Foie Gras: The Topic

[gdjck86]

make the sausage out of charcuterie(great recipe and call chris). i had a foie sausage at lola bistro in the summertime and it was damn near the best thing ive eaten in months. it goes great with spicy mustard and pickled veggies, and of course good red wine

[Peter the eater]

I know it sounds completely crazy, but I have too much foie gras in the house and I don't know what to do about it.  I've given the details here, but basically I have 180 grams of mi-cuit that I need to use in a way that can keep in the freezer.  What would you do in my situation?  And please, don't say just eat it!

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That's hysterical Abra! I see from the French Letters link you've hit your annual limit - and it's only mid-January (unless you posted 3 weeks ago, then I can understand).

How about a big party with lots of people to eat your problem? I witnessed a foie gras festival in rural Quebec last summer. Those were some shiny happy people.

I can't add any suggestions that haven't already been made . . . make candles!

[Abra]

Ok, making candles is probably the least-expected reply!

Seriously, you guys think it would freeze fine without suffering a loss of quality? I'd love to make the sausage, but I didn't bring my Charcuterie book to France, nor my grinder, nor my stuffer. Other than that, I'm good to go.

[TheSwede]

Make a small terrine with some white port, cognac and a little pink salt. The alkohol, sugar, ordinary salt and pink salt should all act like preservatives.

[Mikeb19]

Just put it in the freezer..

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I second that. Because foie gras is high in fat (understatement) it freezes very well. If you have a cryovac machine then package it, and freeze. It freezes well raw, cooked, etc...

[Abra]

Thanks for the confidence-boost. I'm still thinking of making a sauce with it before freezing, but at least I know I can just stick it in the freezer if I come up empty on a sauce idea.

[ryanj]

Salt curing it will make it last for about three weeks in the fridge. devein it, reduce port, sherry and cognanc by 2/3s, marinate for a few hours, salt, white pepper and pink salt, wrap very tightly in cheesecloth to make a 1-2 inch log. Submerge it completely in salt for 24-48 hours. Pull it out and dust off the salt. Wrap tightly in plastic. Slice as needed.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I know it sounds completely crazy, but I have too much foie gras in the house and I don't know what to do about it.  I've given the details here, but basically I have 180 grams of mi-cuit that I need to use in a way that can keep in the freezer.  What would you do in my situation?  And please, don't say just eat it!

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Run it through a tami and mix 50-50 with unsalted butter and freeze. Use as necessary

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Best reply I've seen and is what I do with mine. I love having it for last-minute sautées and adding a special flavor to things. Perfect condiment.

[Malawry]

I learned a fabulous shallot soup recipe developed by Jean-Louis Palladin when I was in culinary school that is mounted with foie gras. Basically you slowly and gently roast shallots with stock, similarly to the technique for fondant potatoes. Puree with some mirepoix that's been softened and simmered in stock on the stove to make the body of the soup. Season. When ready to serve, heat until smoking hot, put it in the blender, and add the foie while it's running. Serve in demitasse-type quantities because it's incredibly rich.

I served this once at a formal event I was catering, with a grilled sandwich of brioche with apples and farmhouse cheddar. I called it "soup and sandwich." Nice use of foie trim.

[Abra]

Oh wow, I love that soup idea! And Carolyn, can you say more about how you use your condiment? Not normally having a lot of foie to work with, it's a new concept to me.

[seacliff dweller]

I just finished cooking foie gras terrine sous vide method and am curious to see what is the minimum temperature and time required for cooked terrine with the least amount of fat loss. According to Keller's book "Under pressure", the temperature range for foie gras (not terrine) is from 147.2F to 154.4F. I did mine at 140F for 30 mins (soak time) after ramping from room temperature to 140 degrees (approx 20 mins) for a 2.25# piece. The terrine came out good with slight amount of blood in the vacuum bag. I think this is acceptable and normal. I did some googling and found the lowest temperature used is around 120F. I hate to experiment too many times since each endeavor puts me back 90 bucks. I wonder if any egullet member know the answer.

Thanks in advance

[PedroG]

See http://www.sousvidecooking.org/foie-gras-cooked-sous-vide-58-degrees-during-47-minutes/ (58°C/47min) and http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/95886-roasting-or-poaching-a-whole-foie-gras/page__view__findpost__p__1313028 (60°C/25-30min).

Viktor Stampfer (Sous-vide, Cooking in a vacuum) recommends 20min in 56°C waterbath for core temp. 54°C.

[KennethT]

I've done foie gras at 132 and 135 and both came out pretty much the same with very little fat or liquid loss... the length of time depends on how thick your piece is...

[Montreal]

As foie gras is on it's own league, I hope that I will not insult the foie GRAS purist by my question.

Would anyone would have tried to cold smoke foie GRAS with a polyscience smoke gun. The fois GRAS sv is so amazing, I am wondering if it could not be even wilder if smoked.

Would I smoke it before vacum sealing or after ?. I would Think that I would have a bigger effect if i do after.

As I think that a sweet twist might be interesting, I was thinking to smoke it with pumpkin tea or some maple tea .

Anyone out there have dared to try that ?

Tks

Dan

[rebgold]

Unfortunately I can't afford foie gras, or a polyscience smoke gun, but it sounds AWESOME! I hope someone has tried it and describes what it was like so I can imagine tasting it.

[ScoopKW]

Smoke a small piece and see. What's the worst that can happen?

[gfweb]

Maybe cook it SV in smoke-infused oil.

[KennethT]

Usually when applying smoke to SV stuff, I smoke first, then bag and cook... I've never smoked foie, but I would imagine it to be really good.... the smoke-oil is a good idea - but another possibility may be to season the foie with smoked salt.

[Montreal]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I will actually try both; SV before and cook as I love the texture of the foie GRAS cooked SV, but I also like the idea of smoking my salt and the season the foie gras with it.

The fleur de sel on the foie gras after SV and torch makes it magic,now I am curious about smoking the salt as I could also add smoked salt to my and see the results.

On separate note, I will also try to smoke my salt and use in my French baguette dough as I am making my bread, that could make it very interested as i tried to smoke my dough between each rise without any real success. I will keep youmposted on this one.

[Montreal]

Unsuccessful results, I smoked the foie GRAS with 2 different aroma and then SV and cooked. Could not tell the difference after being torched.

Ho well not all test can be successful.

[Dave the Cook]

Dan -- is there some reason you want to use a smoke gun? This seems like a pretty straightforward use for a cold-smoke box. A guy on BigOven (our member vogelap, as a matter of fact) posted a technique here: 80°F for 20 minutes.

[Montreal]

No particular reason beside that my daughter owns a gun and I did not know any other way. I will definately read your recommendation as I still think that smoked foie GRAS could be outstanding.

Thanks for the link

Dan

[Franci]

Hi. I tried to search on this topic on egullet but what I got where pieces of info here and there. I still have many doubts.

By next year we are likely going to move back to the US, so I want to take advantage of being still in France, where plenty and cheaper foie gras is available expecially around Christmas. I'm planning to try some recipes in the next months, so I hope you could bear with me in my experimentations.

I'm speaking of fresh liver, foie cru

1. I read that is easier to devein at room temperature but if gets too hot when the foie is cooked is going to render more fat.

I deveined the foie at room temperature and it was easy enough task but I'm not sure how to do a good job with cold liver. Tips?

2.I made a terrine of foie gras and I was not very happy with the result. The overall flavour was good but the texture and appearance was far from desiderable. I followed to the letter the recipe in Fat (J. McLagan's book) and she suggests an oven temperature of 120 C, bainmarie at 70 and internal temperature at 48 C. At the end of cooking my liver looked a little overcooked and then I checked online and many call for a much lower internal temperature. I started with a 650 g fresh foie and I poured out 350 ml of liquid (fat + juices). In Ripailles by Stephane Raynaud I read cold foie by fridge, cold bainmarie and oven at 100 C for 30 minutes for 1 kg of foie. To me this is a pretty cold internal temperature. It's just a personal preference?

On M. Ruhlman blog, here, I read that " Foie gras is mainly fat so, unlike the moist protein environment of meat, it’s not very hospitable to bacteria. Plus it’s soaked and cured for a day. You could probably eat one raw, veins and all, straight out of the bag without worry". And, in fact, Stephane Raynaud in Ripalles has a recipe for raw foie gras, simply brushed with Sauterne.

So, to recap.

Deveining room temperature liver or cold?

In terrines, foie straight from the fridge? Cold or warm bainmarie? Oven temperature? Internal temperature at the end of cooking?

3. Saute' foie gras.

I tried only once with a pair of presliced escalope of foie. And also I did not do a good job. I must have burned it because it was bitter, the inside molten. So a bitter outside with a cold, molten inside was not pleasant. I had in restaurants and was indeed nice. So I guess I just need to watch for the heat.

So far I tried.

*foie gras au sel, cured in salt. It was very easy and very nice.

*terrine de foie gras. Need to repeat.

*Escalopes saute in a pan. Need to repeat.

Plan to do

*Saute' escalopes again

*Terrine of foie mi cuit again

*Poaching a whole lobe

*Cooking escalope en papillotte

*Making a torchon

I just bought Foie and terrine maison\, waiting for it to arrive and got this This yesterday.

Now I have a lobe in the fridge and I'm thinking of making a recipe from Fat, saute' foie gras with quince and the foie en papillotte from the Fifth Quarter.

Tips and advice is welcome.

[Broken English]

At the restaurant I work, we season the foie with nitrate salt and cook it sous vide to 48 before passing it through a tamis and making the torchon conventionally. It does render some fat, but this isn't a bad thing in my view, as it means you get a richer liver flavour, and it doesn't taste like you're eating a block of foie gras butter.

As for sauteed, we just use fresh lobes, slice and season it, sear it in a hot pan to caramelise and finish in the oven.

I'm pretty new to using foie myself though, so any replies to this thread I will be equally interested in reading.

[budrichard]

I use Hudson Valley fresh foie. I used to use Grade A for foie gras and Grade C for seared preps but found that for a home prep it really didn't matter as the Grade C were good enough.

I do not devein for a home prep, simpler and really doesn't cause a problem.

We cure in salt with a little saltpeter for a torchon (no cooking in an oven at all required), we also slice, sear in a hot pan and serve very rare (as Posted you could eat it raw and in fact attempting to cook the foie throughout will actually result in a puddle of fat and an unappetizing lump.) and we also cook in a terrine in a Bain Marie in a water bath at about 300f preheated oven until about 120F internal and then remove and allow to rest and then chill before removing from a Le Creuset large ceramic terrine http://cookware.lecreuset.com/cookware/product_Heritage-1-1%2F2-QT.-Pate-Terrine_10151_-1_20002_10058_10051. The longer you cook and the higher your temp, the more fat you will render and the less appealing your Foie Gras will become. It's really an iterative process because I don't know how your oven responds, your temp measuring equipment and your terrine mold. I would assume a metal mold would render more fat than a ceramic but really don't know because I don't use one. They do have a smaller model that may or may not fit your needs.

Pepin has detailed with pictures preps in his classic two volume set 'The Art of Cooking' and the proprietor of Hudson Valley has this book http://www.amazon.com/Foie-Gras-Passion-Michael-Ginor/dp/0471293180/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325075116&sr=1-1 but you really don't need them as any good book should suffice, it's really very simple but does require a bit of experimentation as you get to know the process and how your equipment responds.-Dick