What is Foie Gras, and How to Cook French Delicatessen

In the list of items of elegant and beautiful life, the foreign word "foie gras" has become firmly embedded. What kind of fruit is this and what does it eat? In fact, it is - not a fruit at all, but with what it is and how to serve - a real art, which should be trained. In addition, it is a product with a rather interesting history. But first things first.

The very word "foie gras" is of French origin. But this does not mean that the French invented this delicacy. No, they just improved and made an even more refined and refined ancient Roman dish. And if you translate literally from French, then this word, sounding so aristocratic, means simply "fatty liver". But the liver is only a goose or duck, and even not simple domestic birds, but specially fattened.

Even the ancient Egyptians noticed that wild geese and ducks before a long flight heavily fed grain to accumulate strength. As a result, their liver increases and, as it were, swims with fat, becoming at the same time surprisingly tender in taste. When geese and ducks were domesticated, there was no need to wait for the flight season of the birds' flocks. The geese were fed, often by force, immobilized and sought to have their liver increased. About what is Foie gras, the Romans learned from the ancient Egyptians. In the Roman Empire, the dish became a delicacy of patricians. History has preserved even the ancient recipes for the preparation of goose liver, according to which the goose before the slaughter month was heavily fed with figs.

As you know, at one time the Roman Empire extended to the vast expanses of Western Europe. But with the fall of the Roman Empire (and with it the Roman civilization and culture), under the onslaught of the barbarians, many of the delights of patrician cuisine went into oblivion. About what is a foie gras, remembered only in the southern counties of modern France, the so-called Oak lands - in Languedoc (or Occitania). And this was a very popular dish there, known to simple peasants. But it would remain a little-known regional delicacy, if not for Louis XVI. In 1778 the king visited Strasbourg, where the local seigneur, the Marquis de Contad, treated him to a foie gras. The king liked the pate of goose liver so much that he immediately gave the cook, who cooked it, twenty splendid platter and decorated the order for the delivery of foie gras to the palace, and the marquis gave the estate to Picardy.

The king's approval played the role of the Bickford string for the explosion of the international fame of the Foie Gras. It began to be ordered to its table by other sovereigns, and behind them - and all to know, and simply rich people. From the beginning of the XIX century, the production of foie gras was put on stream, then falsifications appeared. Goose liver was mixed with pork or beef, and sometimes gave a foie gras to the liver of any poultry. It put an end to the French law of 1994, which clearly defined what a foie gras is: a fat (at least 40% fat) liver of a goose or duck that weighs from 400 to 800 grams, having a color from light yellow to pale pink and It has a soft but dense structure. Gourmets argue which liver is better: having a soft creamy taste with goose or with a more intense smell, duck foie gras. The recipe for this delicacy also affects the taste of the final product. The liver is prepared with the addition of truffles, cognac or without any extraneous additives - it all depends on personal preferences.

It is clear that it will be difficult to cook the foie gras yourself, unless if you are a farmer who breeds geese and ducks. But how to choose a foie gras after hitting a French store and seeing a huge scatter of products bearing on the label this name? Glass and metal jars, vacuum packs, wooden boxes - it seems that the French themselves do not know what a foie gras is, and they call this a completely different thing. In fact, all products under this name are divided into "fu ara entier", for which a whole liver is taken, and a "foie gras block" made from scraps of different pieces of liver. By the way of cooking, they distinguish mousses (finely ground pate), just pâté and terrine (chopped pâté). There are still pickled pieces of foie gras in glass jars. You can meet on the French shelves and chilled raw foie gras in a vacuum package.