"foie" news and stories

Like Adam and Meg before me, I was recently given the opportunity to sample some of the foie gras from Mirepoix USA, arguably the best distributor of foie gras in the country and certainly the most accessible. Unlike my fellow bloggers, however, I opted to go for the already prepared Whole Duck Foie Gras w/ Armagnac Au Torchon Style instead of starting from scratch with the whole duck liver. I invited a group of friends and family, ranging in ages from 10 to 80, over to share the foie gras. For most of them, it was their first experience with the product and everyone seemed excited about the impromptu dinner party. Almost everyone had some prior knowledge of the controversy that surrounds the delicacy, but any pangs of conscience were overridden by hunger pangs and curiosity. That may be a bit of an overstatement, so let's just say that no strong feelings either way were expressed.

Having encountered it more than once in a restaurant, I am not a complete neophyte to foie gras, but I had never before prepared it or served it at home. I opted to serve the foie gras in two ways. First, I served toast points with slices of foie gras and fig preserves. The liver is very fatty (obviously) and the jam serves to lighten the heaviness of it on the palate, as well as to add some dimension to the flavor.

A group of chefs in Chicago have started an organization called Chicago Chefs for Choice. The group includes Michael Tsonton of Copperblue and Didier Durand of Cyrano's Bistrot, as well as foie gras lobbyists, and their mission is to protect their craft "from personal moral campaigns on products that are legally produced in this country." One must ask whether they apply their convictions evenly to all products, including factory farmed meats and conventionally grown (not organic) vegetables, which seem to have fallen out of favor with chefs, especially those at high end restaurants that are likely to be serving delicacies such as foie gras, lately.

While the chefs wait for the ban to take effect at the end of July, they are also preparing and serving special menus that heavily feature foie, appealing to diners who don't want to drive to "suburban restaurants" in Highland Park or Wheeling to get their fix.

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