Until I owned a fig tree and now I have two, I never ate a raw fresh fig. They were only something exotic in a fruit market or a strange seedy paste in a "newton". Now each year, I am challenged with the reality of TOO MANY FIGS!!!! The bird, wasps and hornets love them so I hang wasp traps on the tree and cover it with netting for the birds. Everyone gets some though in spite of all I do. I love them and eat them off the tree as I pick them...a fig won't wait, thtat's why they are so expensive in the market. They don't keep or travel well.
We make fig confiture continuously, basically a kilo of figs cut into quarters macerated overnite with 800 grams of sugar and lemons. The next day, bring it to a boil, take out the lemons and put in sterilized jars.
You can take the figs and cut them in the center and open them out to a star shape and place a piece of goat cheese in the center, pop them under the broiler until the cheese melts a little and gets some color and Voila! a perfect first course salad on some lettuce dressed with a tart vinagrette!
Then you can get serious, get a few nice slices of raw foie gras, duck or goose, but goose hold up better. Sear the slices fast in a hot skillet.
Meanwhile in another pan, take some figs that have been opened into stars, put them into a little hot olive oil and quickly saute them with a little lemon juice and a few drops of balsamic vinegar. Each slice of seared foie gras gets a fig and the dark sweet juicy syrup in the pan poured around it. Encroyable!
I am giving you the Foie Gras recipe in protest to the fact that the City of Chicago has banned it from restaurants. Why? Because Americans are appalled by the accounts of the mistreatment of Ducks and Geese in the production.
Reality check: Most Foie Gras is produced by small businesses. Here in France it is a small time farm industry. The French are obsessed by the quality of food and would not accept an inferior product, hence the treatment of the ducks and geese has nothing to do with the poultry industry in the USA. The animals are for the most part of their life free range and fed the best food. During the last montth of their lives, they are penned and force fed, but again, the horrifiic propaganda you are fed has nothing to do with reality. The animals are kept calm and really get excited at feeding time. In case you were'nt aware, they have no gag reflex. The techniquue of force feeding is the same that adult birds use to feed the chicks.
I get crazy when I read the rants of those so outraged at the cruel inhuman French abusing the poor geese and ducks. They would be doing themselves and America a real service if they concentrated their anger on the American livestock industry and the conditions and methods used to make sure you have your chicken mcnuggets on demand.
I really believe that Americans have real issues with food in general. To me, this disassociation between the food on your table and where it comes from is something I call "The Bambi-ation" of dinner!
To argue that banning foie gras is good because it is an unhealthy luxury product is pretty lame. First, it is fatty, but it is waterfowl fat which is totally different than chicken fat. The fat is an Omega 3 fat which is a "good fat" like fish oil. Here in the Dordogne, refined Duck fat is used instead of lard and butterr in cooking . The results? This part of France has the lowest rate of heart disease in Europe!
Of course the more common sense answer is, who ever has enough foie gras to abuse?
I eat it a few times a year and if you don't want it, too bad for you and all the more for me!!!!!!
1 comment:
Some restaurant in Chicago was serving foie gras pizza as a protest to the rule. I would agree with you that it is ridiculous to single out one rarely-used food product as a way to prevent animal cruelty -- our meat industry here is sickening. Meat used to be expensive in America but now we have "Factory Farms" -- the term alone is enough to make you shudder. I buy my meat from small farmers or get the organic (no hormones, no antibiotics) stuff, but in restaurants, you're probably getting whatever is cheapest. I stay out of McDonald's at any rate.
Maybe they'll make Foie Gras McNuggets....
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