Chicken Liver Pâté and Fig Jam

I learned how to make pâté working at Café Boulud in NYC. We used foie gras and a layer of fig jelly as clear as glass. Preparing this dish was when I started to connect French and Southern cooking and see a web of tradition that often intertwined. It sparked my passion for creating Southern notes in every dish I make and began my obsessive study of the history of Southern cooking—not just the European influences but also the African and Native American roots that are so often unsung in fin