Yeah, I’ve seen those videos, too. The geese don’t seem to give a damn at all. Not that it really makes much of a difference for me, but it looked, from a human perspective, a lot more humane than what I’ve seen from the battery farmed poultry that I eat without a second thought.
And now for my next recipe…(keep waiting, but I will be making this, somehow. I’m going with the cow meat, though, since I can buy a big cut or several and start experimenting). Maybe some confit of chuck in duck fat, for consistency, but keep waiting, because this will be … not that bad, I hope.
Should be easy. Make a compound butter with super reduced beef stock (i.e. glace de viande.)
Me too. I hate cow liver, so I resisted trying any kind of liver for a long time. Bird livers and sheep liver are ok.
+1
Love it any way it’s served. No problem with how it’s made.
That can be a problem. Some chefs don’t do it right. Some chefs don’t even bother to devein the lobe (with needle nose pliers)! For my money, heavily seasoned with salt, (remember, you’re capturing all the flavor essences here…sweet, salty, rich, bitter) scored and seared in a really hot skillet (no oil needed, soooo much lovely fat) and then finished in the oven is the best way to have it, especially with a chef like the ones I used to work for that would present the foie over a slice of toasted brioche and then garnish it with any manner of acid-bearing fruits (to cut the richness so it isn’t cloying in the mouth) like say, a pineapple gastrique with black pepper.
Something like this (and yes, I used to work at this restaurant…the vanilla beans running through the foie is something I haven’t seen Chef Dave do before, but still…its beautiful!): http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://daveeds.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/foodandwine_marquee.png&imgrefurl=http://daveeds.com/wordpress/%3Fpage_id%3D10&h=269&w=392&sz=141&tbnid=g1SDRyL9Tg1t4M:&tbnh=82&tbnw=119&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddaveeds%2Bfoie%2Bgras%2Bimages%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=daveeds+foie+gras+images&hl=en&usg=__IW0S5ClunEa5AP0Dr07cEU45n4I=&sa=X&ei=spsLTu6aAezFsQL30JyQCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAw&dur=623
Or this: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/j21RuGn5JeO-l1B9rj-Wjw?select=9gTgb3DvUxIBfdTSGEQKIA
Another way that I really like is called a foie gras torchon, whereby the foie is seasoned, marinated in buttermilk and cured, then rolled with cheesecloth into a log. A lot of chefs will use dried fruits rolled into the log, and the plated result is usually a refrigerated disc of gloriousness that’s often presented with something like a brioche toast, frisee, nuts, sea salt and mulled fruit, or any other myriad of preparations. I do love it so and it can look like this: http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/PhotoPages/Photo.aspx?PhotoID=431500
Shit is the bomb…when done right. It can be ruined by so many factors, especially overcooking.
To those that feel this way…why? This stuff has been around since the ancient Egyptians. Modern force-feeding techniques are pain-free for the geese (or in the case of American production, a lot of which happens in the Hudson Valley, ducks).
Goddamn right! Preach it brother! That’s the descriptor I always use when initiating the virgins. And Amen to the wine pairing. Sauternes is the traditional pairing, but I often find it a little flabby (low acid) to go with foie (I usually like Sauternes with a salty ass funky cheese like Stilton, as an alternative to port) so I usually recommend an eiswein. Similar sweetness to echo the fruit present in the dish, but sharp acidity to cut all that rich food and wash it away.
I agree. But you need to find a chef worth his salt and try seared foie again sometime. If you have a disappointing experience once or twice (because lets face it, this shit is expensive…and EEEEEEEEVIL!) I wouldn’t let it deter you from trying it again, although it may be textural for you given your fondness for the mousse variant. See of you can find a place that makes a good torchon. Its firmer than mousse but served cold and is deelish!
:eek:
$3-5 a POUND? Holy Shit! Move back to Hungary! Last I heard when I was still in the business around 2002-2003 the chef was bragging about getting a real deal on it for about $60 a pound. It can only have gone up since then. Man, that’s freaking CHEAP!
From what I have been told (anecdotal), the places, most of which are in upstate NY, use women to “herd” their group of ducks (apparently they respond better to women??) at feeding time and they are wearing a feeding pack on their backs which has a long feeding tube on it. The ducks, only too happy to overeat, line up and the keeper inserts the tube into their throat and “tickles” their throats as they feed. Apparently the birds have no gaga reflex (or a gag reflex, chose to keep the hilarious typo), and after being gorged on food, they waddle over to a trough where they drink a lot of water as the overfeeding makes them very thirsty. This is the daily process that causes their livers to blow up in size, many times its normal size.
That was definitely part of the plan! Great (hungry) minds and all that. I’d like to see how glace compares to a pureed confit of shoulder, though, when added to good old butter in a compound.
+1
Dude, you’re preaching to the choir here. I know I don’t like seared Fois Gras but that never keeps me from trying it over and over. I feel like I should like it, because I like mousse and torchon (you bet I’ve had that) plenty of times, but I just don’t.
Someday I bet I’ll like it. Until then, I’ll just keep tasting it from Mr. Athena’s plate because he looooves it.
Ideally the seared foie should have an almost crispy, almost blackened outer appearance if its been seared in a hot enough skillet. Seals everything in and much like a natural sausage casing gives the sausage or hot dog that snap, the salted, seared crust should do the same.
Maybe you are getting it like that, I don’t know. All I know is that the chef I used to work for in my first link has a reputation in Cincinnati as being the only guy that “knows how to do it right” and that its “just like what we had in San Francisco”, etc.
Again though, it IS a different texture (and temperature) than what you say you like, so you may not ever like it as much as you like torchon or mousse.
Also, I have to add: I luuurves me some freaking country-style pate, too. Crusty bread, country pate (characterized usually by a more granular, less smooth texture) and some dijon mustard and I will eat and eat until my liver is enlarged.
PS: When are you going to divorce Mr Athena and hook up with me so we can go on a whirlwind, righteous “foie gras around the world” tour?
We’d be the Bill and Ted of the culinary world!
air guitar
I love the stuff in all its forms (raw, seared, cooked, whole or mousse, duck or goose…), and being French I’ve had a lot over the years :).
The only problem is that, while good foie gras is not hard to come by with a bit of effort & research, bad foie gras is also easy to find and it’s just vile. We’ve had one last Xmas that tasted and had the texture of a bucketful of solidified lard. Ugh.
Wasn’t this your very first thread here? I clicked on it thinking it would be a zombie. Is it an anniversary or something?
Actually, I may have overshot a little bit. Looking around, it’s gotten a good bit more expensive, but still much cheaper than the US, at around $14/lb. I found an old picture of it at 4990 per kilo (it’s around 5500-6000/kilo now). That would translate to $7.50-$9/lb in 1999 dollar-to-forint conversion rate (I seem to remember it being cheaper than that back then, but I can’t find any photo evidence.). Still cheap, but not quite as cheap as I thought. Here’s the picture. Today’s exchange rates are not quite as good, so that price translates to about $12.60 per pound.
Bad product can soil the enjoyment as much as bad preparation of good product.
I cannot recall. Vodka and lemonade and all that.
$12.60 a pound is still a spectacular deal if the quality is on par with what you say.
Funny thing is, I only very rarely bought it as a raw ingredient for myself to prepare. I usually only ate it when I went out because one fatty goose liver is A LOT of liver. Those things are big and rich. Even with my girlfriend at the time, we couldn’t finish one before we got sick of it. For me, it’s a once in a while treat. Too heavy and rich for every day dining.
I suppose I could have made a confit and preserved it in fat, but back in those days, the idea didn’t even occur to me.
I know what it is, I have zero moral qualms about it and I’d be up for trying it but I never have since I generally don’t like liver.
If I were offered it at a friend’s home or one someone else’s dime I’d do it in a heartbeat but given the fact I dislike all other forms of liver (that I’ve tried) I wouldn’t pay for it in a restaurant because I probably wouldn’t like it.
You have to stop thinking about it as if its liver. I mean, it IS, but it* isn’t.* This isn’t the tough, iron-y tasting liver grandma used to fry up in a pan with onions that you had to choke back as a child that you could never seem to stop chewing because it was so dry (but so GOOD for you!). Its night and day. Forget that its a liver at all. There is no comparison.
Liver paté is something I’ve had thousands of times, and I love it.
I find the process of making actual foie gras to be cruel. I don’t care about veal - whether the animal is killed at 6 months or 2 years is irrelevant to me, and on the farm, I have killed my own cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens. (I have no wish to hear about how ‘some farmers crate their veal’. None of the farmers I know crate their veal.)
Foie gras is different - the animal suffers before dying in order to make the liver ‘tastier’. It is entirely your choice to eat it if you wish, but it is my choice to avoid it.
Ok, forgive me for barging into this thread, but I need help. I love foie gras, so let’s get that out of the way.
There is something I keep ordering at French restaurants and then I forget I don’t like it. Something is wrong in the wiring of my mind because I conflate it with Foie Gras or my brain seems to think it should taste like Foie Gras.
Ok, it is organ meat based, very french, not Pate, but it is served commonly as an appetizer, I think it may start with a P, but then again it may not. Please help!