Ok. Who Here Has Eaten Foie Gras and was it REALLY good?

[matcom]

i'm an aspiring cook and have been scared to death to make any dish with Foie Gras. its stupid cause i consider myself to be fairly well traveled with an 'adventurous pallet'.

never tried cooking with Foie Gras. how is it?

and if you tell me it tastes like Chicken i'll tell you your a dingbat :)

[bif]

1. It's fantastic

Had some in Montreal this summer.

[matcom]

2. how's the texture?

i shy away from 'innards' more for their texture than taste. what's it like?

[bif]

5. Kinda like liverwurst but a little softer.

n/t

[supernova]

19. Like butta!

Seriously, it melts in your mouth! :9

[adriennel]

3. if you like liver

go for it. grosses me out completely (and I'm not veggie)

[matcom]

4. i DON'T like liver

well traditional liver anyway. is it the same as 'traditional' liver?

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. It's duck liver, made by overfeeding the ducks, and I LOVE IT

so the ducks become enlarged. There's a whole debate about whether this is "immoral" or not, but, I'm not worried about it.

It has a texture like silk, and the taste is out of this world.

If I could have it every day, I think I would.

There's a great book on Foie Gras that recently came out, writtne by a guy here in NY State who left his brokerage business a few years ago after discovering the magnificence of foie gras, and started a foie gras farm upstate.

The book is called "Foie Gras". I happened across it at B&N one day, and while it has a lot of receipes, and is mostly a cook book, also gives a 3000 year history of foie gras, how it's processed, how it's cooked, etc., and also how HIS farm handled the geese and ducks and stuff. He has a very humane way of doing it, i think (barring the fact that it still requires force-feeding).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471293180/qid=1078781984/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3816620-9592059?v=glance&s=books

If you have a B&N, it's worth an afternoon to haul your naked ass over there, grab a cup of non-Zomby Coffee, and sit back and spend 45 minutes reading the intro. I learned a lot!

I've never cooked with foie gras, because it's so damned expensive, but I LOVE it.

[radwriter0555]

17. It's WRONG to love it, but I DO, almost as much as VEAL...

dare I say it, how wretchedly politically incorrect are we?

[arcane1]

25. I thought the immorality issue was based on:

gutting the duck alive

:shrug:

[Rabrrrrrr]

29. No, they don't gut it alive

Not so far as I know, anyway. I think they kill it in the normal way, though of course the first course of action is to get the liver out intact, not just bleed it and pick feathers and then rip the guts out, like one would a normal duck or goose. :-)

I could be wrong, but I don't remember reading or hearing that they gut it alive.

[arcane1]

31. I'm not certain either...

I saw a billboard over the weekend, w/a duck being held by someone, and someone reaching into its guts... the sign said something like "duck die this way for foi gras' but I didn't get a great look at it. It appeared that someone was pulling the guts from a live duck..

[supernova]

20. No, it's a much more mild

taste than regular liver. Think if it as meat-flavored butter.

I don't like liver either. But I do like foi gras and our own local specialty, liver pudding.

[NJCher]

6. divine

My husband just sautees it.

Oh man, I'm getting all quivery just thinking about it.


Cher

[supernova]

16. Best way to cook it

is sauteeing it. Dip in flour then sautee in butter. Salt & Pepper of course.

You can get fresh, vacuum-packed foie gras at gourmet food shops.

I get foi gras mousse at the grocery store sometimes. It makes a yummy light supper.

[BlueEyedSon]

7. AMAZING

Just Do It.

[mr_hat]

8. Couldn't stand the foie, but the gras wasn't bad.

[TXlib]

9. I liked it.

[Kellanved]

10. It tastes great

The Foie Gras mousse sold at the small French butcheries... yummy. I didn't realize that it's on the "'adventurous " list.
Should you ever find time to spend at the river Lot: Foie Gras, Basque cooking and cheese, silence and Cahor wine. Just don't go there during summer...

Edit: To describe (and doing a shabby job at it): like a really fine and creamy fowl Leberwurst

[underpants]

11. Whoever made the foie gras I had really NAILED it!

:bounce:

See it funny cause they nail the ducks feet to a board and then forcefeed it. Wow what a wonderful meal, I hear it is great with veal or baby seal.

:bounce:

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. and stuffed into a spotted owl skeleton

(not the meat from the owl, I just throw that away)

[underpants]

15. The meat from a California condor is much better

but you definitely need the owl skeleton to keep it together.

LOL

[radwriter0555]

26. Hey, I have RECIPES for grilled condor, meat's a bit tough though..

especially the ones already fried on the power lines.

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. And I like to serve it on a nice plate made from humpback whale

vertebrae pushed snuggly into a pile of salt sitting inside a sea turtle shell.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

14. Check this out before you buy it...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3346185.stm

On edit - I had it in France and thought it was good (sure the cholesterol will kill ya) - but this was home made from the owners geese that run around all day and get to mature naturally)

[Westegg]

18. Well prepared, it's great. Poorly prepared...

...it's a nightmare. And a total waste. Take pains to find a good recipe. Texture is important! Otherwise, go for it. Sounds like you're ready to do so.

[BlueEyedSon]

21. Yeah, yeah... meat is murder and fish are friends, not food.

[gula]

22. It is REALLY REALLY REALLY good.

[Padraig18]

23. It's AWESOME!

And this is coming from someone who despises liver! :)

[mobuto]

24. Amazing

Its excellent. Cooking with it can be tricky, however. And the stuff you get out of cans is far inferior to fresh or frozen foie gras, which is generally a lot more expensive and not always available in the States.

[blondeatlast]

27. I have, and it was delicious.

Despite what it consisted of.

I've also eaten raw octopus, though, so I may not be a good resource. The octopus was revolting, btw.

[SOteric]

28. My mum was a chef, we actually had it often. Really well done

(and it is a tad hard to master) it's like meat-flavoured butter and floats along your palette like a finely-aged Bordeaux. Really poorly done it tastes like braunschwieger and has the texture of Maalox.

[supernova]

30. How did your mom cook it?

I would like to try it sometime, if I find anyone special.

[SOteric]

32. Lots of ways. Sauteed in rendered duckfat, coated in cracklings

pan-seared in pancetta drippings, pressed into pate de foie gras, rolled into galantine...

[supernova]

34. Pan-seared in pancetta sounds more my style

or the rendered duck fat.

A galantine sounds .... involved. :D

[izzie]

33. Please I used to own geese.

You can live with out it.