The list of items of chic and beautiful life firmly included the foreign word “foie gras”. What kind of fruit is it and what does it eat with? In fact, this is not a fruit at all, but with what to eat it and how to serve it is a real art that should be learned. In addition, this is a product with a rather interesting history. But first things first.
The word foie gras itself is of French origin. But this does not mean that the French invented this delicacy. No, they simply improved and made the ancient Roman dish even more sophisticated and refined. And if translated literally from French, then this word, sounding so aristocratic, simply means "fatty liver." But the liver is only a goose or duck, and even not simple poultry, but specially fattened.
Even the ancient Egyptians noticed that wild geese and ducks feed heavily on grain before a long flight in order to accumulate strength. As a result, their liver grows and swims with fat, as it were, while becoming surprisingly delicate in taste. When geese and ducks were domesticated, there was no need to wait for the flight season of bird flocks. The geese were fed, often forcibly, immobilized and sought to increase their liver. About what foie gras, the Romans learned from the ancient Egyptians. In the Roman Empire, the dish became a delicacy of the patricians. History has preserved even ancient recipes for preparing goose liver, according to which the goose was intensively fed with figs for a month before slaughter.
As you know, at one time the Roman Empire spread over the vast expanses of Western Europe. But with the fall of the Roman Empire (and with it the Roman civilization and culture) under the onslaught of the barbarians, many delights of patrician cuisine went into oblivion. That foie gras was remembered only in the southern counties of modern France, the so-called lands of Oak - in Languedoc (or Occitania). Moreover, it was a very popular dish in the land, also known to ordinary peasants. But it would have remained a little-known regional delicacy, if not for Louis XVI. In 1778, the king visited Strasbourg, where the local seigneur, Marquis de Contad, treated him to foie gras. The king liked the goose liver pate so much that he immediately gifted the cook who prepared it with twenty luxurious edibles and placed an order for delivery to the palace of foie gras, and he granted the marquise the estate in Picardy.
The king’s endorsement played the role of a Bickford cord for exploding the international fame of foie gras. Other sovereigns began to order her to their table, and behind them - and everything to know, and just rich people. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the manufacture of foie gras was put on stream, then counterfeits appeared. Pork or beef was mixed into the goose liver, and sometimes any poultry liver was presented as foie gras. This was put to an end by the French law of 1994, which clearly defined what foie gras is: the fat (at least 40% fat) goose or duck liver, which weighs 400 to 800 grams, ranging in color from light yellow to pale pink and possessing a delicate but dense structure. Food lovers argue which liver is better: goose with a soft creamy taste or duck foie gras with a more intense smell. The recipe for this delicacy also affects the taste of the final product. The liver is prepared with the addition of truffles, brandy or without any extraneous additives - it all depends on personal preferences.
It is clear that it will be difficult to make foie gras on our own, unless you are a farmer raising geese and ducks. But how to choose foie gras, once in a French store and seeing a huge spread of products bearing the name on the label? Glass and metal cans, vacuum packaging, wooden boxes - one gets the impression that the French themselves do not know what foie gras are, and they call this word completely different things. In fact, all products under this name are divided into “fu ara entier”, for which a whole liver is taken, and a “foie gras block” made from scraps of different pieces of the liver. According to the method of preparation, mousses are distinguished (finely grated paste), just paste and terrine (coarsely chopped paste). There are also pickled pieces of foie gras in glass jars. Can be found on French shelves and chilled raw foie gras in vacuum packaging.