Foie Gras

     I have found that when I mention foie gras to people who are not familiar with its many preparations, they almost always mention pâté de foie gras — a mixture of foie gras with pork, salt, and spices baked in a pastry crust. These pâtés are generally commercial preparations that use foie gras for flavor, but bulk-up the dish with less expensive ingredients.
     The following recipe collection has four recipes where the foie gras is used in an almost pure form with a little seasoning. Foie gras frais en terrine is a preparation of fresh foie gras that is heated until it uniformly reaches to a slightly elevated temperature. It along with the following recipe was previously published on à la carte. Foie gras poché au vin doux is a type of preparation sometimes referred to as foie gras au torchon or foie gras cooked in a towel. The fresh foie gras is wrapped tightly in a piece of muslin and briefly poached in a flavored liquid. Once cool, the cooked foie gras is soaked in the cooled poaching liquid for a number of days. In this case the poaching liquid is flavored with sweet wine. With both preparations, the foie gras is eaten at room temperature with toast.
     Foie gras de canard confit à la cuiller and foie gras en bocal are both methods of preserving fresh foie gras. The confit recipe is a variation of traditional confit preparations and can be stored for a number of months under refrigeration. The other recipe is a means of canning a fresh foie gras and does not require refrigeration. Like the previous recipes, with these preparations the foie gras is eaten at room temperature with toast.
     Raviole de foie gras aux fines herbes is an elegant, warm preparation where foie gras is the principal ingredient. Because of its rich flavor, foie gras is usually not served these days as a solo preparation.
     The following four recipes are warm preparations where the foie gras has equal billing with the other ingredients and where its flavor is complementary to the other flavors. In escalopes de foie gras de canard à la compote d’oignon et pommes, slices of grilled foie gras are eaten with caramelized onions and poached apples — a great combination. Salade de foie gras chaud aux raisins is a recipe previously published on this site that combines grilled foie gras with sautéed raisins and a crisp salad. Œuf frit, foie gras chaud, et coppa grillée is based on a dish I ate a couple of years ago at a Michelin one-star restaurant in Paris called Faucher. The moment I took my first bite of this preparation I knew I had to try to recreate it at home. Pavés de bœuf et foie gras poêlé façon Rossini is a unique way of topping a thick steak with a slice of grilled foie gras.
     Faux–filet aux duxelles de foie gras, another recipe previously published here, is a sirloin steak accompanied by the mixture of foie gras and mushrooms. It is a good way of using foie gras scraps. Another way of using leftover, cooked foie gras is to create a mousse de foie gras de canard. Once you make the mousse, choux à la mousse de foie gras is a nice way to use the mousse as part of an hors-d’œuvre.
     If you’re familiar with foie gras then maybe some of these recipes will provide you new ideas. If you’re not familiar with foie gras, try a couple of these recipes and see why it was love at first bite. It may be a new love affair for you, too.