{"id":451,"date":"2013-07-03T15:24:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T21:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/?p=451"},"modified":"2013-07-04T11:31:19","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T17:31:19","slug":"foie-gras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/archives\/451","title":{"rendered":"FOIE GRAS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FOIE<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0FOIE<\/span><\/em> GRAS<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I’m currently in the grips of a madly lustful affair with foie gras. <\/em>This will come as no surprise to \u00a0readers of my recent Facebook postings from France, in which I detailed several of my trysts with various foods. I flirted with vin<\/em>, I dallied\u00a0with saucisson, <\/em>I fairly threw myself at\u00a0cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche\u00a0<\/em><\/em>and\u00a0<\/em>chocolat. <\/em>But I left the country with an empty wallet (surely the sign of one besotted) and six glass jars full of my latest infatuation, which I will mete out to myself and a select few over the next year.<\/p>\n

It’s hard for me to envision that time in my life not so long ago when I hadn’t yet tasted this splendid organ meat that occupies much of my gastronomical dream life. My friend and hostess last week\u00a0in the South of France\u2014Christelle\u2014told me how, as a girl at Christmastime, she and her mother would go to the market and choose a squawking, fat goose for the butcher to kill and eviscerate in front of them while they watched the emergence of a magnificent liver quivering in its bloated glory, which they took home to sear in a blistering pan as the appetizer to their family meal.\u00a0Of course, the product I brought home with me is not (thanks to Canada Customs) the raw version but a soft, cooked meat swimming in yellow fat. (I know, it doesn’t sound too pretty, but what magnificent flavour!) Christelle has taught me to\u00a0never<\/em>\u00a0mistakenly call this princely food\u00a0“p\u00e2t\u00e9,”<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>and neither is it “terrine,<\/em>“\u00a0<\/em>both of which are much more processed and\u2014well\u2014crude, so to speak (if also delicious in a more rustic way). The\u00a0foie gras<\/em>\u00a0pictured in the jars here is\u00a0the entire liver, seasoned sparingly, that I’ll spread cold on crusty white bread or toast points\u2014mostly duck with one jar of goose I’ll save for a special occasion to consume with a bottle of real champagne<\/em>. But I won’t start for a couple of months yet\u2014not until the taste of France, like a paramour’s\u00a0kiss, has left my mouth.<\/p>\n

The chef-prepped delight served me on my second-to-last night in France was created by Montpellier propri\u00e9taire<\/em>\u00a0extraordinaire<\/em>\u00a0Wilfredo who, local legend has it, hates to cook for more than a few people at a time. (Check out his establishment\u2014l<\/em>e<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>Passionn\u00e9<\/a>).<\/em>\u00a0I don’t have a photo of that splendid dish. I doubt a photo could encapsulate my experience, anyway\u2014the presentation of three half-inch-thick, gold-and-pink slices on a bed of softened lychee fruits in Port reduction, the slight resistance as I cut through the sliver-thin crust, the succulence as I crush the delicacy between tongue and palate with a crystal or two of sea salt spiking through the round, soft fullness of the meat.<\/p>\n

Well, you can tell I am hopelessly in love. Perhaps the ardour will pass, but I cherish it for the moment, adoring the power foie gras<\/em>\u00a0exerts upon my corporeal senses. It’s almost sacramental\u2014an outward and visible sign of an inward and (in this case) scrumptious grace.\u00a0In my estimation, foie gras <\/em>is\u00a0certainly a gift from above.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0FOIE GRAS I’m currently in the grips of a madly lustful affair with foie gras. This will come as no surprise to \u00a0readers of my recent Facebook postings from France, in which I detailed several of my trysts with various foods. I flirted with vin, I dallied\u00a0with saucisson, I fairly threw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}