Speaking of chickens...

[terribleturnip]

Foie-washed Bourbon. I just came across a cocktail recipe that called for this. Gik. I suppose it was just a matter of time. When you start mixing bacon and truffles into your booze, the only way to top it is to go with MORE expensive, MORE fat, right?

So, you take some rendered Foie gras fat…I know, right there, I have left several of you behind. And you infuse it into a nice smoky bourbon, and then chill and strain off the fat. Aaaand, make a cocktail of it. The bourbon. Not the fat. At this point, if you’ve done the infusion correctly, your foie fat is just darn near useless, except to grease your skate blades. (Oh, are none of you old enough to get that?)

Okay, I can’t stand Foie Gras. It’s not even my revulsion at eating the technically diseased, poison filtering organ of a goose, which may or may not have included inhumane techniques for inducing said diseased organ. There are worse things that happen to our food animals and I’ve gotten bitten by enough geese to not be swayed by oh-poor-goosey. (Although like many of the things we do to our food animals, I would vote to ban gavage, along with tail-docking and ear clipping and layer-cages and veal crates and it's best to not get me started.)

But still. Liver is gross. Goose liver may be slightly less gross, but I'm not certain. My sample size is admittedly miniscule. f you hold my nose, I will enjoy the buttery texture. Let go of my nose and you will promptly get said semi-digested foie on your shoes at a pretty decent velocity. Oh, that slight iron-y taste…that rank hemoglobin flavor…just can’t handle it. I watch some of you enjoy it, people whose tastebuds I RESPECT…and I can only theorize that it tastes different to us.

But still, in a cocktail? Keep your meat fats out of my drinks, thank you very much! I’m the first person to sing the praises of a bowl of gribenes* sitting next to a nice smoky bourbon. But they mix in your mouth, not before. Because it’s that start contrast of flavors and textures that make that combination divine. Mix them in one glass? Culinarily speaking, it’s a freaking casserole.

*Fried chicken skin bits, my darlings. Go buy a chicken, skin it and fry the chopped skin bits generously salted and peppered, in its own fat. Now pour yourself a nice smoky glass of something. Or a bright acidy wine. See? That’s what I’m saying.

Comments

[ginger-rose.livejournal.com]

Now, I like foie gras just fine, but this drink sounds like it came out of the "Emperor's New Foodie" collection of fairy tale recipes. You know, the kind of dishes or drinks that people pretend is gourmet because they don't want to look uncultured when they want to spit it across the table -- that falls squarely into that category for me.

Now, putting bourbon in meats I'm all for. But yeah, I don't think I could put meat in my bourbon as a drink.

(and I will have to try gribenes, being a huge fan of duck cracklin)

Not goose livers I don't think but ....

[sestree.livejournal.com]

You'd know the name of the dish. It's used to break a rather large Jewish fast and it's chicken livers? with chicken fat and hard boiled eggs and maybe something else? chopped up like canned cat food pate or something or other?

Anyway it's mighty fine eatin but rich OMG.

I cannot imagine tossing meat flavored fat in my booze. Hell I don't even want ICE in my booze most times.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

Sestree: Chopped liver. Really. (What am I, chopped liver?) There are lots of different recipes for it, most excellent, and my husband does one that's like silk: chicken liver pate mousse, with brandy.
And I love foie gras, but prefer duck to goose. But I don't eat it very often: too hard to get the good stuff, and way too heavy in the caloric dept.

[kudrasslipper.livejournal.com]

I am not above having fois gras added to ANYTHING. There. I said it.

[terribleturnip.livejournal.com]

And yet, I still love you.

[thatliardiego.livejournal.com]

What Turnip said.

[giantsloth.livejournal.com]

Foie-washed bourbon, yeah, that's trying way too hard. One of these days, though, I will get around to making some butter-washed rum.

Chopped Liver

[dansr.livejournal.com]

queenmaggie nailed it for me. I'm not a fan of goose liver, but give me chicken livers, and I can make you a fantastic chopped liver. I've had beef chopped liver, but that's just wrong. It's the wrong colour and the wrong flavour.

I'm not a fan of pate, so I make my chopped liver "chunky".

sestree - hard boiled eggs, onions, garlic & chicken livers. When I get back to MDRF we can share some. :D