Foie gras is the specially fattened liver of a duck or goose that has gone through a process called gavage (corn force-feeding). It is a very well known delicacy in French cuisine and has a rich and delicate flavor unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver.
This technique dates back as far as 2500 BC. The ancient Egyptians used birds for food and fattened them through force-feeding. These days this process is controversial in many countries and some of them have adopted a natural voluntary feeding process with good results.
Foie gras is a very versatile product, used in terrines, pâtés, parfaits, foams and mousses. It can also be part of sauces, used to stuff raviolis, or even marinated with Cognac or Armagnac and then seasoned and cooked mi-cuit.
The easiest way to eat it is to spread it on a piece of toasted bread, then season it with salt crystals and black pepper, and finally add a touch of sweet, such as a jelly or marmalade. It goes well with a chilled late harvest wine. In my house we made a papaya-ginger marmalade to go with this Laguiole foie gras sent to us by Michel Bras!
Rodrigo Pacheco is a top-notch Ecuadorian chef who bases half his time in Quito and the other half in Banos, where he prepares meals made from fresh organic ingredients at Casa del Abuelo Art Hotel & Restaurant. He is also the executive chef at Cuisine Standard in Quito.
He has studied with some of the best, including Madrid Fusión in Spain, Alain Ducasse Formation in Paris, the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France, and the Instituto Inacap in Santiago, Chile among others.
He has done a Government Cultural Exchange in Canada and the Masters of Food and Wine tour of the world in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
representing Ecuador as an invited chef. Rodrigo was also a Culinary radio show host on Saberes y Sabores.
