I love seared foie gras but I only eat it when I am dining out. I have no idea where you can purchase consistent, high quality foie gras. Additionally, I'd be curious if anyone here has any really good recipes/preparation techniques for foie gras.

Thanks.

High quality foie gras (Hudson Valley/Sonoma Valley/French) can be obtained through www.polarica.com or www.dartagnan.com

I remember a WS issue about a year ago or so that also had a few sites to order from. If you subscribe, look back.

D'artagnan is a good source. I am slightly terrified of trying to use it in anything for fear of mishandling/bungling the job.

Dean & Deluca carries it as well in the stores and in the catalog.

Dean and Deluca is an expensive option but they do carry it. Draegers and Brians in the Bay Area also oftentimes have fresh foie.

Foie Gras is actually very easy to prepare at home and the results will be the equivalent of restaurant prepared foie because you are using the same source as the restaurants.

Some easy recipes follow:

Carpaccio of Foie Gras:

Devein Grade A Foie. Divide foie into both lobes. Slice raw foie thinly and fan out on plate. Bring black truffle juice (Can be purchased canned from the two venders I have already mentioned) to boil. Spoon boiling truffle juice liberally over foie and serve immediately.

Seared Foie Gras:

Devein Grade A Foie. Slice into 3/4 inch to inch slab. Lightly cross hatch both sides of the foie "steak". Liberally salt (preferably with fleur du sel) and pepper. Heat pan for a few minutes over very high heat. Place steaks in hot pan (no fat need be added to the pan prior) for approximately one minute (slightly less actually) - do not move steaks during this time. Flip steaks and sear for another thirty seconds until foie is slightly soft to touch but still resistant (how "done" the foie should be is personal preference. The firmer it is the rawer it is. If you want it very soft then take out of pan after searing and roast). Plate with aged Balsamic vinegar (100 year old preferably or you can reduce the supermarket Balsamic down to syrup but that is a poor substitute imo), small piles of crushed black pepper and fleur du sel, and croutons. Optional sauces are chutneys, apple compote with black truffle shavings, red wine and dark chocolate sauce, roasted fruits such as apricot, peach (recommended with Sauternes), berry sauces etc.

Roasted Whole Foie Gras

Place deveined Grade A Foie in hot skillet. Sear lightly on all sides. Transfer to roasting pan. Add shavings of black truffle, peeled apple slices, and fresh thyme. Roast covered at 400 for approximately 15 minutes. Bring covered roasting pan to table, unveil, slice thick steaks of the molten foie and plate with apples and truffles along side.

The list is near endless. Cold preparations of foie are more of a pain but are still pretty simple. Another thing to consider is to buy pre made whole terrines of fresh foie. You can do a lot with terrine (my favorites is to make into a mousse and stuff agnolotti with the mousse).

Thanks, everyone.

Quote:

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Lightly cross hatch both sides of the foie "steak".

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JW1, what do you mean by cross hatch?

Use your knife to make shallow slices through the foie at 90 degree angles. Make parallel slices down the entire side of the foie and then change your knife by 90 degrees and then make another set of slices down the entire side of the foie - kind of like drawing a tic tac toe board with your knife but the board is continuous across the entire length of the steak.

Thanks. Now that I think about, I have seen this prep in restaurants.

Don't confuse pate de foie gras with fresh foie gras. I treid sauteeing pate de foie gras once and it came out grainy. You need to use the real McCoy.

Four cans of pate de fois gras from the Perigord (2 w/ 5% truffles) can be found in our pantry. One won't exist after New Year's.

You can also get Foie Gras HereHudson Valley Foie Gras

Di Bruno Brothers in Philly. They have a web site

Article today in our San Jose paper. All I can say is, " DAMN ".
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Activists, company fight over duck liver ANIMAL RIGHTS SUIT CHALLENGES FORCE-FEEDING

By Dana Hull
San Jose Mercury News

Animal rights activists and a Sonoma County company are trading lawsuits over duck liver.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, animal rights activists allege the company is breaking the law by force-feeding ducks to produce foie gras, fattened duck livers that some consider a delicacy.

Sonoma Foie Gras is suing the activists, charging them with trespassing when they sneaked into the company's farm and released four ducks.

The controversy over foie gras represents just one of the many battlegrounds between animal rights activists and businesses that utilize animals. The most serious local examples are the recent bombings at two Bay Area companies targeted because of their connections with a firm that uses animals for testing medications.

Sonoma Foie Gras is one of two companies nationwide that produces foie gras, made when ducks are fed through a tube so that their livers expand beyond normal size. Though the practice has been outlawed in other countries, it is legal in the United States, and foie gras is served at the Bay Area's tonier restaurants.

In September, four activists involved in a loosely knit group called the Animal Protection and Rescue League went to the company's duck farm in the Central Valley, broke into the farm and ``rescued'' four ducks from their pens while shooting video footage of their actions. They have not been arrested.

Bryan Pease and Kath Rogers, two of the four activists, showed the video at a news conference Wednesday to draw attention to their lawsuit. The Animal Protection and Rescue League and In Defense of Animals, another animal rights organization, filed the animal cruelty suit against Sonoma Foie Gras in Sonoma County Superior Court. At one point, the video shows two ducks so fat that they are lying in the corner of a pen, barely able to move or fly when approached by a rat.

``I'm hoping it gets outlawed,'' said Rogers, 18, a student at the University of California-Santa Cruz who said she became a vegetarian when she was 9 and a vegan -- or someone who does not eat any animal products -- when she was 13. ``It should be illegal under existing animal cruelty laws.''

In turn, the company has sued the activists.

``There's a word in this state for people who take the law into their own hands, and it's vigilantism,'' said Robert Julian, an attorney for Sonoma Foie Gras. ``Our lawsuit seeks to restrain these people from breaking into the farm and doing things in the farm they are not supposed to be doing.''

The foie gras controversy is infused with intrigue.

In August, activists broke into Sonoma Saveurs, a specialty-food store and restaurant that will sell the farm's foie gras when it opens. They spray-painted walls, clogged the drains with chunks of concrete and turned on the water, flooding the restaurant.

Didier Jaubert and Laurent Manrique, executive chef of the San Francisco restaurant Aqua, are partners in both the farm and the food shop -- leading some to speculate that the August vandalism unearthed information about where the farm was located.

David Blatte, an attorney for the Animal Rescue and Protection League, said that his clients had nothing to do with the break-in at Sonoma Saveurs.

``My clients are committed to non-violence,'' Blatte said. ``It was an open rescue. They've been very upfront about what they did, and they are trying to raise public awareness.''

Meanwhile, the FBI is still searching for Andreas San Diego, a 25-year-old animal rights activist thought to be involved in the bombings of Chiron in Emeryville and Shaklee in Pleasanton.

San Diego lived in Sonoma County until a few weeks ago, when the FBI identified him as a suspect. Though he has not been tied to the foie gras vandalism, local law enforcement officials are searching for possible connections.


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If you wanted to do a course of seared foie gras how do you judge quantities? 4 oz per person?

Many thanks!

Based solely on my recent experience, I think 4oz is way too much. I purchased a lobe that was 1.39lb, or 22oz, for a party of eight people. I have maybe 1/3lb left over, so that leaves approx. 2+ oz per person, which was plenty imo.

It depends on how much of a sear you want on the foie gras steak - the greater the sear the more shrinkage will occur. An inch thick steak is ideal if you want a good sear. Nothing is worse then having a too thin sliced foie virtually disappear on you as you sear it off. 4 ozs is plenty.

Thank you. I'm going to give it a try.

Hopefully some folks are around...

So I've got a 1.2 pound A grade duck Foie in the refrigerator. I'm planning on searing it - that seems basic enough. Question is, what to serve with it? I'm looking to find some good brioche today, but I'd also like a fruit accompaniment - perhaps peaches? Anyone have any recipes/tips to share?

Use brioche to serve it on. Buy some dried porcini mushrooms and throw them in the food processor. Lightly salt and pepper the fois gras, throw the mushrooms on each side of the fois gras and then sear. Serve on brioche, cut into small servings.

I've used this recipe numerous times for wine pairings. It's fantastic and has gone over quite well.

T