French Cheese Board Spreads: Fromage Fort, Chicken Liver Pâté and Lentil Pâté
From my stone house in the Creuse, where the cheese course still comes after dinner
The best French cheese board spreads are the ones you make days ahead and pack into little covered pots: a fromage fort made from the leftover ends of your cheeses, a chicken liver pâté sealed under butter, and a lentil and walnut pâté for the vegetarians at the table. All three cost very little, keep for several days in the fridge, and leave you free on the day of the meal.
I’m making all three for my December live, where I build a French cheese course on a village budget at my kitchen table in Clugnat. If you’re planning a Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s table, they are here for you now, in time to plan your shopping.
Making French Cheese Board Spreads Ahead for the Holidays
In France the cheese comes after the main course and before dessert, and it is eaten with bread, not crackers. A small pot or two on the board gives people something to spread while the cheeses are cut, and it stretches the board further for very little money.
The old French way of keeping a pâté is to pour melted butter over the top. The butter shuts out the air, and you crack through it at the table. My ramekins have little lids, which makes a nice moment when they come off.
Fromage Fort: Nothing Goes to Waste
Fromage fort means “strong cheese.” French farm households put the odds and ends of the cheese board into a crock with wine or broth and garlic, so not a crumb was thrown away. If you build a cheese board this year, the ends you trim off become next week’s spread.
Fromage Fort
Ingredients
- 225 g leftover cheese ends a mix: mostly mild or medium cheese (tomme, Brie, Comté), a little goat, only a small piece of blue
- 1 garlic clove
- 60 ml dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 tbsp salted butter softened; optional, for a creamier spread
- 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 1 tsp fresh thyme or parsley leaves optional
Instructions
- Cut off any hard, waxy or very dry rinds from the cheese. Soft white rinds (Brie, Camembert) and the rind of a goat cheese can stay in. Cut everything into rough chunks about the size of a walnut.
- Put the garlic in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
- Add the cheese, butter if using, pepper and herbs. Pulse to break it up, then pour in the wine and blend for about 30 seconds, until creamy but not completely smooth. Add a splash more wine if it is too stiff. Taste before adding any salt: the cheeses are usually salty enough.
- Spoon into small covered pots or ramekins, smooth the tops, put the lids on and refrigerate overnight so the garlic and wine mellow into the cheese.
- Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving so it softens. Spread it on slices of baguette, or put it under the grill for a minute or two until it bubbles.
Notes
Nutrition
Chicken Liver Pâté: The Recipe from My Cookbook
This is the pâté from my cookbook, The Clean Table: An Herbalist’s Kitchen in the Creuse, made smooth for little pots instead of baked as a terrine. Chicken livers are one of the cheapest things at the butcher’s, and quatre épices, Cognac and thyme make them taste like a French holiday.
Chicken Liver Pâté with Cognac and Thyme
Ingredients
- 250 g chicken livers
- 30 g salted butter for cooking
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp Cognac or Armagnac or any brandy
- 1/4 tsp quatre épices see Notes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 70 g salted butter softened and cubed, for blending
- 40 g salted butter melted, to seal the tops
- 2 small thyme sprigs or bay leaves to decorate
Instructions
- Cut away any white sinew and green spots from the livers (the green bits taste bitter). Pat them dry with paper towel so they brown instead of steaming.
- Melt the 30 g of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook gently until soft and golden, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
- Turn the heat up a little, add the livers in one layer and brown them on each side, about 6 minutes in all. Cook until they are firm and no longer pink in the middle when you cut one open. Chicken livers can carry campylobacter, so don’t leave them pink the way some restaurant recipes do.
- Pour in the Cognac and let it bubble for a minute, scraping up the brown bits from the pan. Take it off the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
- Tip everything from the pan into the food processor with the quatre épices and pepper. Blend until smooth, then add the softened butter a few cubes at a time until silky. Taste: with salted butter you probably won’t need extra salt. For a very fine pâté, push it through a sieve with the back of a spoon.
- Spoon into small covered pots or ramekins, smooth the tops and chill for an hour until firm.
- Lay a thyme sprig or bay leaf on each, pour the melted butter over the top to seal, put the lids on and refrigerate overnight so the flavours settle.
- Take it out 20 minutes before serving and spread on baguette.
Notes
Nutrition
Lentil and Walnut Pâté: The Vegetarian Way
Every recipe in The Clean Table has a Vegetarian Way, and this is the one for the pâté. It uses the same shallot, thyme, spices and Cognac, with lentils and walnuts in place of the liver. Walnuts grow all through this part of France, and they give it the richness the meat version gets from liver.
Lentil and Walnut Pâté
Ingredients
- 80 g dried brown or green lentils or 200 g cooked lentils, or 1 x 400 g tin, drained
- 1 bay leaf for cooking the lentils
- 40 g walnuts lightly toasted
- 30 g salted butter for cooking
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp Cognac or Armagnac or any brandy
- 1/4 tsp quatre épices or a pinch each of pepper, nutmeg, clove and ginger
- 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 50 g salted butter softened, for blending
- 1 tsp lemon juice optional, to brighten
- 30 g salted butter melted, to seal the tops
- salt lentils need a little more than the liver pâté; taste first
Instructions
- Rinse the dried lentils and simmer them with the bay leaf in plenty of unsalted water until very soft, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain well, remove the bay leaf and let them steam dry for a few minutes. (Using cooked or tinned lentils, skip to the next step.)
- Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan, until they smell toasty. Tip them out to cool.
- Melt the 30 g of butter in the same skillet and cook the shallot gently until soft and golden, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme for 30 seconds.
- Add the lentils and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in the Cognac and let it bubble for a minute. Take off the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
- Put the lentil mixture, walnuts, quatre épices and pepper in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add the softened butter and the lemon juice and blend again. Taste and add salt a pinch at a time.
- Spoon into small covered pots or ramekins, smooth the tops, pour the melted butter over to seal, put the lids on and refrigerate overnight.
- Take it out 20 minutes before serving and spread on baguette.
Notes
Nutrition
Want all three recipes on paper? My free printable handout, A French Cheese Board on a Village Budget, has the recipes plus my guide to choosing, building and cutting a French cheese board. Tell me where to send it and it will be in your inbox in a few minutes.
Join Me Live on 13 December
On Sunday 13 December at 6pm Paris time (5pm London, 12pm New York, 9am Los Angeles), I’m building the whole board live: Le Clugnat, the farmhouse tomme made here in my village, Berry goat cheese, a blue from the Auvergne, a baguette from the bakery across the street, and these three spreads. Bring your questions. Tap “Notify me” so you don’t miss it.
Questions About French Cheese Board Spreads
How far ahead can I make these spreads?
Fromage fort keeps about a week covered in the fridge. Both pâtés keep 3 to 4 days sealed under their butter, and should be eaten within 2 days once opened. For a Thursday Thanksgiving, make them on the Monday or Tuesday.
Can I freeze chicken liver pâté?
Yes. Freeze it sealed under its butter for up to a month, and thaw it overnight in the fridge. The texture is slightly softer after freezing, but still good on bread.
What cheeses work best in fromage fort?
Whatever you have left. Mostly mild or medium cheeses such as tomme, Brie or Comté, a little goat cheese, and only a small piece of blue, because blue takes over.
What can I use instead of Cognac?
Armagnac or any brandy works. For no alcohol at all, use a splash of chicken or vegetable broth with a few drops of lemon juice.
Do the French serve crackers with cheese?
Traditionally no. Fresh bread, usually a baguette, goes with the cheese course and anything spread on it.
©2026 Carolyn Smith-Kizer
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