Best Foie Gras in DC?

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Oh, I've had various pate and mousses. I was referring to torchon.

A good torchon is a thing of beauty. At the restaurant it gets served w/ crostini, citrus fleur de sel, raw honeycomb, and a small salad of cara cara orange, poached rhubarb, and micro greens. Good stuff.
It's relatively easy to make, too. You could find a really great recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook. If you're interested, I can pm it to you.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

A good torchon is a thing of beauty. At the restaurant it gets served w/ crostini, citrus fleur de sel, raw honeycomb, and a small salad of cara cara orange, poached rhubarb, and micro greens. Good stuff.
It's relatively easy to make, too. You could find a really great recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook. If you're interested, I can pm it to you.

Thanks, but I know my limits. I'm not anywhere in the same league as you, Manton, or Matt in the kitchen. Why do you think so many of the top local places know me by name?

 

[Roikins]

Originally Posted by BrettChaotix

"Force fed" foie gras is banned in California because of it's cruelty. foie gras production has been outlawed in the U.K., Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel.

They sell "naturally fed" foie gras instead. I have no idea how the difference effects the taste. I mean how good can corn boiled in fat really taste after being half-passed through a bird?

Foie gras, French for "***** liver," is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese. The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. Pipes are repeatedly shoved down the birds' throats, and up to 4 pounds of grain and fat are pumped into their stomachs two or three times every day. The pipes puncture many birds' throats, sometimes causing the animals to bleed to death. This cruel procedure causes the birds' livers to become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds become too sick to stand up. The birds who survive the force-feeding are killed, and their livers are sold for foie gras

Much like veal, there is nothing elegant, high-society or luxurious about it. It looks something like this

Being a person who has been involved in animal research, I can tell you the standard PETA photos are always exaggerations. If you deal with enough animals, you're going to get a few that look bad. And photos of groups of sick looking animals cannot represent the whole, because the few sick animals that are found on a farm end up being sequestered together for the safety of the rest of the animals. If you took a snapshot of the sick, isolated animals, then you could easily make it seem like all the animals were like that. With that said, ducks and geese actually "force feed" themselves when they need to migrate for the winter, which is where the "natural" foie" comes from. A good story about the farming was actually in Esquire.

 

[Nil]

This thread is quite timely for me. I recently discovered that a local grocery store carried foie gras and I've been thinking of picking it up as I've never tried it before. Looks like I have a new project for this weekend. Any recommendations on what to serve with it?

 

[Roikins]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

It took me several tries, at home, to get it 100% perfect and predictable. The issue is, it renders out so damn fast, you have to be particular in how you cook it. I vacuum seal and freeze the lobes in individual portion sizes. So I let them sit in the fridge, sealed, to defrost. Day of, I take it out of the fridge about two hours before hand, so it will be completely room temp at cook time. I use a very sharp boning knife, and cut the pieces about 3/8th inch thick. I use a grey sea salt, and fresh ground pepper, to season both sides. Don't be stingy on the salt.

We have a cast iron dutch oven, very well seasoned. I heat it up until it's just starting to smoke, and toss a pat of butter down. It should sizzle instantly. I then toss the foie in. About 1 minute for the first side, less for the second. Even at that, you will get material fat rendered. Save that for cooking.

Enjoy

Interesting... I usually have just cut it when still frozen, never allowing it to fully thaw. I've found it easier to slice that way and also prevents any problems with thawing/re-freezing. From the photo, it looks like there are no problems with letting it warm though.

 

[Roikins]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Whole Foods sucks for trying to find interesting meats.

Anyway, Roikins says that Balducci's has it.

Yes, Balducci's in Bethesda definitely has it, as I buy it there; it's from D'Artagnan.

 

[quevola]

Originally Posted by RJman

I don't think I've ever eaten seared foie gras with bread like that. Usually that's how one eats the stuff without searing or sauteing. Very good with a bit of coarse salt.

Does anywhere sell the stuff in DC? Whole Foods didn't have it.

I hope people who oppose foie gras on moral grounds also don't eat any meats, wear leather or eat honey.

You can oppose cruelty and still enjoy a nice steak or wear a kickass leather belt. Just like you can oppose torture and beheadings and still preserve the right to defend yourself and compatriots against oppression. Anyway, enjoy – I guess I don’t know what I am missing

BTW: I hear in some countries, cat meat is a delicacy.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by quevola

You can oppose cruelty and still enjoy a nice steak or wear a kickass leather belt. Just like you can oppose torture and beheadings and still preserve the right to defend yourself and compatriots against oppression.
Yes, when the animals try to oppress us, I will join you on the barricades. Two legs good! My point is that the gavage of geese is certainly no greater in magnitude of cruelty as the methods by which the vast majority of the meat we consume is farmed and obtained -- and by extension, their skins obtained for leather. It's all food.

Anyway, enjoy - I guess I don't know what I am missing

srsly.

BTW: I hear in some countries, cat meat is a delicacy

Is that supposed to annoy, offend or otherwise snark me in some way? Keep trying.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Roikins

Interesting... I usually have just cut it when still frozen, never allowing it to fully thaw. I've found it easier to slice that way and also prevents any problems with thawing/re-freezing. From the photo, it looks like there are no problems with letting it warm though.

I power through the frozen lobe for initial portioning and vacuum bag sealing. With the individual portion, once defrosted and room temp, I slice very carefully with an extremely sharp boning knife. It took a little experimenting to get my procedure down pat.

 

[itsstillmatt]

If you know you are going to be using all that you are cutting, you can put your knife over a burner going at medium heat, and then cut the lobe with the hot knife. Works like a charm.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by iammatt

If you know you are going to be using all that you are cutting, you can put your knife over a burner going at medium heat, and then cut the lobe with the hot knife. Works like a charm.

Nice tip. Thanks.

 

[quevola]

Originally Posted by RJman

Yes, when the animals try to oppress us, I will join you on the barricades. Two legs good! My point is that the gavage of geese is certainly no greater in magnitude of cruelty as the methods by which the vast majority of the meat we consume is farmed and obtained -- and by extension, their skins obtained for leather. It's all food.

srsly.

Is that supposed to annoy, offend or otherwise snark me in some way? Keep trying.

Not "snarking" - it's just offensive to equate putting honey in your tea to sticking a tube down the gullet of geese to blow up their liver.

 

[Roikins]

Originally Posted by iammatt

If you know you are going to be using all that you are cutting, you can put your knife over a burner going at medium heat, and then cut the lobe with the hot knife. Works like a charm.

That's usually what I do, or I sit the knife in hot water as I'm prepping.

 

[kwilkinson]

nvm

 

[quevola]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Please try to be at least a teeny, tiny bit informed on a subject before you start talking about whether it's good or bad.
Truce