenchmen and the encouragement to recycle the jar. In fact, because it was so cute, I DID, so it now sits on a shelf with tarragon flakes inside. Very appropriate!

As a toddler, before taste preferences started to kick in, is the best time to introduce kids to a wide variety of foods, flavours and textures. The sooner they get a try, the better. That is the ethos my parents believed in, and I see the wisdom of it, because a good pate, especially of the parfait variety, can be quite an acquired taste for some if they get to it later in life. While I would never eat the ingredients in any other format, the combination to make any pate is something worlds away from what goes into it, in my mind.

Pate comes in a range of textures, and each has its own name, under the collective umbrella of "pate" - a parfait is a very smooth, soft paste that is closer to "creamy" than "meaty" on the tongue. It is a more refined product and when properly made has no detectable lumps in it. Pretty much what you would imagine to be classed as spaceman-food in the 80s. With almost no palatable texture to speak of, this spread relies on depth and richness of flavour to carry it, and with this latest offering, the team at L'Authentique have done just that.

In order to properly assess the texture as it is, I opted to try this first on untoasted ciabatta so that the softness of the bread allowed me to experience the parfait's softer elements without them being masked by the crisp toasted bread. To be honest, this is so smooth and soft in the mouth I had trouble telling it apart from the butter, which in turn meant I paid a lot more attention to the layers of flavour than I possibly would if there was an interesting mouth-feel to distract me.

The first thing to rise into awareness, as I chewed, was the herby notes of the tarragon and the soft rounded notes of the chicken liver rolled gently in behind. There was a quiet melody of other flavours hinted at, but nothing else really came to the surface as a singular note, which kept my attention on the tarragon. I had not realised, until this, that tarragon is a flavour I recall a lot from my youth, but haven't really used in my own adult cooking life. Funny where realisations can pop up, eh.

Overall, this was a wonderful find at the food show, and I am delighted to be trying it out. With most store-bought pates, I will chow down and enjoy it over the span of a week or so, but I find myself reluctant to eat this jar so quickly. Not because I dislike it at all, but more because this feels like something special that I should savour in small doses across a couple of weeks. It's not some generic, bulk-made slurry pumped out by the hundred-units, but tastes like something crafted by someone who cares about what goes into the food and the customer who buys it. This is now on my must-buy list when I see them at the next show. I want more.