Goose Liver Terrine

Warning!

If you are against goose liver, do not read any further as I will do a delicious goose liver terrine and addiction to it is a very likely possibility!

Yes there is a lot of controversy about goose liver or as it is called in French: Foie Gras. Unfortunately a lot of goose liver produced is done under terrible circumstances, the geese are force fed to ensure the liver gets as fatty as fast as possible. This is terrible, I agree and I don't want to make any excuses for it. But at the same time, there are many producers that have a different approach, they feed when the goose wants and this product is then very seasonal. Yes Goose liver is a seasonal product as the geese naturally eat as much as they can during summer in order to have the fat reserve for the long flight south. Already the Romans over 2000 years ago loved the goose liver, not as fatty as it is nowadays, but still a lot fatter than any other liver. So they hunted the geese for their delicate liver......

I guess most of the readers, at least the ones who have continued, will never attempt to make a goose liver terrine at home and there are a couple of very simple reasons. Firstly, it is an immensely expensive product ( I just paid 100 $ per kg, that makes nearly 50$ per lb). then it is an extremely delicate product, if it is cooked too long or on a too high temperature all the fat will come out of the liver and it will be a very expensive disaster. And then the quantity, to make a terrine one should make an entire form which takes easily 1.5 kg (3 lb) of liver.....

Of course one can fry the foie gras as well, then one can just buy a couple of slivers, but more about that in another blog

For the ones who really want to try it, here is the recipe

1000 G Foie gras
12 G salt
3 G Pepper
50 Ml Armagnac
50 Ml Port

De nerve the fresh foie gras carefully
Add the salt, pepper, armagnac and port to the foie gras, mix carefully
Put the foie gras in a terrine form and keep in the fridge for 18 hours
Preheat the oven to 90 o C, then cook the terrine in a bain marie , with a lid for about 40 min to reach a centre temperature of 50 o C.
Take the fat of the terrine and keep it separate, then press the terrine slightly for 6 hours, then again strongly for another 12 hours.
Boil up the fat of the terrine, take the terrine out of the form, add a bit of the liquid fat, put the terrine back and pour the rest of the fat on it.

Make sure everything is sealed by the fat to have no oxidation, keep the terrine for a couple more days in the fridge before serving

By the way, on the one photo with the liver in the bag, there is a recipe on it.....do not try it out as there is guearanteed failure, I looked at the way they cook it and I know the the result will not be good, the oven is far too hot and everything will melt

Another appendix for the readers who speak French, I actually did not use goose liver, but duck liver. It is basically the same, but cheaper and just so slightly different in taste