Although highly regarded as a delicacy in certain circles, foie gras is relatively straightforward to prepare. In fact, you only need three fairly basic items – a bird, a sack of corn and a funnel. The trick is to force feed the corn to your duck or goose – the choice is totally yours.
To do this, you will need to employ the services of a gavage, a foot-long tube. This will be required for a force feeding programme that takes place two or three times a day for two to three weeks.
As the process continues, barring the possibility of the bird’s oesophagus rupturing, the animal’s liver will undergo a remarkable chemical reaction. It will take on a distinctly yellow hue and grow to an extreme size. If the liver weighed some 80 grams originally, a 1,000 percent rise to 800 grams would not be unusual. Actually, it’s not unusual to the extent that pretty much the same thing would happen to you if you were force-fed on corn several times a day for a month.
Despite production being restricted to only a handful of countries, nearly all of them claim to produce the foremost foie gras. France, though, is the true royalty here, with 90 percent of the production of this luxury food stuff taking place in Périgord, a region also famous for its truffles. Gascony, sited in northwest Périgord, is widely regarded as the heart of traditional French foie grasproduction and is the name that most connoisseurs look for on a label.
As French foie gras production predominantly takes place in the country’s southwest, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that Spain is also a producer of the delicacy, albeit in a relatively minor way. Unlike their more traditionalist cousins to the east, the Spaniards favour employing a “humane” method to cram a bird’s belly full of maize. This is mainly achieved by letting the birds gorge themselves. Whether geese habitually eat to excess seems something of a grey area, although the wide availability of Sousa & Laboudette Ethical Goose Foie Gras does probably suggest they do have a bit of an appetite.
Moving beyond Europe, Canada is starting to win a reputation for the fine quality of its foie gras, despite its output only representing one percent of the world’s total in 2014. The neighbouring United States has also taken to nurturing its own foie gras, possibly as a consequence of the many years for which it banned meat imports.
With its stocks sourced from Upstate New York, foie gras US-style never became as well-known as its European counterpart. Despite this, American liver-pâté is still well worth trying, largely on account of its distinctive taste. While this may be something to do with the breeds used, maybe American corn is just different.
Fattening animals up for slaughter isn’t a uniquely Western predilection, of course. Chinese gourmands have been doing the same with pigs for centuries. When France suffered the ignominy of its foie gras being refused pride of place at a number of Asian food-fairs, French manufacturers eyed battery-farms in China as a way of boosting the delicacy’s local credentials. Today, while Chinese foie gras production is still in its infancy – assuming standards can be maintained – interest in the dish seems only set to grow.
So, if all of that has not put you off, the world of gourmet goose-liver is your metaphorical oyster. Traditional cold terrines and parfaits, flavoured with French brandies, are perfect party appetisers. For hot dishes, generally rely on duck – rather than goose – liver, with its slightly earthier texture and ability to sear without melting making it the preferred choice for sautéing or panning. If you’re paying for hot dishes, assume the quality is going to be lower than that found in a cold preparation, though there’s no denying good quality duck liver can ultimately trump a medium goose any day of the week.