In a large bowl, add the diced chicken, diced bacon, sauteed onion, and minced herbs.  If you want to, reserve some diced chicken breast for the garnish.

In a small bowl bowl, mix together all the dry spices then add these to the meat and mix to combine.

In another small, add the chopped chestnuts and diced chicken breast if you would like to include that in the garnish.  Refrigerate this.

In another bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the egg, cream and port or sherry.  Refrigerate this.

Grind or chop the meat, either using a grinder or pulse it in your food processor in small batches.

Place the meat mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes or the refrigerator for 1 hour.  This is a good time to get reorganized and do some dishes.

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Once the meat is nice and chilled, put it in your stand mixer (or you can mix this by hand).  Add the cream and egg mixture and mix on medium for about 5 minutes or until well combined and sticky looking.

Fold in the chestnuts and diced chicken breast (if you reserved some).

Oil your loaf pan.  Line it with caul, or overlapping bacon slices.  If you would like, layer swiss chard leaves on top of the caul.  Then fill with the force meat.  Pressing down as you go to minimize air bubbles.  Fold the caul (or bacon) over the top of the pâté.

Bake the pâté for 60-75 minutes or until your probe thermometer reads 155 F (That’s not a typo.  For more info on cooking temperatures I recommend this read, How to Cook Meat Part 1) Remove the pâté.  Let it cool in the loaf pan on a cooling rack until it is about room temperature.

Cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the loaf pan.  Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the pâté and fully wrap the loaf pan.  Place the cardboard on top of the pâté and weight it down with cans from your pantry.  Refrigerate for 1-2 days before serving.

To Serve:

Loosen the pâté from the loaf pan with a spatula or set it in hot water to melt the fat.  Invert the loaf pan onto a clean cutting board and slice it into portions.  

Store about 1 weeks worth in the fridge. With the rest, cut it into portions and very tightly wrap with plastic wrap or vacuum sealed.  Vacuum sealed it will last 1-2 months.  It will freeze for up to 6 months.

Serve this pâté with good bread or crackers, preserved fruit, nuts, cornichons, and/or mustard.