In the Kitchen - January 6

By Chef Moreno & Cinzia Miotto

Foie Gras, is one of the most decadent foods that you can eat. Foie gras evokes many emotions on different levels-pure ecstasy to utter disgust. If you don’t know what Foie gras is, it’s the liver of a goose or duck, which has been fattened up abnormally. The way they do this is too force-feed the bird with dried fruit until it dies from overeating.

As you may have guessed, this process invites a lot of controversy.

As I’m writing this article there is a movement across this country and the U.S which has been increasingly successful to ban selling and serving Foie gras in restaurants. Chicago was the first city to do this and I’m sure that there a lot of people and a few ducks that are happy to see this happen. But as a chef I cannot get behind this movement, I just don’t like the idea of someone telling me what to or not to cook, basically censoring me as an artist.

Foie gras is not something new; it has been around for thousands of years. There’s a reference to the process of overfeeding ducks in the cookbook from Apicius-who was a cook for the roman emperors. If you never tried Foie gras before, I invite you down to the White Goose Bistro where I’m the chef and try it for yourself. It is not like any liver you’ve tried. The texture is like nothing you have experienced, it melts in your mouth, very rich so you do not need to eat a lot of it. I serve it with poached pear and a sweet reduction of late harvest wine, to maximize the enjoyment have a glass of sweet wine with it. I have many different ways of serving Foie gras-pate,poached,torchoun or my favourite-seared with a little salt and pepper. When buying Foie gras you want to make sure it’s grade A or B nothing less. It is very expensive but you can freeze it and use the rest later.

Recipe: Foie Gras with poached pear and late harvest reduction

 Cut ½ inch slices off the Foie gras lobe, Score one side of the slice and a little salt & pepper,keep in a cool place, peel pear and cut into small ¼ inch cubes, poach pear in late harvest wine-remove when tender and cook liquid until syrup, cut thin slices of prosciutto into strips and fry until crispy, place pear in middle of plate, place Foie gras in a smoking pan over high heat (do not add any butter or oil!), flip over when browned or crisp (it should be soft to the touch about 25-30 seconds each side), place on pear,place prosciutto on Foie gras, drizzle late harvest syrup around Foie gras.

Cinzia’s wine suggestion: a B.C late harvest Riesling or French sauterne

  Buon Appetito

Chef Moreno and Cinzia Miotto are owners of the award winning White Goose Bistro in Prince George B.C.

Chef Moreno is available for catering and private cooking lessons.Contact-250.561.1002

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