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Foie Gras: Recipes


phlawless

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For some reason I didn't think of this earlier, but I just sifted through Escoffier too, and though he does mention a few recipes that almost seem like what I had, he doesn't mention any item that is exactly what I had.

Most of the time his recipes call for whole foie, or sliced foie, but there are a couple that called for fork-mashed, or pureed foie too.

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Try a google search. Lots of stuff there about pate de foie gras.

Yes, but the problem with Google is that it is hard to know if someone's ideas about authenticity are rooted in reality. This is complicated by the fact that the general usage of the word pate in English in the US is quite different than the French usage. So, due to both of these issues, I figured that it would be much better to hear back from some experts here at E-Gullet.

edited to say: I have no doubt that a product called pate de foie gras can be found in the US, but my real question is regarding the name of the item that I often found in France (as described above), whether it is indeed called "pate de foie gras," or something else, in France, and then what types of ingredients would be used to make it in addition to the foie. Armagnac? Truffles? Garlic? Stock? I really don't know as none of my go-to books on French cuisine even mention it, which is another thing that I find particularly odd.

Edited by A Patric (log)
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One correction:

I decided to go back to Escoffier (Complete guid to the art of modern cookery), and search in the pate section. Before, I looked only for foie gras, and after finding many, many hot and cold recipes, it didn't occur to me to also look int he pate section. However, upon just looking, he does have a recipe for it. However, the liver is kept whole, there is quite a bit of pork forcemeat, and there is a crust as well. So, this does not quite fit in with the item that I had in Lyon/Beaujolais, which consisted of a finely chopped or ground foie (I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference), some mild flavoring, and a thin layer of hardened goose fat on the surface, all in a very small ramekin, to be spread on baguette. Again, it was firm and cold, but spreadable. I did look into mousse de foie gras, but it seems like that would be much lighter.

I am surprised that no one knows what this is called. I imagined that it was pate de foie gras, but it is certainly nothing like Escoffier's recipe. I am certainly admitting ignorance here.

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[i took a look in CIA's "Garde Manger"and saw a recipe for 'Foie Gras Mousse' which sounds to me like your description.

1.5 foie gras cleaned and veined

22 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

2 fl oz Sauternes

2 oz minced shallots

1 clove garlic minced

4 oz butter

6 fl oz heavy cream whipped to medium peaks

1 Marinate the foie gras in salt, pepper, and sauternes overnight

2 drain foie gras and cut into 1 inch chunks

3 Saute shallots and garlic in the butter until soft donot brown. Add foie gras and cook over high heat stirring continuously, until the foie gras is cooked, 4 to 5 minutes. editor's note:WOW

4 Coll mixture to 90 degrees F and puree in a food processor. Pass this thru a drum sieve into a quart bowl set over an ice bath. Stir the mixture continuously until it begins to thicken. Fold the whipped cream into the mixture and adjust seasoning.

5 Line a 2# terrine mold with plastic wrap, leaving an over hang. fill with foie gras mouse and smooth the top. Chill overnight before serving. Wrap and refrigerate up to 3 days.

I hope this helps you find your query.

Edited by RobertCollins (log)

Robert

Seattle

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Hi Robert,

Well this is definitely quite close. Without trying out the recipe I wouldn't fully be able to say how close, but something tells me that the whipped cream would make it quite a bit lighter than the item that I am thinking of. On the other hand, the fact that this has pureed foie definitely makes it more similar than the terrines de foie gras that I have been finding. I wonder if there is a common foie preparation that consists of pureed foie, and the basic aromatics/flavoring/preparation that your recipe outlines, but without the final incorporation of whipped cream. Or rather, I am quite sure that such a thing exists, but would like to know the traditional French name for it. Either way, I'm sure I can use your recipe as a jumping-off point.

Thanks for taking the time to type it out.

Best,

Alan

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[i took a look in CIA's "Garde Manger"and saw a recipe for 'Foie Gras Mousse' which sounds to me like your description.

1.5 foie gras cleaned and veined

22 tsp salt :shock:

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

2 fl oz Sauternes

2 oz minced shallots

1 clove garlic minced

4 oz butter

6 fl oz heavy cream whipped to medium peaks

Robert, I hope this measure for salt is supposed to read 2 tsp. rather than 22 tsp.!!

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Foie gras whether cooked and served cold or hot is always the whole liver or lobe. One can also 'cure' in salt and serve cold, probably the most pure presentation.

When the whole Foie is combined with other ingrediants so the liver is no longer whole, it is a Pate whether smooth or course. The addition of cream whether whipped or not to lighten the Foie would be called a mousse. -Dick

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Along the lines of budrichard, I'll note that foie gras can be prepared in a terrine whole or as a "bloc" (i.e. only foie gras, but not necessarily one liver; potentially random pieces cobbled together). Pâté de foie gras is indeed when the foie gras is mixed with pork forcemeat or pork liver or nonfat goose or duck liver to make a pâté, seasoned usually with cognac or port, seasoned with quatre épices and sometimes with truffles in it. Not necessarily en croûte, as in your Escoffier example (rarely, if ever; more common these days is a pork-based pâté with a round or strips of foie gras in it, en croûte). A mousse is of course lighter and whippier in consistency.

As for "spreading" pâté, terrine, or mousse (or for that matter, cheese): that is a big no-no in French custom. Just cut a chunk, place it on bread, and eat that way. The spreading gesture is considered really inappropriate.

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  • 1 year later...

I come from a fairly low brow background. I aspire to cook good food, but really some things just aren't in the budget. So I went and got a part time job where these items are readily available for me to taste and learn.

I just got my first taste of real Foie freshly seared in a pan and nothing could have prepared me for it. I've had "Goose Mousse", "Duck Pate" and such ala whole foods and what not. But that stuff is crap to me now. What an epiphany.

Edited by RAHiggins1 (log)
Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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Foie (please note spelling -- bugbear of mine!!) truly is one of the most amazing things when you first taste it like that. I had a similar experience, and there really is nothing quite like it.

...until you taste some sweet wine with it!

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Foie (please note spelling -- bugbear of mine!!) truly is one of the most amazing things when you first taste it like that. I had a similar experience, and there really is nothing quite like it.

...until you taste some sweet wine with it!

Spelling noted, but am unable to edit Title.. Hopefully someone who can will.

If you like it with wine, then in a milkshake is going to blow your mind.

Edited by RAHiggins1 (log)
Veni Vidi Vino - I came, I saw, I drank.
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  • 1 month later...

Question for eGulleters:

I want to buy a lobe of foie gras in NYC but the smallest ones I can find are about 1.5 lbs. So this is at minimum a $75 item. My fiancee and I plan to share a lovely Sauternes in an intimate setting with a perfectly seared piece of foie. Sounds great, doesn't it?

The question is, what do I do with the inevitable remaining 1.25 lbs of foie gras? Can it be frozen and thawed for future use? Do I have to invite a bunch of friends over for a next day foie gras party? Sell it on craigslist?

Thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks everyone and thanks eGullet

TK

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I don't have it handy, but ASAIK the French Laundry cook book has lots of info on this delicious item.

I have not made one myself yet, I'm planning on getting it from D'artagnan this year, where the FL seems to get theirs too.

I had never had FG until we ate at the French Laundry last year, and it was one of those revelations, I'll never forget. Everybody knows about this stuff, once I put it in my mouth a giant light bulb went on and I knew. I knew why, I knew what this is all about. That, and the rabbit I had are the beacons of bliss, the shining lights of my dining out life. Simply amazing.

As for the tkassum's question, you can store it in many ways, but your craigslist idea might not be all that bad either, not to sell it there, but to find somebody that'll jump on the option to buy it together with you! I'm sure somebody will jump on that option, I know I would if I'd live close to you. Matter of fact, I might just use that idea once I get around to ordering mine.

And now I have to make plans to visit the El Dorado Kitchen in Sonoma, that food looks delicious! Practically "down the road" from my Walnut Creek location too :-)

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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Question for eGulleters:

...

The question is, what do I do with the inevitable remaining 1.25 lbs of foie gras? Can it be frozen and thawed for future use? Do I have to invite a bunch of friends over for a next day foie gras party? Sell it on craigslist?

...

TK

You can definitely freeze a terrine (done it a lot of times) but I don't know how it will work if you want to freeze raw foie and then pan sear it. I guess it wil work fine, but I have never tried it.

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I routinely purchase Grade C Foie from Hudson Valley. They come cryovac packed and freeze very well. Wrap the unused foie very well and it should keep in your freezer for a couple of months but not any longer unles Cryovac packed.

Salt cured Foie is one of the best preps I know of!-Dick

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D'Artagnan sells a "blister-package" of two slices of raw foie gras lobe - you know, the thing where the plastic is laminated to a card. I know this for a fact, because I buy them in my supermarket all the time.

I don't have a photo of the package, but here's the contents - two very nice slices, sizzling in a pan on my stove:

gallery_11181_3516_10753.jpg

I can't find this product on their site, but it would be worth calling them to ask for it mail-order. As I say, I buy it all the time in my supermarket.

As far as the packaged Rougie foie gras products, I think that they're just awful, and at one point I started a thread about it where everybody agreed.

But if you're looking to experiment with sauteed foie gras, call D'Artagnan and ask for the packaging I described, and give it a try - it's really not that hard.

Overheard at the Zabar’s prepared food counter in the 1970’s:

Woman (noticing a large bowl of cut fruit): “How much is the fruit salad?”

Counterman: “Three-ninety-eight a pound.”

Woman (incredulous, and loud): “THREE-NINETY EIGHT A POUND ????”

Counterman: “Who’s going to sit and cut fruit all day, lady… YOU?”

Newly updated: my online food photo extravaganza; cook-in/eat-out and photos from the 70's

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I don't cook/prepare a lot of foie gras myself, because I eat it out with great frequency. But after reading through this whole thread, I thought that some members might enjoy photos of different foie gras preparations that I've had, so I searched my photo archives, and here we go...

A cold preparation, from the restaurant "Auberge du Cheval Blanc" in the village of Schweighouse-Sur-Moder in the Alsace region of France:

gallery_11181_3516_170735.jpg

A selection of four cold preparations of foie gras: Duck Foie Gras, Goose Foie Gras, Marbled Duck Foie Gras with Sauternes, and Smoked Foie Gras. (I don't think that the plate of all four was ever on their menu, but the owner, a friend, knew that we were foie gras fiends and served it to us.

And a very excellent cold foie gras terrine from "Blue Ribbon Brasserie" in New York City:

gallery_11181_3516_72879.jpg

Next, some hot foie gras preparations.

From the "Restaurant du Faude" in the village of Lapoutroie, in the Vosges mountains of Alsace, "Cromesqui de Foie Gras" (whole, as it's served, and then cut open):

gallery_11181_3516_19690.jpg

gallery_11181_3516_1373.jpg

From the restaurant "Le Cerf" in Marlenheim (Alsace), a giant raviolo of smoked and poached foie gras, in a "pot au feu bouillon", covered in fresh black truffle slices:

gallery_11181_3516_16672.jpg

And from "Michy's" in Miami, two different servings of sauteed foie gras over a corn pancake with savory maple syrup:

gallery_11181_4845_98409.jpg

gallery_11181_4845_33297.jpg

Well, I hope everybody enjoyed.

Edited by markk (log)

Overheard at the Zabar’s prepared food counter in the 1970’s:

Woman (noticing a large bowl of cut fruit): “How much is the fruit salad?”

Counterman: “Three-ninety-eight a pound.”

Woman (incredulous, and loud): “THREE-NINETY EIGHT A POUND ????”

Counterman: “Who’s going to sit and cut fruit all day, lady… YOU?”

Newly updated: my online food photo extravaganza; cook-in/eat-out and photos from the 70's

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Great looking Foie.

I buy mine from Hudson Valley Foie Gras. They are very reliable and the product is always fresh. I like them seared and served with fruit e.g. ice wine poached pear with a sauce from reducing the poaching liquid. They can certainly be frozen - a lot of meat market sell them frozen. You can cut it into smaller portion, vacuum pack and freeze them. TK in his book Sous Vide have a few recipe of SV Foie Gras that I like to try. I will report the finding.

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Question for eGulleters:

I want to buy a lobe of foie gras in NYC but the smallest ones I can find are about 1.5 lbs. So this is at minimum a $75 item. My fiancee and I plan to share a lovely Sauternes in an intimate setting with a perfectly seared piece of foie. Sounds great, doesn't it?

The question is, what do I do with the inevitable remaining 1.25 lbs of foie gras? Can it be frozen and thawed for future use? Do I have to invite a bunch of friends over for a next day foie gras party? Sell it on craigslist?

Thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks everyone and thanks eGullet

TK

You can also buy slices from Hudson Valley Foie Gras... they come as 4, 1 ounce slices vacuum packed on a card... I get this in Manhattan from Ottomanelli on Bleecker St. who routinely has them in stock - I think the card is $20, which, ounce for ounce isn't as good of a value as a whole lobe, but minimizes waste if you're only going to use a small amount - I've heard freezing is ok, but I gather the texture gets altered slightly... Also, I've had experience with Citarella - you can get a half lobe there rather than a whole lobe, and the price is the same per pound as the whole lobe.

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I recently picked up a lobe of fresh quebecois foie at a local retailer. I was actually surprised at how easy it was to find, and really how cheap it was for good quality product.

If anyone is looking for a fun food adventure, i would recommend spending the money and playing around with it.

You can see what I did with it here: http://thegastrognome.wordpress.com/2009/0...s-of-foie-gras/

Gnomey

The GastroGnome

(The adventures of a Gnome who does not sit idly on the front lawn of culinary cottages)

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