Is goose liver pate (not foie gras) any good?

Animal-rights activists have made foie gras so controversial . . . What if you used ordinary non-force-fed goose livers? Would the pate be any good?

FTR, the only “pate” I’ve ever had was made from pork livers, that’s my only basis for comparison. Never even seen any other kind for sale in supermarkets or even liquor stores.

I think so, I’m no food snob but the first time I ever ate any (without knowing what it was) I was, literally, gobsmacked. I thought it was simply a chicken liver pate and had it on a chunk of crusty bread with a sour cherry conserve. Blew my tiny mind.

I know the objections to its production but still…it tastes wonderful.

Sure it would. Poulty/fowl liver is rich and delicate even from birds that have not been force fed. It tends to be softer than pork liver, so you could actually have a coarse-textured paté that is still completely spreadable.

Could you tell a difference from chicken liver pate?

BTW, apparently there is such thing as free range foie gras. Its production is made possible by the fact that, when winter is approaching, geese will stuff themselves with food if you let them, they instinctively fatten up for the winter.

Yes, it’s very tasty. I haven’t done a side by side of force fed versus free range, but the non force fed is really good.

Goose and duck livers are very good without cirrhosis, and distinctly different in taste from chicken and turkey liver, and each other. If you like one, I think you’ll like the rest.

Oh, is this how it’s made? http://www.wohlmut.com/kevin/Recipes/TomDBug-FoieGras.gif

If I couldn’t it would be because someone had made the most astonishing chicken liver pate ever!

But yes, I think having now eaten both there is a textural element that is a give-away.

Huh. Timely thread. I’ve never had foie gras before, but have had it twice now in a the last couple of weeks. I’ve never had chicken liver pate, or any other kind.

It’s a very buttery, very rich. As a spread on crostini or toast, it would indeed be pretty wonderful. But the places I had it didn’t serve it that way; rather, you got a slice of foie gras along with some other nibbles for an appetizer. Straight up, I think it’s too much - it needs something to cut through the fat.

It’s good, but not my favorite. I don’t know that I’d search it out again, really. But, to each their own.

What is the point of turning a goose’s liver into a foie gras, anyway? Is it just to make it bigger? Or to increase the fat content?

I think it’s the latter: that the increased fat content gives it that smoother texture and affects the flavour.

It’s very good, but I like veal too, much better than beef.

You can taste the suffering! :smiley:

The best foie gras is made from geese that have been force fed veal.

It also makes it bigger, though; an article in the Globe & Mail about a free range foie gras farmer in Quebec said that his livers were about 400 g instead of 1 kg.

What does a goose’s liver weigh before it (for whatever reason) fattens up?

No idea. One more thing: in the article, it also stated that force-feeding a goose will fatten the liver in about two weeks as opposed to several months the free range way.