Cooking
You may not know it, but foie gras is a customary treat for the holiday season. Sonoma Foie Gras doubles its production for the last couple months of the year (ironically, California's ban on force-feeding generated a lot of press which translated into more business than normal this year for them). It's the only time of the year you can walk into upscale but not tony butcher shops and buy a foie gras without ordering it in advance. Sam's having some for Christmas dinner. By the way, if you're opposed to foie gras, I totally understand. It's a complex issue, and I could happily argue both sides of it. The romantic in me loves traditions. They're connections back to our ancestors, our families, our cultures. But the pragmatist in me loves to know why traditions exist. There's always some reason, even if no one remembers it anymore. Foie gras is no exception. Until about fifty years ago, most foie gras came from geese. Some still does. Geese have a short breeding season, and by the time you produce goslings, raise them to the right age, and then force-feed them for a month, it's Christmas time. So the holidays were the only time you got fresh foie. And then you'd have to conserve it to enjoy throughout the year, which is why most people think of foie gras immersed in fat in jars or in canned terrines. Tangentially it explains "the Christmas goose". These days, most foie gras producers use ducks, which they breed year-round by artificially inseminating Pekin females with Muscovy sperm to produce the sterile Mulard. This hybrid is sturdier than a goose and only needs to be force-fed for two weeks, though Hudson Valley Foie Gras still feeds its ducks for a month. Presumably so does nearby La Belle Poultry which uses Hudson Valley's techniques. They use artificial insemination because Muscovies and Pekins aren't physically compatible (the male mounts the female and slides off, but then the female thinks she's been impregnated and no longer lets males mount her). So if you're eating foie gras this season, impress your fellow partygoers with that tidbit of information. You'll be the life of the party (or shunned, which is what happens to me; maybe leave out the bit about artificial insemination). On a related note, I recently discovered the phrase "fat as a Strasbourg goose." Most people associate foie gras with France's Périgord region in the Southwest but Alsace produces some as well, and in fact this region is responsible for the idea of cooking foie gras en croute, or in a pastry crust. I love knowing the origins of phrases even more than I enjoy learning how traditions were born. Now I try and use the phrase whenever I can; my co-workers are used to my foie gras obsession by now. My vegetarian manager gave her fiancé a thorough picture of the ethical complexities of foie gras after she read a rough draft of my upcoming article on the subject. Happy Christmas, for those who celebrate it!
- Dr. Vino Goes To The Geese
Some of you know that I have a spider-sense that tingles when writers mention foie gras, but this time Tyler at Dr. Vino made my job easy when he sent a link to his post about a visit to a French goose foie gras farm. He touches on the "unmentioned" problems...
- Chicago Bans Foie Gras
Chicago has banned the sale of foie gras, starting in June. This won't surprise anyone who's followed the issue. Once Californa legislators passed a ban on production and sale in 2004 (effective 2012), other cities and states followed suit. Long-time...
- Bits Of Foie Gras
Famous Chicago chef Charlie Trotter speaks out against foie gras. The article quotes also-famous Chicago chef Rick Tramonto, who says that Trotter's stance is hypocritical because animals are slaughtered all the time. They're talking about two...
- The Dilemma Of Foie Gras, Art Of Eating 68
Photo by Chris Holmes I thought I wouldn't write anything until after Christmas, but I'll make one quick post. Issue 68 of The Art of Eating is sort of out, and it has my piece about foie gras. I did a lot of research on this piece, and my...
-
An Update on Foie Gras So back in "Eating Our Way Through Belgium (part 2)", I mentioned that goose liver is illegal for import to the U.S. This seems to no longer be true. I found some at a company called Mackenzie Ltd., and The French Laundry Cookbook...
Cooking
Why Do People Eat Foie Gras at Christmas?
You may not know it, but foie gras is a customary treat for the holiday season. Sonoma Foie Gras doubles its production for the last couple months of the year (ironically, California's ban on force-feeding generated a lot of press which translated into more business than normal this year for them). It's the only time of the year you can walk into upscale but not tony butcher shops and buy a foie gras without ordering it in advance. Sam's having some for Christmas dinner. By the way, if you're opposed to foie gras, I totally understand. It's a complex issue, and I could happily argue both sides of it. The romantic in me loves traditions. They're connections back to our ancestors, our families, our cultures. But the pragmatist in me loves to know why traditions exist. There's always some reason, even if no one remembers it anymore. Foie gras is no exception. Until about fifty years ago, most foie gras came from geese. Some still does. Geese have a short breeding season, and by the time you produce goslings, raise them to the right age, and then force-feed them for a month, it's Christmas time. So the holidays were the only time you got fresh foie. And then you'd have to conserve it to enjoy throughout the year, which is why most people think of foie gras immersed in fat in jars or in canned terrines. Tangentially it explains "the Christmas goose". These days, most foie gras producers use ducks, which they breed year-round by artificially inseminating Pekin females with Muscovy sperm to produce the sterile Mulard. This hybrid is sturdier than a goose and only needs to be force-fed for two weeks, though Hudson Valley Foie Gras still feeds its ducks for a month. Presumably so does nearby La Belle Poultry which uses Hudson Valley's techniques. They use artificial insemination because Muscovies and Pekins aren't physically compatible (the male mounts the female and slides off, but then the female thinks she's been impregnated and no longer lets males mount her). So if you're eating foie gras this season, impress your fellow partygoers with that tidbit of information. You'll be the life of the party (or shunned, which is what happens to me; maybe leave out the bit about artificial insemination). On a related note, I recently discovered the phrase "fat as a Strasbourg goose." Most people associate foie gras with France's Périgord region in the Southwest but Alsace produces some as well, and in fact this region is responsible for the idea of cooking foie gras en croute, or in a pastry crust. I love knowing the origins of phrases even more than I enjoy learning how traditions were born. Now I try and use the phrase whenever I can; my co-workers are used to my foie gras obsession by now. My vegetarian manager gave her fiancé a thorough picture of the ethical complexities of foie gras after she read a rough draft of my upcoming article on the subject. Happy Christmas, for those who celebrate it!
- Dr. Vino Goes To The Geese
Some of you know that I have a spider-sense that tingles when writers mention foie gras, but this time Tyler at Dr. Vino made my job easy when he sent a link to his post about a visit to a French goose foie gras farm. He touches on the "unmentioned" problems...
- Chicago Bans Foie Gras
Chicago has banned the sale of foie gras, starting in June. This won't surprise anyone who's followed the issue. Once Californa legislators passed a ban on production and sale in 2004 (effective 2012), other cities and states followed suit. Long-time...
- Bits Of Foie Gras
Famous Chicago chef Charlie Trotter speaks out against foie gras. The article quotes also-famous Chicago chef Rick Tramonto, who says that Trotter's stance is hypocritical because animals are slaughtered all the time. They're talking about two...
- The Dilemma Of Foie Gras, Art Of Eating 68
Photo by Chris Holmes I thought I wouldn't write anything until after Christmas, but I'll make one quick post. Issue 68 of The Art of Eating is sort of out, and it has my piece about foie gras. I did a lot of research on this piece, and my...
-
An Update on Foie Gras So back in "Eating Our Way Through Belgium (part 2)", I mentioned that goose liver is illegal for import to the U.S. This seems to no longer be true. I found some at a company called Mackenzie Ltd., and The French Laundry Cookbook...