Cooking foie gras to perfection

There are many ways to cook foie gras. Depending on your tastes and wishes, you can make recipes cooked with different methods: in the oven, frying pan, water bath, etc. Follow our expert advice to season and cook your foie gras to perfection.

Seasoning:

For a 1 kg foie gras

To make sure your foie gras has enough salt and pepper, add 12 grams of salt and 4 grams of ground pepper. For your reference, a teaspoon of salt is about 3 grams, and a teaspoon of pepper weighs about 2 grams. For even more flavor on the palate, you can also add the alcohol of your choice.

Ways to cook foie gras

Water bath (bain-marie) in a terrine

To cook your foie gras in a water bath (bain-marie), you will first need to place it in a terrine. Choose the terrine based on the size of your foie gras. Before cooking it, devein the foie gras, then salt and pepper it, and add the alcohol of your choice. Next, place it in a terrine, making sure to press it down between the two lobes, to evacuate any air.

In an oven pre-heated to 100°C, prepare the water bath and insert the terrine. The cooking time is 60 minutes for foie gras weighing 500 to 600 grams. Stick a meat thermometer in it to check the temperature at the center. The ideal temperature is 55°C.

Steam cooking in plastic wrap

Steaming is another method for cooking foie gras and conserving all of its flavors. The principle is simple: after seasoning and adding alcohol to the deveined whole raw foie gras, wrap it in heat-resistant plastic wrap. Finally, place it in a steamer basket for 25 minutes (for a liver weighing 500 grams). When it's done cooking, put it in ice water to chill, so that it will keep its shape.

Foie gras au torchon

To prepare foie gras au torchon, deveined the two lobes and seasoned lobes in baking paper pierced with several holes, and then wrap that in a clean dish towel ("torchon" in French). Next, roll the foie gras into an even cylinder. Tie both ends of the towel together. You will then immerse the dish towel in flavorful, seasoned stock at 70°C. For 35 minutes, leave the foie gras in the stock, keeping it submerged. At that temperature, the foie gras will keep its tenderness. When the cooking time ends, remove the pot from the stove and let your foie gras cool in that same stock, refrigerated for 24 hours. Finally, take it out of the stock, remove the towel and paper, then wrap your foie gras in plastic wrap to prevent oxidation.

Foie gras escalope

Take a whole fresh duck foie gras and use a knife with a thin, supple blade to cut escalope slices about 2 cm thick. Salt and pepper both sides of the escalopes. In a hot, non-stick pan with no added grease, cook each side for roughly 3 minutes (6 minutes for both foie gras escalopes).

Never devein foie gras when you are making escalopes.

Oven-roasted foie gras

Season the whole fresh foie gras, without deveining it. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. In a non-stick pan with no added grease, sear the foie gras on each side until slightly colored, then cook it in the oven for 20 minutes, basting it regularly with its rendered fat. Serve in thick slices.