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Foie Gras - Why doesn't it taste the same?
We bring back several (many) tins of foie gras but it never seems to taste as good as even the worst that I have had in France.
We buy foie gras de canard and oie entier. We chill the tin, remove it about 30 minutes before serving, wipe it down. Serve it with Paris toasts and confit d'oignons or figues. Have a sweet wine with it. Nothing. Not even close. Any help? |
This is pure speculation on my part: I think foie gras that can be brought into the US is processed differently (due to Agricultural requirement)? I remember a friend who is French had her mother bring foie gras from France and the kind she bought, according to my friend, was not allowed in the US--basically smuggled it. But boy was it good!
Have you tried getting it from a French restaurant in the US? |
Do you mean the very same foie gras that you consume in France tastes different when consumed back home in the States?
I've not had that experience. I bring it home every year from the Périgord and it tastes the same when I open it in my US kitchen. There's no difference in the processing of foie gras products that can be brought into the States. There have een bans on certain meat products in the past, though, so there have been times when you couldn't even bring foie gras home. But to the original question, if I'm understanding it right, perhaps it's just that the "ambiance" is different. To me, almost all French food products just taste better when consumed in France. |
Thanks for the replies. It may be that what we have in France is never tinned as Kealoha implies. I have never been impressed with what we have been served in restaurants here either.
It tastes like any other pate when we serve it from the tin here. Before I am asked - I buy Lafitte in France to bring home. Do you "stir" it up from the can or just leave it as a "blob" (sorry about the choice of words). |
If you have cold (not sauteed) foie gras at a restaurant in France, it is prepared mi cuit - barley cooked. It never sees a can. At a store or market, you can buy it shrink wrapped by the slice, or shrink wrapped in a "log". Stuff you get in the can is not mi cuit - it's cooked quite a bit which makes it a different product. The stuff in cans is inferior to mi cuit, IMO and also according to Patricia Wells.
The first time we went to France 30 years ago, I brought back the cans & wondered, just like you, why it tasted so different. Here is what Patricia Wells has to say: Foie Gras cru - raw liver - the ultimate in Foie gras. Must be eaten right away. Foie Gras mi cuit or nature - lightly cooked - the best way to sample foie gras for the first time. Must be refrigirated. Depending on packaging, it should be eaten in several days or several months. Foie Gras entier - lightly seasoned & cooked in a terrine or glass jar. Must be refrigirated. Not as good as mi-cuit. Block de Foie gras - by law, composed of either 50% duck or Goose. Also includes 10% pork fat Not the best buy. Shelf life of several years. Stu Dudley |
Stu , beat me to it. I have never seen it tinned EXCEPT in a paté which makes it a different product.
And St Cirq is right that it doesn't have the same ambiance as when you taste it at its birth. I'm a pastis lover, and on a hot summer night, it still is not as good as in Provence |
Robjame: yes, if you're bringing back tins of it, that is a "low-end" foie gras product (everything's relative, even foie gras), and tinned products will not taste like what you normally get when you order it in a restaurant in France.
To answer your question about stirring it, no, you don't stir it. You should chill it for a minimum of 45 mins and then just plop it down on a plate. If it's got lots of congealed fat on it, which some brands do, you may wish to remove that (and save it and fry up potatoes and garlic and cèpes in it to make pommes de terre sarladaises). |
miam, miam, potatoes sauted in goose fat is heavenly!!!
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Good luck bringing it back even tinned. I had over $100.00 worth confiscated at JFK a few months ago..Bird Flu is the new reason...so they said! Been bringing it home for years with no problems.
So now I'm just going to buy it from D'Artagnan and forget about it. At least it's in slices and can be seared. |
Thank you all for your replies - I guess to have anything like I remember in France, I wait until France - not at all bad.
Do any of you buy the "cru" or the "mi cuit" and prepare it in your gites or homes in France? or do you wait until you go out to the restaurants? If yes, do you have a way to make sure of quality and freshness? |
jody! that's a loss! I agree about Artaganan, she has great products. I wish I could afford more from her.
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robjame:
I buy it at the markets in the Périgord all the time - usually the whole lobes packed in the shrink-wrapped stuff. I sear it quickly on both sides at home and serve it with onion or fig or apple confit....or, if no one's looking, just wait until it cools down and jam it down my gullet ;) I know it's de rigeur to serve it with a Monbazillac or a Sauterne, but that's way too rich for me and I just don't like sweet white wines to begin with. I much prefer to pair it with a St-EMilion or even a Cahors. Not the prevailing wisdom, I know, but I know what works for me. I have never even considered the issues of quality and freshness of any product I buy at a French market. It's when I come home and go back to the Safeway or Giant for the first time after a trip that those issues become a real problem. |
Not to be facetious, and the points above about fresh vs. canned are well made, but it's a fact of life that no French food will ever taste as good at home as it did in France.
A local wine seller told me he is plagued with people who return from Europe and have him track down specific wines for them that they LOVED in Europe. Invariably, if he finds it for them and they buy it, they return and say "it just doesn't taste like the same stuff we drank sitting in that little cafe on the left bank looking at the Seine." Well, duh! |
robjame:
Seared fresh foie gras seems to be appearing more and more in Canadian restaurants. Last month in Winnipeg I had an unusual, but delicious pairing of seared duck foie gras with sweet potato and maple butter. And I’ve had it in Halifax with a more-traditional port wine reduction with apple and fig chutney. So there’s hope ... |
StCirq - it sounds delectable - can't wait till I try that
Neo - I was hoping that it wouldn't be as obvious as that however there is a lot of truth behind what you say Margriet - I can't wait to try some of the restaurants at home for that. Are we getting this foie gras from France? I wonder if Anselm will add it to the menu of seared scallops that he has promised for the dinner in Paris!? |
The foie gras in the can will taste different according to the producer. I think that you might be able to taste the different foie gras in the regional products indoor market (ex-church) in Sarlat, and you definitely can try out different foie gras at the Périgueux market. In any case, what is in the can, which is not necessarily inferior, just a different product, is not the same as fresh foie gras seared in a pan.
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Foie gras always tastes better when someone else cooks it for me.
:) |
robjame,
The foie gras probably came from Quebec—it's big business there (though it's possible that what I had in Winnipeg was Manitoba grown). The richness of foie gras would be an excellent balance with the seared scallops. Perhaps we'll give it a try on our visit to Paris next month. The challenge will be balancing our love of cooking with our love of dining out. |
I just want to say how refreshing it is to see a thread about Foie Gras that isn't being attacked with hundreds of "political correctness" rants.
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Neo.. I was just thinking the same thing. Lets wait, shall we? They will come, and have entertaining diatribes.
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Like St Cirq, I have purchased both fresh & mi cuit Foie Gras in French stores many times. Several vendors at the St Cyprien Sunday morning market in the Dordogne sell it. We've stayed in a Gite in the Var (Riveria) several times, and there was a foie gras producer just down the road about 100 yds from us. We've purchased mi cuit from him several times.
All the foie gras I've ever purchased that was not in a can, has been great. On our first gite stay in the Dordogne, I bought some canned stuff in Sarlat & St Cyprien & it was much inferior to the mi cuit. I once purchased some in a jar from a seasonal street market vendor in Paris (15 arr), and it was awful - in fact, I stopped eating it after a few bites. My local grocer (Draegers), sells a slice of mi cuit for $20. They also sell a frozen raw foie gras lobe for about $70 (I think). A local French foods importer sells the fresh (un frozen) foie gras also - they are having a "sale" this Fri & Sat, & if my wife isn't looking I might purchase some then. I've make mi-cuit at home several times & using different recipes. I've also sauteed the raw foie gras, but I prefer the mi cuit myself. The stuff I purchase & prepare at home is excellent - perhaps 85% as good as the stuff in France & much better than the cans, which I gave up on 10 years ago when I discovered mi cuit. Stu Dudley |
One more point ! The mi cuit foie gras that I've purchased at a good restaurant (a la carte, not FP) is not that much more expensive than buying mi cuit at a grocery or market.
Stu Dudley |
StuDudley,
Do you use a similar recipe: 1/ Peser le foie (très important pour la suite). 2/ Faire tremper le rouleau de gaze dans de l'armagnac puis essorer en pressant à la main. Saler et poivrer le foie. 3/ Emmailloter complètement le foie. 4/ Mettre le foie emmailloté dans un saladier et le couvrir de gros sel ; le foie doit totalement être en contact avec le gros sel (le sel va cuire le foie). 5/ Laisser dans le gros sel à raison de deux heures par 100 g de foie (12 heures pour un foie de 600 g). 6/ Passer ce temps, sortir le foie du gros sel, retirer la gaze et laisser au frigo 48 heures. Pour finir ... A déguster avec un vin blanc moelleux (pacherenc de vic bilh par exemple...). |
Sorry, I don't read French - my wife is proficient in it, but she's not here now.
I have prepared it in 2 different ways. Clean the lobes by splitting it & pulling out all the blood vessels, & veinlike connective tissues. Method 1 - poached in Sweet Wine -Put lobe in a dish & cover with 2/3 C sweet wine. Salt, white pepper & cover with plastic wrap. Put in refrig for 6 hrs, turning often. -Remove lobe, & wrap in cheese cloth - forming a "log". Tie log to form a piece 7-8 inches long & 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter. -In a pan large enough to hold the lobe, combine 7 C of veal stock, the marinade, and 1 C more of the sweet wine. More S & P. - Bring to boil, and genly drop the foie gras & poach till tender - 4 to 5 mins. -fill a bowl with ice & a little water. Drop cooked foie gras in ice & cover with ice. Cool it for 1 minute -Place cooked foie gras in a rectangular terrine. Put cooking liquid on the ice & chill for about 15 mins. -Pour cooled cooking liquid over foie gras in terrine -Cover & refrigirate for 2-3 days. -to serve, remove cheese cloth & slice with knife which has been warmed by running it under hot water between slices. method 2 -Sprinkle cleaned foie gras with mixture of 3 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground ciniamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, & 1/4 tsp allspice -line 1 lb loaf pay with Saran wrap & force liver into pan. Sprinkle sweet wine of choice over liver & gathar up plastic wrap & envelope lobe. -place identical loaf pan over liver & weigh down. -place pan in water bath & cook in 300 degree oven for 25 mins, or until it reaches internal temp of 100 degrees. -remove pan & invert on rimmed plate to allow yellow gras fat to run out. -turn upright, and replace weighted pan on top of liver to press down. Put in refrig & keep overnight. I have had more success with the first method Stu Dudley |
In method 1, when you are tieing up the log, make sure you tie the ends, like you would a sausage.
Stu Dudley |
Hi R,
I bring home foie gras and pate. I wait about 6 mos before I have some. By that time, I am so happy to have any kind of foie gras that it tastes great. :) ((I)) |
What a great resource Stu!! Not only do you know your way around but you know your way around the kitchen. Fantastic.
How about some more methods of preparing foie gras? Will someone undertake to translate Michael's recipe s'il vous plait? |
The recipe I quoted essentially has you wrap the foie gras in gauze dipped in Armagnac and then cured in salt for two hours for every 100g of foie. After the proper amount of time according to the weight of the foie, take the foie out of the salt, and place it in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Consume with the appropriate sweet wine.
Given this recipe, I have difficulty seeing StuDudley's recipe as mi-cuit. Both recipes sound excellent, but the foie is fully cooked, in my opinion. |
<<pacherenc de vic bilh par exemple...>>
This is a white wine? From where? |
Here is a pretty photo from D'Artagnan; their quality is excellent for those of us stuck in the US:
https://www.dartagnan.com/item.asp?item=FDUFG007 |
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Oh no, here we go again.
Suzie, You were right. |
We'll I think it doesn't taste the same because it's been stuck in with the smelly socks for 7 hours or more.
Gamey! |
St Cirq, Pacherenc is a white wine from Gascony.
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>>but the foie is fully cooked, in my opinion.<<
The first time I tried method #2, I fully cooked it and it almost reduced to nothing - all the gras fat was rendered. While cooking, my "instincts" was that I was not cooking it enough, so I left it in the oven longer (mistake). The internal temp is 100 degrees Farenheit in the recipe, which is not that much more than room temp. If you had a fillet mignon that was 100 degrees F, you would consider it not cooked at all. The stuff in cans is cooked to 230 to 240 degrees F, according to Patricia Wells. Michae - I just noticed that I did not indicate F or C in the recipe. If you thought it cooked till 100 C, then it would be way overcooked. Method #1 looked & tasted exactly like mi-cuit I buy in French markets, and have at restaurants - although the quality of the raw liver is probably better in France. Method #2 is from Gary Danko, who is chef/owner of one of our best restaurants in San Francisco. He studied under Madeleine Kamman (famous French chef). Method #2 is from Gerald Hirigoyen, who was born & raised in the Pays Basque region of France, and has several restaurants in San Francisco. Stu Dudley |
Oops - two method #2s. Method #1 is from Girald Hirigoyan (hope he is not a Fodorite).
Stu Dudley |
>Hate to bring this up but....
No you didn't, lawchick. :) ((I)) |
Robjame, just wait until you get here, and go to the market in Souillac (or Sarlat, but we know the people better in Souillac) Buy a fresh foie and saute it with apples and a bit of armagnac. That's what we did at Christmas, and it was heavenly. Luckily we didn't have any guests and could keep it all ourselves!
Or go to Calviac, the next village, about 3 minutes away, and get a jar of their mi-cuit. It is not true that you can't buy mi-cuit, but it usually comes in a jar rather than a tin, so that you can se the fat/foie content. Not sure about taking it back to Canada. Anyway, Jardel in Calviac has duck and goose, and so you can have a horizontal tasting. We have been known to do vertical tasting of sauteed goose vs. mi-cuit, etc., but there is a limit ... And in case you want to meet some geese, there are various farms around us where you can see them lining up to be fed. A bientot from South Africa, where there isn't much foie, ,but lots of sun, good wine, and even the McNaught comet |
Hi all,
Was shopping at local Publix and came across a pkg of pate with a big label, "DOES NOT CONTAIN FOIE GRAS". ((I)) |
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