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Fois-gras is always something I look forward to! And along the way, I’ve found a few things you can do to make the experience even more pleasurable. Fois-gras is a delicacy that carries quite a bit of controversy. More proof to that is the recent ban enacted in Chicago.  Fortunately, as I understand it, this is limited to restaurants, but still!  How can someone decide what I can and can not relish in? This is too unfathomable. At least you can still enjoy it at home.
Duck or Goose?

This is one you’ll have to decide for yourself. There is a distinct difference, and I have a small preference for goose, but duck is still a close second in my book.

Serve the fois-gras at room temperature

For the longest time, I had been serving fois-gras right out the fridge. What a mistake that was. One day, dinner was late and the fois-gras had been sitting on the table for longer that I thought it should have. But what a difference it made. The flavor was awesome!  I guess the cold puts your taste buds to sleep and hides the full flavor!  Since then, I take it out of the fridge at least an hour before serving. One thing where the cold helps is to remove the fat. A lot easier and less messy to do when the fat is solid.

Serve with lightly toasted white bread

My preference goes for sliced Country White French Bread (as close to “pain de mie” as I found). Somewhat halfway between sour white bread and regular white bread. And it only needs to be lightly toasted so it starts to turn golden brown and the surface is a bit hard.  It is easier to put a piece of fois-gras and hold it flat.  Presumably, you are not supposed to spread fois-gras on your toast, just cut chunks of it and put it on your toast (I suppose,  this is as opposed to pate that is meant to be spread, and to remind us that fois-gras is so much more than pate. If anyone knows, would you let me know?).

Serve with chilled Sauternes

As if fois-gras was not good enough, add a chilled Sauternes. This is sure to turn your ravishing experience into pure decadence :)  A nice Sauternes and fois-gras go so well together this is truly unbelievable.  If you’ve never had sauternes, you should try it, even by itself. Sauternes is a late harvest, quite sweet, white wine from the Sauternais, near Bordeaux in France, and they use a special method to achieve that unforgettable taste (plus is usually ages really well to bout).  Even though a Chateau d’Yquem is really out of this world (including the price), there are good values and I like the Coutet very much.

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