In cold meats, it is usually made from a finely chopped mixture of pieces of meat or offal (such as liver), fat, vegetables, eggs, herbs, spices and other ingredients. , such as sometimes alcohols like cognac.

In French cuisine, a pâté can be baked in a crust, such as a pie, in which case it is called a “pâté en croûte”. If it is cooked in a fairly deep earthenware dish, oval or rectangular, it can be called a terrine.