Seared Foie Gras… a Controversial New American Classic
Someone asked me the other day what some of my favorite foods were and the first thing that came to mine was a dish that always promises to draw out comments… foie gras. French chef Jean-Joseph Clause is credited for creating and popularizing pâté de foie gras in 1779 in Strasbourg, however, its origins date back far before French cooking made it a delicacy. The ancient Egyptians hunted and then domesticated geese, and discovered that waterfowl developed large, fatty livers after eating large amounts in preparation for migration. To replicate this naturally occurring large liver, the Egyptians, over 4000 years ago, developed the technique now known as gavage to produce a fattier bird. Paintings found on the tombs of aristocratic Egyptians depict the hand-feeding of geese, which served as an important source of nutrition around the Nile region.
