from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Seared duck foie gras
Photograph courtesy of yosoynuts
www.flickr.com/pictures/yosoynuts/4094595898/
Foie Gras is liver from a fattened duck or goose.
For hundreds of years foie gras has been thought of a novel French
gastronomic expertise and a part of France’s cultural historical past. Foie gras shall be
on many menus.
The French and North American takes on foie
gras.
Within the USA, foie gras is on most of the prime restaurant menus,
although it’s banned in California. Within the USA, foie gras will most frequently be
ordered mi-cuit, that may be very calmly fried slices, escallops, of liver. The
French, au contraire, overwhelmingly desire their foie gras as a parfait or a
pâté. The liver, nevertheless it’s ready, shall be accompanied by a candy sauce
or a candy compote or jam manufactured from sweetened, slowly, stewed greens or
fruits.
A goose farm in France
Photograph courtesy of TAYLOR149
www.flickr.com/pictures/taylorrussell/2722309005/
The wines to accompany foie gras.
The wine chosen to accompany foie gras is necessary. The wine will
be chosen from amongst France’s many glorious candy wines. Usually a Sauterne, a
Banyul, a Gewurztraminer Vendage Tardive or a Monbazillac shall be beneficial. Some menu listings might
embody a glass of a specifically chosen candy wine with their foie gras dishes.
If a wine will not be included within the menu itemizing, these wines shall be provided by
the glass. Both have a very good wine e book that will help you select or ask the
sommelier. While you have a look at the restaurant’s wine record, rigorously test the
costs. If the costs are excessive, give the sommelier your funds; France has many
inexpensive and glorious candy wines, and a few might not be on the wine record.
(For details about the AOP, IGP, and Vin de France labels on French
wines, click here).
A Sauternes wine paired with duck foie gras
(Sauternes is the singular and plural and pronounced So-tern).
Is the foie gras on the menu from a goose or a
duck?
A menu itemizing for foie gras
that doesn’t point out if it comes from a duck or goose shall be understood to
offer duck liver. If the foie gras on the menu is goose liver, the menu
will at all times say so.
France has sturdy legal guidelines that outline the
proportion of foie gras in menu listings.
By regulation, a complete foie gras should be at the very least 98% liver. A parfait of
fois gras should include at the very least 75% of the fattened liver, whereas a pate want
solely include 50%. The distinction
within the quantity of liver used shall be mirrored within the worth. The French are very
severe about their meals, and particularly so relating to foie gras. A
restaurant might use a good looking and imaginative description on its menu, however it
should nonetheless meet the authorized necessities.
Terrine (pate) de foie gras
The variations between a pate and a terrine on
the menu have modified over time.
Photograph courtesy of augustudios
www.flickr.com/pictures/augustudios/8314742207/
The opposite components in a foie gras parfait or
a foie gras pate?
The opposite components will often embody duck or goose meat. Eggs,
rooster liver, and or pork liver might full the dish other than the herbs and
spices {that a} chef chooses. Fairly quite a lot of producers of foie gras
parfaits and pates don’t use pork. For individuals who are not looking for pork, in a
restaurant, you could ask, and in a deli simply learn the label.
Complete Foie Gras on French Menus:
Will probably be 98% duck or goose liver:
Foie Gras de
Canard des Landes Cuit au Naturel, Rhubarbe et Acidulé de Fraise Mara des Bois – Foie gras from the division of
Landes within the area of Nouvelle Aquitaine. Right here, the menu itemizing signifies
lightly-fried liver slices served with a candy and barely acidic compote made
from rhubarb and the very aromatic and candy Mara de Boise strawberries.m Landes is
well-known for its geese and foie gras. The division of Landes is one
of the unique 5 departments that made up the previous area of Aquitane. Since 1-1-2016, when France reorganized and diminished its
variety of administrative regions, Landes grew to become a part of the brand new administrative area of Nouvelle
Aquitaine.
Seared foie gras mi-cuit with a kumquat
compote and ache d’epices.
Photograph
courtesy of Laissez Fare
www.flickr.com/photos/laissezfare/6831571498/
Foie Gras Mi-cuit au Torchon, Réduction de Banyuls, Chutney de
Fruits – Foie gras ready in a
torchon and served with a candy fruit chutney flavored with one of many candy wines from Banyules-sur-Mer on the
Mediterranean within the division of Pyrénées-Orientales. For this dish, a complete
ready contemporary duck liver shall be rolled in a torchon, that could be a cooking material
or towel; there it will likely be cured with salt, herbs, and a candy wine and hung
for 2 to 3 days. Making ready foie gras with a torchon is without doubt one of the three
ways in which complete duck or goose liver shall be provided on most menus. When the
torchon is prepared it’s going to then be slowly and calmly poached. When it has
cooled, it could be sliced and served.
Moulard
Duck “Foie Gras au Torchon”
Navel Orange, Cranberry, Crimson Walnuts, Sorrel and Black Truffle
Coulis
Served on the French Laundy ( Keller)
Photograph courtesy
of kennejima
www.flickr.com/pictures/kennejima/6815632941/
Ballotine de
Foie Gras de Canard et ses Chutneys de Figues et Abricot – A ballotine of duck foie gras served
with a candy fig and apricot chutney.
Ballotines started as deboned and stuffed poultry, the place the meat was rolled
across the stuffing and served chilly. Right here there may be nothing to debone and
nothing to stuff, so this ballotine is a roll of the entire liver. The foie gras
will then be encased and can look considerably much like a fats sausage. This roll
might now be calmly poached in practically boiling water for a short time. After the
foie gras has cooked, it will likely be allowed to chill, after which saved refrigerated,
not frozen, for a day or two. Then it could be reduce into slices earlier than serving.
Duck Foie Gras, Beer-Braised Walnuts, Nasturtium
Photograph courtesy of Edsel Little
www.flickr.com/pictures/edsel_/23822479370/
Escalope de
Foie Gras Poêlée, Chutney Pomme-Boudin, Jus Aigre-Doux au Cidre ou en Dégustation Chaud et
Froid – A slice of duck liver calmly
fried and served with a chutney manufactured from apple and sausages. This chutney is
fried slices of black pudding sausage, mashed into the stewed apples. France is known for its sausages, and black
pudding will not be the one possibility. For extra details about the sausage on this
menu itemizing, ask. The liver and chutney are accompanied by a candy and bitter
sauce made with French cider,
and on this menu itemizing, the foie gras could also be served scorching or chilly.
Parfait de Foie Gras
No less than 75% fattened liver.
A parfait of fois gras shall be ready as a moose, not a pate.
Nevertheless, not all parfaits on French menus are made with foie gras. A French
dessert parfait is usually a chilly or frozen fruit mousse, generally adorned
with fruits, and the recipe may additionally name for a liquor like Grande Marnier or Bénédictine D.O.M., for added for taste. A pate served as an hors d’œuvre or an
entrée may additionally be made with out foie gras. Different pates usually embody rooster
and or pork liver. If the menu itemizing doesn’t be aware the phrases foie gras, then
the parfait will not be made with duck or goose liver.
Parfait de foie gras on the menu:
Le Parfait de
Foie Gras Maison et sa Compotée d’Oignon – This can be a duck parfait, made to the restaurant’s personal recipe
served with a calmly sweetened onion compote.
The compote shall be sweetened onions, fried slowly till they attain the
consistency of a candy onion jam.
A recipe for foie gras with truffles
Photograph and recipe courtesy of Marie Claire Cuisine et Vins.
Parfait de Foie
Gras sur sa Gelée de Groseilles au Porto – A parfait of duck foie gras
served on a jelly made out of pink currants flavored with Port wine,
Le Parfait de Foie Gras d’Oie Maison au Vin de Banyuls – A parfait of goose foie gras made to the restaurant’s distinctive
recipe and served with a sauce made out of the candy wines of Banyuls-sur-Mer.
Pate de Foie Gras on French Menus:
No less than 50% fattened liver.
Pâté Maison
Foie Gras d’Oie et Morille – A
pate of fattened goose liver made to the restaurant’s personal recipe and served
with morel mushrooms. Right here the mushrooms could have been sweetened and slowly cooked
till they’re virtually a mushroom jam.
Terrine
de Foie Gras de Canard avec son Verre de Monbazillac – Terrine is usually used as one other identify for a
pate and right here the pate of duck foie gras is accompanied by a glass of candy
Monbazillac wine. This wine is from the Dordogne, and right here it’s the restaurant’s option to accompany their foie
gras. Within the French kitchen, the words pâté and terrine for fois gras are
interchangeable; nevertheless, with out the phrases foie
gras, a terrine reverts to being a selected formed cooking and serving dish.
A dessert menu might provide a terrine de fruits, a fruit terrine, and a duck or
goose pate served in a terrine might not essentially be duck or goose foie gras.
Learn the menu rigorously.
Pâté de Foie
Gras de Canard Maison Truffée à la Truffe Tuber Aestivum, Ache De Campagne
Toasté Mesclun – A pate of fattened duck liver made to the restaurant’s personal
recipe flavored with the summer season truffle, right here beneath its Latin identify aestivum.
The pate is accompanied by nation bread, toast, and a salad mesclun. A salad mesclun is a blended inexperienced
salad, historically made with at the very least 5 completely different salad greens. This pate not
solely incorporates truffles, however is itself “truffled,” which signifies that it’s
full of many truffles that can go a part of the best way to compensate for the
truffle’s gentle taste. The truffles do have
a French identify, the Truffe Blanche d’Été, however using Latin might impress the
diners extra. This can be a calmly flavored truffle and one of many least costly.
Pate of Duck Foie Gras with an Onion Confit
Photograph courtesy of Dan Costin
www.flickr.com/pictures/dcostin/2525731608/
French delicatessens, their traiteur-charcuteries, could also be providing:
Bloc de Foie
Gras – A totally-cooked and ready block of
duck or goose liver; this should be at the very least 98% liver. Fairly quite a lot of French
households will put together their very own foie gras. They’ll purchase a foie gras d’oie or
canard entier, a complete cooked and vacuum-packed goose or duck liver from a traiteur-charcuterie.
The entire liver might then perhaps sliced for mi-cuit, calmly fried, foie gras,
and served with a candy sauce or jam. The extra adventurous might put together their
personal parfait or pâté de foie gras.
Pate de foie gras and extra on sale in a traiteur-charcuterie.
The particular provide within the {photograph} is:
– 1 chicken, 1 rabbit, 1 jar foie gras mi-cuit – 50 Euros
Photograph
courtesy of Stewart Holmes
www.flickr.com/pictures/unclemac/11916043625/
Pâté de Foie
Gras aux Truffes – Pâté de foie gras with truffles. Foie gras with
truffles will need to have 3% or extra truffles by weight. Both that or they
should present the true proportion! N.B. A pate de foie gras with 1%
truffles is a waste of time. If you’re paying additional for it, don’t; the truffle
style shall be very troublesome to style. Additionally, even with 3% or extra discover
out which truffles are getting used. Extra
importantly, if the dish provided has lower than 1% truffles, then, neither a
restaurant nor a traiteur might even point out truffles in any respect! I want that
regulation additionally required a declaration of the quantity of truffles utilized in different truffle
dishes that I’ve ordered. I’ve had dishes supposedly made with
truffles the place, I imagine, the chef simply confirmed the dish the truffle after which
took it away! In any case, the dish indicated above is a pâté de foie gras and
meaning at the very least 50% is duck foie gras with
one other 3% of the pate’s weight made up by truffles. Caveat Emptor, any
dish with 3% of the perfect truffles by weight won’t be cheap, you may have
been warned. The costliest truffle in France is the Black Truffle of Perigord. it’s carefully adopted by the Burgundy Truffle.
Dishes with lower than 50% fattened liver.
Foie gras dishes with lower than 50% liver might not be
bought with the phrases foie gras at first of the itemizing. By regulation, it should be clear
from the menu description that any foie gras is added
to the dish and under no circumstances supposed to explain the dish itself.
Carpaccio
de Betteraves et Copeaux de Foie
Gras – A Carpaccio of beetroots served with
shavings of foie gras. Using the phrase copeaux, shavings, clearly
signifies that solely a small quantity foie gras is used.
Nevertheless, on a dish like this the shavings of 100% foie gras if added generously, shall be clearly famous in your tongue. (See Carpaccio).
Pâté en Croûte Canard Landais au Cœur de Foie Gras – A duck
pate, not made with foie gras, slightly with duck from the division of Landes. This pate
shall be made with duck meat, most likely with the addition of rooster liver or
pork liver. Right here the pate is en croute, which is inside a pastry casing. Then
on the coronary heart of this pate shall be a chunk of 98% duck foie gras.
Pate en croute,
The outline doesn’t learn pate de
foie en croute. That
makes it clear that this isn’t a foie gras pate.
Photograph courtesy of Gail
www.flickr.com/pictures/gail_thepinkpeppercorn/4234927109/
Animal husbandry and France.
There are a rising variety of French cooks who solely buy animal
merchandise from farms they’ve personally visited or purchase merchandise that maintain the AOP or Label Rouge, the red label, with
assured humane farming strategies. These activist French cooks additionally
hunt down poultry farms, dairies, fish farms and abattoirs that could be visited
with out prior recommendation, If a product make the grade the farm’s identify could also be on the
menu. Alongside the visits of their prospects, the cooks, the French duck
and goose farmers are additionally altering their feeding strategies; they’re utilizing
strategies that benefit from the pure gorging that geese and geese take pleasure in
within the wild earlier than their annual migrations. Right this moment there are duck and
goose farms which might be open to the general public.
Who invented foie gras?
Foie gras was not a French discovery or a French creation. The
Egyptians, practically 3,000 years in the past, found that geese stuffed themselves for
weeks earlier than their annual migration and the livers of those geese was
particularly tasty.
From Egypt, the information unfold to Greece and there each pigs and
geese had been fed with figs to supply enlarged and attractive livers. It was the
Romans, the standard suspects, who introduced the manufacturing of fois gras to
France when the colonized giant components of the nation over 2,000 years in the past.
———–
Looking for the which means of phrases, names, or phrases
on
a French menu?
Simply add the phrase, phrases, or phrase that you’re trying to find to
the phrases “Behind the French Menu” (finest when together with the inverted
commas), and search with Google. Behind
the French Menu’s hyperlinks, embody tons of of phrases, names, and phrases which might be
seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that embody over 4,000
French dishes with English translations and explanations.
———
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2015, 2021
——————–
Linked Posts:
AOC and AOP on France’s Foods and Wine labels? Why did the AOC
become an AOP?
The Apricot or Abricot. The Wonderful Fruits of France.
Bénédictine D.O.M., the Liqueur, and its Amazing Factory
Benedictine in Fecamp, Normandy.
Boudin – A Sausage. The Boudin Blanc and the Boudin Noir; Pork
Sausages and Black Puddings. The Sausages of France II
Choosing Carpaccio on a French Menu
Canard – Duck on French Menus.
Charcuterie-Traiteurs in France. The Ultimate Delicatessen?
Déglacé,
Déglacer, Déglacez – Deglaze, Deglazing; Réduction – Reduction and Jus Corsé in
French Cuisine.
Dining
in the Five Departments of Old Aquitaine. The Products and Produce of its Five
departments. All are now part of Nouvelle Aquitaine.
French Bread: The types of French Bread and a Lexicon for Buying
French Bread.
Figues – Figs. Figs on French Menus. The Best Figs in France are
the Figues de Sollies.
French Ciders, Including France’s Fabulous Sparkling Ciders.
Kumquats or Cumquats in French Cuisine.
Lapin and Lièvre – Rabbits and Hares. Rabbit and Hares in French
Cuisine.
Morille, the Morel Mushroom. Morel mushrooms on French Menus. The
Mushrooms of France V.
Noix – The Walnut. France’s Beloved Nut. The Walnut on French
Menus.
Oignon or Ognon – An Onion. Onions on French menus. France’s most
famous onions and their history.
Pates and Terrines. An introduction to the meat, fish, vegetable
and fruit pates on French menus.
Port or Porto – Port Wine in French Cuisine. Port on French Menus
Poulet, Poularde, Poule, Pousin – Chicken. Chicken in French
Cuisine.
Regions – On the 1st of January 2016 Many of France’s Mainland
Administrative Regions and Their Borders Changed. Keep This List With Your GPS
and Map.
Salade Mesclun – Salad Mesclun in French Cuisine
Sausages, an Important Part of French Cuisine.. A Short
Introduction to France’s World of Sausages. The Sausages of France III
Searching for truffles in France, and truffles on French Menus. The
Black Perigord Truffle and Truffles Oils and Truffles Essences.
Strawberries in France, Wild Strawberries, and the Unique story of
the French Strawberries of Plougastel.
The New French Wine Labels. What has changed in French wines? What
is an AOP, an IGP and a Vin de France.
The Tastiest Chickens and Other Poultry in France – The Volailles
Fermières Label Rouge
Truffe de Bourgogne – The Burgundy Truffle. The Tuber Uncinatum,
the Burgundy Truffle in French Cuisine.
What Does Copeaux Mean on a French Menu?
