Editor’s Note: It’s no secret we’re obsessed with Cibrèo Caffè, a cornerstone of Florence’s Sant’Ambrogio neighborhood. You truly can’t go wrong with anything on their menu, but whenever someone asks us what to order, we always recommend a double portion of the Patè di Fegato–it’s that good. Here, Giulio Picchi, son of the late Fabio Picchi and current owner of Cibrèo, lets us in on their top-secret recipe.
My dad always told me that it was us Florentines who taught the French how to eat liver. Florentine noblewoman Catherine de’ Medici was a great liver lover, and it’s a tradition that has always existed in our city. All Florentine families have their own recipe, and each claims theirs is the original. The recipe we serve at Cibrèo Caffè comes from our grandmother, who used to make it at Christmas–spreading it on crostini and soaking the bread in the capon broth she made for tortellini.
She taught us that the soffritto is done once it turns bronze (first it turns gold, then copper, and finally bronze)–a marker of a long, strong sauté that can hold its own while supporting the liver and chicken heart. Potent flavor also comes from the anchovies and capers in this recipe; if you skimp on them or use low-quality varieties, the patè won’t be sweet.
The most important step, however, is deglazing the pan; in Tuscany, we deglaze with Vin Santo, but you can also use a different alcohol like sherry or white wine. We use something else, but that remains a secret we’ll never tell!
Some serve it hot, but the flavor really comes out when you serve it at room temperature, like we do at Cibrèo, spread on a slice of sourdough bread with raisins.
CIBRÈO CAFFÈ’S PATÈ DI FEGATO
Makes about 20-25 crostini
INGREDIENTS
- 1 kg chicken livers and hearts
- 150 g red onions
- 100 g celery
- 100 g carrots
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of cracked black pepper
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50 g capers
- 2 anchovy filets
- 40 g Vin Santo
- 250 g butter
- 1 sourdough baguette, for serving, raisins optional
PREPARATION
- Clean the bile from the liver and the blood clots from the heart. Set aside.
- Finely chop the celery, carrots, and onions.
- Sauté the soffritto in olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat until bronze colored.
- Add the chicken hearts and liver and sauté until brown. Then, add the capers and anchovies.
- Once the mixture is dry, deglaze the pan with Vin Santo. Add the salt and pepper and finish cooking.
- Transfer the hot mixture to a blender, and begin blending, slowly adding the butter. Blend until smooth.
- Let it cool and serve at room temperature on top of thin slices of bread.
