pâté créole — France

Pâté créole is a pie whose pastry is made from lard, butter, eggs, flour, sugar, turmeric, salt and pepper, which gives it a yellow tint; the savory version is filled with a chicken-and-pork forcemeat called godiveau and eaten as a starter, while the sweet version is filled with papaya or guava jam, or candied papaya, and served as a dessert. This preparation is reported from Réunion Island, a common presence at end-of-year celebrations; the sweet version is said to be the more common of the two today. To prepare it, the lard and butter are worked into the flour with turmeric, salt and pepper, then bound with eggs and a little cold water to form the pastry; for the savory pie, a seasoned filling of minced chicken and pork is prepared and enclosed between two layers of pastry before baking; for the sweet pie, jam or candied fruit fills the same pastry base. Households differ on the ratio of chicken to pork in the savory filling, on the fruit used in the sweet filling (papaya or guava), and on how strongly the turmeric colors the crust; the sweet pie is often served alongside a small glass of anisette.