French Roots Tangle With American Techniques in These Updated Delicacies

Pâté, notes Alex Harrell, is a gateway food. Done well, it’s an alluring step toward the boudin noir-infused belly of the beast—into the realm of advanced charcuterie.

“I think we were all kind of scared, growing up, to eat these foods,” points out Ian Marks of San Francisco's Beast and the Hare, “because our parents weren’t very good at cooking them.”

But as the farm-to-table, tail-to-snout,...