it’s christmas time. there’s no need to be afraid. oh wait, except for geese and ducks. in which case, they need to be afraid. very, very afraid.

in france, one of the most coveted foods during christmas time is fois gras, extra fatty liver from geese or ducks. the fatty liver is achieved by ramming a feeding tube down a goose or duck’s neck and overly force feeding it for about three weeks. basically, that makes their livers abnormally engorged and more fatty. after that, the liver is removed and weighed. if the liver of a goose is less than 600 grams (about 1.3 lbs) or the liver of a duck is less than 400 grams (less than a pound (.88).), by law, it cannot be used as fois gras and is supposed to fall into the paté category. a goose liver qualifying as fois gras, must be uniform in color and be a very light pink. calling a duck liver fois gras means it must be more of a very light beige.

france is the largest producer of fois gras supplying 80% of the world’s fois gras; 96% is duck fois gras. by and large, there is more duck fois gras than goose fois gras because ducks require less maintenance than geese: ducks need to be fed twice a day while geese need four force fed meals per day.

foie gras is also classified into grades (depending on quality and weight): class a extra , class first choice c, third class choice, large goose liver (see source below for specifics).

if you’ve been wondering about all the different kinds of foie gras, this might shed some light on the issue. the types of foie gras are as follows:

Foie gras entier – obviously, the whole liver
Foie gras – composed of pieces of foie gras
Bloc de foie gras – composed of 98% minimum of foie gras pieces, 2% (who knows what. ok, let’s call that OTHER)
Bloc de foie gras avec morceaux – must contain 50% of foie gras (for geese), 30% (for ducks)
Mousse de foie gras – emulsion of foie gras and water or creme fraiche, must contain 50% minimum of foie gras
Pâté de foie gras – must contain 50% of liver (probably used here are the livers that did not make the weight requirement to be classified as foie gras)
Parfait de foie gras – must have 75% minimum of liver

what goes into fois gras?

generally speaking: liver, salt, salt nitrites, white pepper, and some sort of alcohol (armagnac, cognac, marc de gewurtz)

in most cases, the foie gras (liver) is cooked or slightly cooked and sometimes, but more rare, is eaten raw (foie gras cru). in france, foie gras is typically served with toasted slices of bread during christmas and new year’s eve.

there’s definitely a price difference between the two, but can someone please tell me what the difference in taste/texture there is between duck foie gras and goose foie gras? i’ve had foie gras but i honestly don’t know which kind it was. does it matter? are they very similar? or is it like night and day?

[sources: base de la cuisine wikipedia (in french)]

tags: travel france foie gras french cuisine christmas food francophiles goose liver