Caviar, escargot (love 'em, they’re not even expensive, least not here), foie gras *with *truffles, Iberian ham.
I also had beef tongue, which is very good and again not really “out there” in the context of French cuisine, but it drew some stares from furriners. I think it’s a bit rarer now, along with a lot of offal, because of the Mad Cow scare and resulting EU regulations. Been a while since I saw any on restaurants’ menus anyway.
I don’t think Durian’s all that expensive either - it’s just really weird. And stinky. But I’m pretty sure I could nip by the local Chinese/Asian quarter and nab some if I wanted to punish my sinuses.
[QUOTE=thelurkinghorror]
But foie gras can be made without force feeding (don’t know if it’s any good)
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Indeed - geese and ducks naturally gorge themselves before migration, and self-fed foie gras is pretty much identical to the other kind, taste-wise. Much of the taste has to do with how it’s cooked anyway. Force feeding just produces more pounds of liver per goose, although it does also alter the texture into something more “milky” or “melty” because the fat/meat ratio is greater.
[QUOTE=Kimstu]
Foie gras: Too rich-tasting for me, except in pate. But briefly living in the Perigord region of France, I had a lot of fancy preserved meats and I find there are others I think are much better, esp. rillettes de canard. Again, how is it that a very few French culinary specialties get enshrined as the canonical Expensive Delicacies in US culture, when they’re not really more characteristic or high-end than a bunch of similar French culinary specialties that we never hear of?
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Heh 
Rillettes are more of a “peasant dish”*, if you will. It’s what is done with what is left of the animal’s muscle tissue after all the nameable bits have been cut off. Typically they’re made with pork, so rillettes de canard are indeed a bit “higher class” - but you can get them at any country market. And they’re awesome. Saucisson de canard is also great, if a bit greasy. Best of the best : duck confit.
Foie gras is most definitely toff grub, even within France. I expect a lot of it is due to culture & image, marketing in other words, but it does take a lot of time and effort to get just one liver, and some more to turn that one liver into something that’ll send you straight to culinary heaven, so the price reflects that. It’s the same with truffles, really : I personally think they’re nothing to write home about, certainly nothing compared to a plate of sauté’d porcinis bathing in oil for example, but they’re a real pain in the ass to find or grow, so…
- On the whole, I agree with Terry Pratchett’s theory that regional cuisines are the fruit of a conjunction of lower-class ingenuity and desperation. Any idiot with a fire can make a large block of beef taste good ; but you only come up with shark fin soup when somebody came and nabbed the rest of the shark. And only a great cook would make it taste even vaguely edible :).
