Cheap foie gras

[Jon Tseng]

Just a quickie.

Was down Borough Mkt this w/e and found the chicken place (they have both a stall and a shop down the side by the veggie places) were selling whole raw duck foie gras for £28/kg, an outstanding price (cheapest have seen it before is £40, in France - albeit Christmas week - it was similar)

Well the upshot was I got a small (1 lb) fg for fourteen quid which was roasted whole and shared between myself, and two of our eg brethren for lunch with a bit of brioche and some caramelised oranges. At a fiver each that's a steal and I heartily recommend it to all and sundry

cheerio

J

[magnolia]

Just a quickie.

Was down Borough Mkt this w/e and found the chicken place (they have both a stall and a shop down the side by the veggie places) were selling whole raw duck foie gras for £28/kg, an outstanding price (cheapest have seen it before is £40, in France - albeit Christmas week - it was similar)

Well the upshot was I got a small (1 lb) fg for fourteen quid which was roasted whole and shared between myself, and two of our eg brethren for lunch with a bit of brioche and some caramelised oranges. At a fiver each that's a steal and I heartily recommend it to all and sundry

cheerio

J

You call that small? Clearly you're spoiled as that was a meal in itself ! 'Course we made short work of it...

[cabrales]

Well the upshot was I got a small (1 lb) fg for fourteen quid which was roasted whole and shared between myself, and two of our eg brethren for lunch with a bit of brioche and some caramelised oranges. At a fiver each that's a steal and I heartily recommend it to all and sundry.

Jon -- When you have a chance, were you the party preparing the foie? Could you also share whether you caramelized the oranges yourself, and what types of oranges were utilized? Was the peel included?

[Jon Tseng]

Yep normal eating oranges - largish ones

peeled and then sliced horizontally into one cm thick disks (was going to do the fancy schmancy cutting out skinless segment thing but couldn't be arse

fried in one of the rendered foie gras fat until turning a little brown on the outside

the fg was roasted whole according to the french laundry cookbook; though cutting a min or so off the time as it was smaller. went /very/ liquid inside - probably a tad overdone

cheerio

j

[cabrales]

Jon -- How is rendered foie gras fat obtained, to be clear?

[La Niña]

Cabby, when you get a lobe of raw liver (goose or duck), it still contains all of its fat (hence the gras in foie gras). So for example, if you put it in a glass jar in a double boiler (this means putting the jar in a pan of boiling water), and heat it, the fat will come out of the liver, crawl up the sides of the jar as it were, and the liver will end up smaller, and immersed in the fat. Then you pour out the precious fat and use it for whatever you wish (and of course you have the cooked foie to enjoy).

Edited January 20, 2003 by La Niña (log)

[cabrales]

Nina -- Thanks That sounds very difficult.

[Jon Tseng]

ooh yeah

plenty of fat for sauteeing my potatos for supper after. plus i reckon it'd make great scallion pancakes if i knew how to make scallion pancakes

i cut off a small strip of liver and rendered it over a low heat first to get a little fat, but after the liver went into the pan to brown (before roasting) the fat sort of poured out

nb roasting fg loses less fat than sauteeing slices as there is less surface areas exposed

j