Waxing Poetic On: Foie Gras

I know.  I'm a terrible person.  I drive an SUV.  I don't compost.  I don't buy whatever my co-workers kids are selling to support their schools.  And I love foie gras.  I do.  I really do.

It's such a gross concept.  Why is it so good????

A lot of people don't like foie gras.  Good.  More for me.  And now, that might actually be a concern.

Foie Gras is a fattened liver, usually of duck or goose.  The process by which they fatten up the duck or goose is considered to be cruel.  Essentially, many vendors force feed the ducks and geese.  Some states have enacted laws preventing the sale of foie gras.  It is important to note that some methods of humane production of foie gras have been created.

Maybe I like liver because I'm Jewish and grew up eating my grandmother's chopped chicken liver.  For the goyim (non-Jews) reading this, chopped liver is akin to the deviled egg.  It's at every holiday, potluck, and luncheon.  

I like it in a mousse, I like it in a terrine.  But my favorite is scored in a cross hatch pattern, and seared, still fatty and soft on the inside.  I will eat in a box, I will eat it with a fox.  I will eat it here, I will eat it there.  I will eat it everywhere.  But some restaurants really know how to cook it and how to combine it with other flavors.  Here are some examples:

* Bazaar- The foie gras crusted in corn nuts and covered in cotton candy (exciting to watch them make, exciting to eat!)

* Bazaar- The foie gras mini burger with quince paste.  Terrific sweet/savory combo.

* Animal- Seared foie gras on a biscuit on top of a bed of maple sausage gravy- also a great sweet/savory combo

* Animal- Foie gras moco loco with spam and a quail egg

* Palihouse- Foie gras mousse in a jar with brioche