Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

ch-scene - Re: mmmmmm, Durham

ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: RTP-area local music and culture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Chris Calloway <ifoufo AT yahoo.com>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: mmmmmm, Durham
  • Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:43:31 -0800 (PST)

--- James Hepler <jameshepler AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> Do they still shove rods down the goose's throat in
> an
> effort to stuff the bird while it's still alive?

even better. bury it in the ground up to its neck so
it can't move and waste precious fat calories. tube
down throat. force feed about three times what it
would otherwise. makes a nice fatty liver.

slice super thin. flash saute in ignited armagnac.
when done properly, it should actually *melt* on the
tongue. it is ethereal. it disappears in the mouth
before swallowing and the spirits of suffering fowl
pour out your nose.

as fikri alludes, it is, of course, as everything
else, all the fault of the jews (may they be blessed,
although now "the production and sale of foie gras is
illegal in Israel"):

"The Judaic dietary law, Kashrut, forbade lard as a
cooking medium, and butter, too, was proscribed as an
alternative since it also prohibited mixing meat and
dairy products. Jewish cuisine used olive oil in the
Mediterranean, and sesame oil in Babylonia, but
neither cooking medium was easily available in Western
and Central Europe, so poultry fat, which could be
abundantly produced by overfeeding geese, was
substituted in their stead. The delicate taste of the
goose's liver soon was appreciated; witnessed by Hans
Wilhelm Kirchhof of Kassel, who in 1562 wrote that the
Jews raise fat geese and particularly love their
livers. Some Rabbis were concerned with the kashrut
dietary complications consequent to overfeeding geese,
because Jewish law prohibits eating an animal that
cannot live for more than twelve months. The chasam
sofer, Rabbi Moses Sofer, contended that, even though
the animal might die within twelve months, it is not a
treyf animal as none of its limbs is damaged. This
matter remained a debated topic in Jewish dietary law
until the Jewish taste for goose liver declined in the
19th century. Another kashrut matter, still a problem
today, is that even properly slaughtered and inspected
meat must be drained of blood before being considered
fit to eat. Usually, salting achieves that; however,
as liver is regarded as "(almost) wholly blood",
broiling is the only way of kashering. Properly
broiling a foie gras—and preserving its delicate
taste—is an arduous endeavour few engage seriously.

Gentile gastronomes began appreciating fattened goose
liver, which they could buy in the local Jewish ghetto
of their cities. In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, chef de
cuisine to Pope Pius V, published his cookbook Opera,
wherein he describes that "the liver of [a] domestic
goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs
[between] two and three pounds." In 1581, Marx Rumpolt
of Mainz, chef to several German nobles, published the
massive cookbook Kochbuch, describing that the Jews of
Bohemia produced livers weighing more than three
pounds; he lists recipes for it—including one for
goose liver mousse. János Keszei, chef to the court of
Michael Apafi, the prince of Transylvania, included
foie gras recipes in his 1680 cookbook A New Book
About Cooking, instructing cooks to "envelop the goose
liver in a calf's thin skin, bake it and prepare [a]
green or [a] brown sauce to accompany it. I used goose
liver fattened by Bohemian Jews, its weight was more
than three pounds. You may also prepare a mush of
it.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras

3





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page