Tinned Foie Gras

[jeanette1976]

I wanted to make a dish with fillet steak and foie gras, but i'm wondering if it's ok to sear the foie gras as it's tinned and therefore already cooked?

Guess i could practice with normal pate? I was hoping it might melt on top of the steak.

[Mosaic]

Foie gras is surely cooked in any case - otherwise it would be a mush of raw force-fed goose liver with some garlic and herbs. Raw liver of any animal is distinctive by being very bloody and slightly slimy in consistency, whereas once cooked it becomes more granular in texture.
As for foie gras - you will be eating the liver of a bird who has had over-rich food forced down its gullet with a funnel, then has its mobility restricted so it becomes very ill ie develops a fatty liver. The clue is in the 'gras' ie 'fat'.
Just so you know.

[jeanette1976]

Thank you both. I had read up on it, but only after i had bought it and came back to england and realised the controversy, so just this once, I'll see what it's like. x

[Jemisa]

After knowing what goes on to get your foie gras to your table how can you eat it?

jem

[tamborine]

sacrilege of fillet steak and misuse of foie gras !!

[tamborine]

Replace steak with dry brown bread, serve smorgesbord with sliced avocado, lemon slice & 2cold stems of asperagus, as a starter.

[Mosaic]

Agreed, redhelen - as with fur coats, you can't 'undead' the critters so might as well use the product. But knowing is important for choice. I just think not many folk realise what grossness is involved in torturing geese to make foie gras.

[flip_flop]

I know about la gavage and it would never stop me eating foie gras - on the rare occasions when I'm lucky enough to have it.

I love veal and calves liver as well.

I have never felt particularly squeemish about where our food comes from.

[bizzylizzy]

I thought Foie gras had been banned. I appreciate that people think that avoiding it is being squeamish. It's not a question of being a veggie or carnivore, it's a question of what's right. Rearing animals, in this case geese, in such a way as to cause distress and pain. How would you like it if someone forced your dog or cat or other favourite pet to eat by means of a tube being forced painfully down its throat, day after day. The enlarged liver can't be much fun either. They stopped rearing veal calves in crates, depriving them of sunlight. They should stop this practice too. I have no problem eating meat, but if animals are going to be eaten, they should be humanely reared.

[ethandron]

you can make your own mind up perhaps by reading this:
http://www.frenchentr...ayArticle.asp?ID=2361

[flip_flop]

You're not comparing like with like bizzylizzy.

My Labrador wasn't bred to end up on my plate.

[ethandron]

i agree redhelen. we all must decide for ourselves what we feel comfortable eating.
personally, i have no problem with foie gras.....apart from the price!!!!!