What does foie gras taste like?

[edsel]

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So I see the foie gras is something that can be messed up easily if not done properly so I started looking up how to process it after I get it out of the goose.

I will leave the cooking to my chef buddies, one of them should know what to do, and if not, I know they must know someone who does.

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I'm no expert on the processing, but from what I understand about foie gras, it's really important to avoid bruising the liver before, during, and after slaughter. The super-high fat content makes it especially delicate.

I think that most of today's commercial foie gras is shipped in vacuum-packed bags to keep it protected from contamination. When I've bought foie gras from mail-order sources, it comes vacuum packed and surrounded by bubble-wrap or "peanuts", along with the requisite cold-packs to maintain temperature. Fresh foie is highly perishable, but I doubt you'll have a problem finding folks who will buy it from you as soon as it's available.

I have a chamber vacuum machine you can borrow if you want to seal it. Selling it locally, you can probably just bag it up and have people pick it up as soon as it's processed.

[suseyblue]

In addition to being kind of tricky to cook, there's a lot of advance work that needs to be done if you're dealing with a whole unbutchered goose. For example, the removal of the veins from the liver is pretty tedious. You might want to find someone with foie gras experience and offer up a few  lobes in exchange for lessons and tastes.

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or practice on a few hunks of beef heart, liver (or something similarly venous). admittedly i'm speaking from the perspective of one who has merely dined upon it (there is a sushi joint in orlando that does it nicely whose name escapes me, begins with an 'r') and not cooked the stuff (although i'm a beef heart prep veteran), but i'd say dive in. how tricky can it be? a saute surely seems sufficiently simple . veins are veins. play with it on something cheap first and then go for it.

(i used to have a toulouse goose *sniff*. blue egg, you are fortunate to be able to have geese. my chickens exploded & i need to get rid of about 20 hatchlings, let alone have geese.)

[edsel]

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And no I do not need to force a tube or funnel down their beaks. They are self stuffing at this time of year, they will eat n eat n eat out of a bucket till they fall asleep. ←

I thought of this post when I saw the following:

'Ethical' Foie Gras from Naturally Greedy Geese.

Because the geese are fattening up for migration, this form of foie gras, called Ganso Iberico, can only be produced once a year.

This is usually before Christmas but because of a mild winter in Spain, the geese are only being slaughtered this month.

[Truc]

I remember my first time eating foie gras, it was a small piece on a plate left over from a piece of foie that my chef was cooking for a special client and offered me the piece. At this same place i got to try a real authentic foie gras torchon (welll they did it sousvide style) made very simple with reglise (like a licorice powder used to make icecreams etc) it is served cold and melted in your mouth withs ome great toastes french baguettes. oh the memories.

[Truc]

If you have a cast iron pan heat it up really hot and sear it quick then your fine. devein the foie gras though. We also soaked our foie when we were makeing the torchon in milk over night and deveined it.

[Lesley C]

There are two companies that produce goose foie gras in Quebec. I spoke with a producer of goose foie gras here in Quebec, and he told m he had a hell of a time mastering the art of "gavage" (force feeding) with the geese, so you might want to think long and hard before giving this a shot.

I've had "foie gras d'oie" here in a terrine (good, but not as flavourful as duck) and hot (terrible, no wonder i've never seen it in France).

Keep in mind when describing the taste of foie gras that there is hot foie gras (seared) and terrine (poached, chilled and sliced), and a few variations in between (raw, salt-cured etc..).

Texture-wise and flavour-wise they are not at all alike. And whatever you do, don't plan on making hot goose foie gras.

Edited February 20, 2007 by Lesley C (log)