KC suggested we try Sole Veronique sometime, which has a heavy sauce with grapes. Yum. I was going to suggest we have it on a cold winter night and, like Hercule Poirot, precede it with pâté on hot toast by the fire. Except the idea of pâté has really turned me off since I read an article in Gourmet about the whole process (basically force-feeding ducks) and how inhumane it is. On the other hand, because I've never had it, I wish I'd tried it.
Has anyone had pâté before? What was it like?
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I've never had pâté de foie gras. There is an interesting Wikipedia article on the issue.
I didn't clarify that I meant pâté de foie gras. Thank you, Ben.
Ate it all the time in France. The French love their pdfg. It's quite tasty. Very, very fatty and rich (obviously, since it's forced-fed goose liver). The idea of it now grosses me out, not because I'm a vegetarian, but because of the way it's made. It's the kind of savage refinement the French specialize in — right up there with how they torture the ortolan bird:
"You catch the ortolan with a net spread up in the forest canopy. Take it alive. Take it home. Poke out its eyes and put it in a small cage. Force-feed it oats and millet and figs until it has swollen to four times its normal size. Drown it in brandy. Roast it whole, in an oven at high heat, for six to eight minutes. Bring it to the table. Place a cloth—a napkin will do—over your head to hide your cruelty from the sight of God. Put the whole bird into your mouth, with only the beak protruding from your lips. Bite. Put the beak on your plate and begin chewing, gently. You will taste three things: First, the sweetness of the flesh and fat. This is God. Then, the bitterness of the guts will begin to overwhelm you. This is the suffering of Jesus. Finally, as your teeth break the small, delicate bones and they begin to lacerate your gums, you will taste the salt of your own blood, mingling with the richness of the fat and the bitterness of the organs. This is the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the Trinity—three united as one. It is cruel. And beautiful. According to Claude Souvenir, chewing the ortolan takes approximately 15 minutes."
OK, now I don't think I'll be needing that experience. Hehe.
Indeed. You'd have to go through an extremely contorted series of rationalizations — the last one being a selfish dammit, I just LIKE it! — to justify partaking in a process that involves that much cruelty to another living creature.
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