Freezing foie gras prior to cooking ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Just watched a show on television on PBS wherein the chef sliced the foie gras and said that it was important to freeze the slices briefly prior to searing them.

Have you ever done this? If so, what was the advantage to trying the technique?

[Ling]

Maybe freezing keeps the foie gras from melting in the pan too quickly. I haven't tried freezing, but I keep the foie in the fridge before cooking.

[Steve Martin]

It is a method from Michel Bras that works very well. It allows a good searing without excessive meltdown.

Why brief freezing though? Do your prep and slicing well before and keep the slices individually wrapped in the freezer.

The best foie I have had was at Marc Veyrat and I've heard he uses liquid nitrogen to freeze it right down.

[BryanZ]

If you want that really seared outer layer and a more raw inner layer it seems that freezing is the way to go. Conversely, I've found seared foie gras to be only the very beginning of foie preparation and now prefer more subtle cooking methods.

[Gifted Gourmet]

now prefer more subtle cooking methods.

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for example?

[PicnicChef]

Freezing works really well...I do it frequently. Only for about 1 hour, then take it out, give it a quick sear. Less melt, more rare inside. Try it over peppered grilled pineapple with a squirt of bittersweet chocolate. What a way to enjoy!

[BryanZ]

now prefer more subtle cooking methods.

←

for example?

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Sous vide and slow roasting give a more consistent custardy texture that I find a welcome change. I've found that too many seared foie dishes are unnecessarily bitter due to searing and paired with a cloyingly sweet accompaniment. The taste of the foie itself is gone. Don't get me wrong, foie is my "most favoritest" food in the whole world but searing is only the beginning of the story.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Ah, thanks for explaining this to me! Sounds quite reasonable and, apparently, you do know a great deal about this subject!

[Silly Disciple]

Sous vide and slow roasting give a more consistent custardy texture that I find a welcome change.

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Brian, how do you go about slow roasting it?

[MobyP]

now prefer more subtle cooking methods.

←

for example?

←

Sous vide and slow roasting give a more consistent custardy texture that I find a welcome change. I've found that too many seared foie dishes are unnecessarily bitter due to searing and paired with a cloyingly sweet accompaniment. The taste of the foie itself is gone. Don't get me wrong, foie is my "most favoritest" food in the whole world but searing is only the beginning of the story.

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It's slightly strange to say the taste of foie is "gone" from searing. It's like saying the taste of meat is gone from a grilled steak. There are a hundred possible tastes that foie can give you. That is just one of them. Actually most sous vide foie's aren't all that interesting unless you're heading in the direction of a terrine, or you really know what you're doing. Heston Blumenthal is pretty good at this sort of thing. But Bras has been slow cooking his foie for years, giving it a very similar through-texture to the sous vide. High heat searing is only one of a handful of techniques before water baths come into the picture. Low temp confiting and poaching will also take you into this through-texture area, which with a poche-grille method gives you both textures at once. The great David Kinch of Manresa sous vides an entire lobe for 18 mins before roasting the outside on a high temp, which is a sort of upgrade on the older French method of poche-grille.

[BryanZ]

Sous vide and slow roasting give a more consistent custardy texture that I find a welcome change.

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Brian, how do you go about slow roasting it?

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You can do something as simple as roasting individual slices at about 325 ( I suppose you could go much lower, too) until the fat renders out and the slices have turned more gelatinous. I don't have a distinct recipe, as I've used this technique at home once. I simply seasoned with some crushed Maldon salt (a drizzle of artisinal honey adds a mellow sweetness. Nevertheless, my version turned out quite nicely and was more subtle than a pan-seared piece. If you want some caramelization, bust out the blow torch. Lots of great chefs do roasted foie, Blumenthal, Dufresne, and even Keller has a roasted foie recipe in his TFL cookbook.

[Eden]

we froze skewered bits of fois in order to make mini fois corn dogs at a class I attened recently - it kept them from completely melting, and the results were really tasty, although I must admit my favorite dish of the evening was still the clasic torchon

[BryanZ]

now prefer more subtle cooking methods.

←

for example?

←

Sous vide and slow roasting give a more consistent custardy texture that I find a welcome change. I've found that too many seared foie dishes are unnecessarily bitter due to searing and paired with a cloyingly sweet accompaniment. The taste of the foie itself is gone. Don't get me wrong, foie is my "most favoritest" food in the whole world but searing is only the beginning of the story.

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It's slightly strange to say the taste of foie is "gone" from searing. It's like saying the taste of meat is gone from a grilled steak.

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Perhaps "detracted from" is a more precise way to evoke what I'm talking about. Too often you get a poorly conceived foie dish that's essentially carbonized on the outside. To me, that's not good eating. A beautifully seared piece of foie is spectacular, but it's often where most people, even foodies, stop their foie appreciation. Yes, seared is great, yes, a classic terrine or torchon is great, too, but there's much more there.

And one could easily argue that a heavy char is only good on certain types of robust steak. I wouldn't want a top-grade piece of Wagyu (perhaps the foie gras of beef, so to speak) with a heavy charred crust. That, too, detracts from the essence of the meat itself.