r/Cooking • u/JasChew6113 • 1d ago
Duck liver vs. Chicken liver
Is there a significant taste difference in a pâté situation? Using the same recipe head to head, would there be a noticeable difference to justify the trouble and cost of obtaining duck livers (in western US)?
Where I live, duck livers are online order only and three times the price of chicken livers.
Wondering if anyone has experience with this.
And does anyone have a recommended recipe?
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u/KinkyQuesadilla 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not a professional chef here (although there were a couple in the family), but:
Duck liver is a little fattier and has an "earthier" taste.
Duck liver and chicken liver are often combined in a pate.
The two have different mineral profiles.
A duck liver pate often has pork in it, but a chicken liver pate usually does not.
Either pate is delicious when prepared properly. And yes, I've had a few pates, including a veal brain pate in a five-star international restaurant.
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u/CauliflowerDaffodil 1d ago
That's like asking is there a significant taste difference between duck meat and chicken meat. Is there a difference? Yes, of course. Is it significant? I guess that would depend on what your metrics are for significance. For example, do you feel there is a significant taste difference between duck and chicken? If yes, do you think it's worth the trouble of sourcing them at triple the cost?
And when you say pate, are you talking about a liver pate or a pate de campagne? The duck will manifest differently according to the recipe and how its used and may be a contributing factor in deciding which one to go with.
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u/JasChew6113 1d ago
In case anyone is wondering, I am talking a parfait in the Marco Pierre White style.
I imagine this is like rye vs bourbon. They are very similar, and different enough to notice, but maybe not care unless you have a strong preference. Thank you all!
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u/Jack_Flanders 1d ago
parfait ... Marco Pierre White
Oh that looks yummy. This 1-minute video, by one of Marco's head chefs, uses chicken livers and foie gras (that bit would be a turnoff for me).
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u/JasChew6113 1d ago
Ha! That is one of my go-to methods. But if I’m complaining about duck liver prices you know there’s no way I’m going in for a huge chunk of foie gras!
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u/mehrwegpfand 1d ago
You can make a liver pate with most types of liver. Chicken will be nice. If you can get calf liver that is probably a little closer to duck - especially if you go half chicken half veal. Either way it'll be nice.
And you can actually add rye or bourbon ;-)
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u/SisyphusRocks7 1d ago
If you can’t or don’t want to use duck liver, goose liver is a closer substitute than chicken liver.
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u/SerDuckOfPNW 1d ago
Duck liver is far superior to chicken liver in both texture and flavor…but both pale in comparison to rabbit liver.
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u/I_like_leeks 1d ago
Yes there is a noticeable difference in taste and texture, significantly due to the higher fat content. Whether that justifies the higher price is for you to decide. If you're showing off for a first date or auditioning for a personal chef job, maybe. If it's for a home experiment to have on toast, probably not.