ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

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If meatloaf had a richer, more decadent, more texturally pleasurable French cousin, it’d be country pâté. While Americans tend to think of pâté as a fancy food for fancy folks, this luscious loaf is in fact made up of inexpensive meat cuts and other basic ingredients like bread and egg. It’s a little like your mom’s favorite clean-out-the-fridge casserole or spaghetti surprise—only way more welcome at picnics. And unlike those sloppy standards, this loaf looks like a million bucks, stealing the show at any party, indoors or out. Making pâté at home isn’t difficult, but it is a project. Cooking it the traditional way can be a little frustrating, because you can work through a bunch of steps to prep the thing just right, then overcook it all too easily. Here, we get around that risk by cooking the pâté sous vide, ensuring that it emerges exactly the way we like it. Read on for the full five-step process of making an incredible rustic pâté that’s far less expensive than the stuff at your favorite specialty grocery—but with a texture and flavor that blow the store-bought stuff right out of the water.