RECIPE

105 Tasting Ice
The micro-climate of beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake has created a pocket of fertile soil and a community of farmers and wine-makers.   Local hotels and restaurants take advantage of the abundance of fresh produce in their dishes and offer locally-produced wines at their tables.  At Inniskillen Winery, Greg Gardner discusses the unusual way ice wines are harvested, and Pope Vickers prepares Foie Gras in the kitchen.

Basic information, From “Foie Gras FAQ: The Liver Everyone Loves”

Copyright © 1998 Tanith Tyrr

Start with the fresh product if you’re going to use foie gras at all. Fortunately, it's actually obtainable in the United States these days because of two producers, one on each coast - Sonoma Foie Gras in Sonoma, California, and Hudson Valley in New York.

A whole liver will weigh from a pound to two pounds and ranges in price from under twenty dollars a pound to over thirty on the wholesale market, depending on quality. The livers are graded "A", "B" and "C".    "B" is excellent for most uses, and contains less fat than the "A", giving it more structure for sauteeing or grilling.

When you recieve your foie gras, soak in milk or water and allow to reach room temperature for easier handling so that veins and connective tissue can be removed. Working with chilled foie gras can cause the liver to break. At room temperature, it is malleable and much easier to work with.

Poached Foie Gras

You can use a Japanese sushi roll maker (a bamboo mat) to roll cylinders of room temperature foie gras, then chill it to shape.  Wrap the cylinders in Saran wrap very tightly, and tie the ends off like sausages. The wrapped foie gras "sausages" are pricked lightly and poached in a mixture of chicken broth and white wine.  Use any inexpensive but decent Semillon or Chardonnay.  The foie gras is poached until barely firm, maybe 8 minutes, then allowed to stand.

The broth (with the inevitable bit of foie gras fat) is then reduced to demiglace so that nothing is wasted. The wrapped "sausages" are pierced and the yellow fat drained into a container which goes in the freezer - foie gras "butter" is awesome to pair with black truffles, and lasts a year in the freezer if tightly covered with no exposure to air. The liver should be barely pink inside when sliced, and grey on the outside.

Poached foie gras will keep for months in the fridge if you crock it in brandy and seal the top with goose fat so there is no exposure to air. That's an ancient French technique that I've successfully duplicated many times, so I can buy a whole liver for my own household use and savor it over many weeks. The brandy-crocked product is amazingly good.

You can also preserve or infuse foie gras with flavored honey, and the liver will absorb a surprising amount of the honey if allowed to marinate in it. Use a delicately flavored honey, such as lavender or blackberry, so as not to overpower the foie gras. Chestnut honey, with its characteristically bitter tang, is an excellent choice to season foie gras with for use in an appetizer.

Beef Wellington  From "MasterCook" January 16, 2004 © 2003 by Prentice-Hall, Inc

Serves 10

Beef / beef tenderloin (4 to 4 1/2 lb.) (1.8 to 2 kg), trimmed

Salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable oil as needed

Pâté de foie gras 8 ounces

Truffle peelings 1 ounce, chopped fine

Puff pastry  2 pounds

Egg wash as needed

Madeira sauce 20 fluid ounces

Trim 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 centimeters) of the tail from the tenderloin. (The small tail portion can be used for some other preparation.) Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper and sear in a small amount of vegetable oil in a large rondeau. Remove from the pan and cool.

Spread the surface of the tenderloin with the pâté de foie gras. Sprinkle the truffles over the pâté.

Roll the puff pastry dough into a rectangle approximately 3/16 inch (5 millimeters) thick and large enough to wrap around the entire tenderloin.

Turn the tenderloin over and place it lengthwise, pâté side down, in the center of the pastry. Fold the ends over and wrap the pastry around the tenderloin, sealing it with egg wash and trimming off any excess.

Transfer the Wellington to a baking sheet, placing the seam side down. Brush the surface with egg wash.

Bake the Wellington in a 350°F (180°C) oven until the center reaches 125°F-30°F (52°C-54°C), approximately 40 minutes. Do not overcook; the crust holds in steam and heat, thus enhancing the effect of carryover cooking.

Carve the Wellington tableside or on a buffet with Madeira sauce served on the side.

Variation: Individual Wellingtons can be made by cutting the tenderloin into 4- to 5-ounce (120- to 150-gram) filet mignon, using smaller pieces of puff pastry and reducing the cooking time to approximately 20 minutes.

Foie Gras Escalope aux Epinards
Sauteed Foie Gras with Spinach

From: “Foie Gras, Magret, and Other Good Food from Gascony”
By André Daguin and Anne de Ravel

• 1 whole foie gras, about 1 ¼ pounds, at room temperature
• 36 spinach leaves, rinsed and thoroughly dried
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

1. Remove the thin membrane around the liver and dry. Cut into slices about 1 1/4 inches thick.

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high flame and saute the foie gras slices for about 30 seconds on one side. Turn the slices and add the spinach to the pan. Cover and cook for another minute.

3. Remove the liver slices from the pan and place on a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking the spinach, if necessary, until wilted. Divide the spinach among six warmed serving plates and top with a slice of foie gras.

Pan-Seared Foie Gras From caviaria.com

This is a wonderful first course. It is, surprisingly, not difficult to prepare and can impress dinner guests or that someone special to no end.

 Many variations of Pan-seared Foie Gras have long been on the menus of many upscale establishments in Europe and USA. Considered by most as a somewhat exotic and expensive dish, it is actually not that difficult to prepare and will surely impress one’s guests when served at home.

The following recipe uses duck Foie Gras.   One may use goose liver if one prefers but the cooking process will be a bit trickier. Duck liver holds itself together better than goose liver when pan-seared.

Ingredients
One whole duck Foie Gras, Grade A
Approximately ¾ to 1 cup balsamic vinegar (you don’t need the real, expensive kind)
3 tablespoons molasses
½ to 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar (optional)
1 small bottle of red onion marmalade
1 lettuce of choice, preferably the violet tinged lola rossa, not iceberg
A little arugula to taste (optional)

Steps
The Sauce (To Be Prepared Ahead)
1.   Heat the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan over a low to medium fire and reduce by half or until it just begins to thicken. Stir gently but continuously.
2.   Add the molasses little by little and taste every so often. Add the raspberry vinegar. Keep stirring gently. The mixture should still flow well, just thickening slightly.
3.  Be sure to gently scrape the bottom and sides every so often to prevent the sauce from sticking and forming clumps.
4.  The moment a dark film of the mixture can coat a spoon, remove from heat. It will thicken even more as it cools.

The Foie Gras
1. Buy your Foie Gras fresh and not frozen. If you are unable to use it within the first 10 days , freezing the foie gras is an option. When defrosting, make sure not to thaw it at room temperature - keep it in the refrigerator overnight, a slow thaw will make it taste better when sauted.


2.Carefully remove any visible veins, taking care to avoid unduly scarring the Foie Gras.
3.With a hot knife (dip it in very hot water every so often), slice the Foie Gras into ovals about 1 inch thick each.


4.Put  the Foie Gras slices in the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes to slightly firm up a bit.


5.Heat a heavy non-stick, industrial heat pan over medium-high heat for approximately 4 ½ to 5 minutes and sear the Foie Gras slices for about 20 to 25 seconds each side. Do not crowd the pan, sear in batches of 3 to 4 slices.   The Foie Gras will be rare and this is the way it is best served. If one simply must have it a bit more done, sear for about 15 to 20 seconds then lower heat to medium or medium-low and allow to cook for another 15 to 20 seconds each side. Remove from heat.


6. Serve atop a bed of lettuce/arugula leaves and a dollop (approximately 1 tablespoon) of red onion marmalade. Drizzle lightly with the sauce. This must be served warm, almost immediately after being pan-seared. Unless one has help in the kitchen, it is highly advisable to prepare the lettuce/arugula/marmalade beds ahead of time.


7.Serve the rest of the sauce in a separate bowl so the guests may add as they wish.
Depending on the size of the Foie Gras purchased, this recipe serves 4 to 5 people as a first course.

The Wine
In Bordeaux, the traditional pairing is a good well-chilled Sauternes. No chardonnay or sauvignon blanc please. A good reisling or gewurztraminer will probably be fine.


Note
Turn your kitchen exhaust to full. Cooking this dish produces a lot of smoke. Cooking outdoors would be ideal.
Further, do not allow the fat rendered and stray bits to stay in the pan. They will burn easily and impart an unpleasant bitterness to the dish. Clean the pan of said rendered fat and stray bits after, at least, every other batch of Foie Gras.

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