Terrine Connaught

Make the seasoned fat: Put lard, onions, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme into a small pot. Heat over low heat until lard is melted. Remove pot from heat; set aside to steep for 1 hour and discard solids.

Cut all skin, fat, and sinew from duck meat. Chop carcass into large pieces. Cut duck breast into ½'' strips and put into a medium bowl along with remaining duck meat, port, cognac, 2 tsp. of the rum, salt, pepper, quatre-épices, and saltpeter and mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The same day, preheat oven to 425º. Put carcass pieces, carrots, onions, and celery into a roasting pan and roast until browned, 30–40 minutes. Add pork bones and roast 45 minutes more. Transfer contents of pan to a large pot, add chicken stock, and simmer over medium heat until liquid is reduced by one-third, 20–30 minutes. Strain stock into a bowl and refrigerate overnight. Return solids to pot, add 4 cups water, and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Strain, discarding solids, return to pot, and boil over medium-high heat until reduced to a thick demi-glace, 30–35 minutes. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, pass pork shoulder, fatback, and duck meat (not duck-breast strips) through a meat grinder fitted with medium-hole disk into a large bowl. Mix in duck marinade and set aside. Wrap breast strips and ground meat mixture in plastic separately and refrigerate overnight.

The third day, warm duck stock and demi-glace in a small pot over medium heat, then let cool to room temperature. Gently mix stock and half the truffles into the ground meat, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The fourth day, preheat oven to 350º. Pat half the ground meat into a 10-cup terrine, scatter with pistachios and remaining truffles, lay breast strips and foie gras batons over them lengthwise, and cover with remaining ground meat. Cover with foil and put terrine into a baking pan. Add enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the terrine, and bake to an internal temperature of 160º, about 1 ½ hours, removing foil 10 minutes before terrine is done. Pour water off from baking pan, return terrine to pan, sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. rum, and let cool. Cover loosely with plastic. Put a piece of cardboard, cut to fit inside terrine pan, on top of terrine, weight with heavy cans, and refrigerate for 5–6 hours. Remove cardboard and plastic. Pour seasoned fat over terrine, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for 24 hours before slicing.