Authentic Foie Gras Recipe France, Europe

Take the foie gras out of the refrigerator and to room temperature 45 minutes before you start to work on the recipe. Divide the foie gras in two lobes, a larger and a smaller one. Using tweezers and an offset spatula, remove all the veins from the center of each liver lobe. Dispose of the veins and place foie gras back into the refrigerator.

Add salt, sugar, curing salt, and pepper to a spice grinder and grind them into a fine powder.

Next, weigh the foie gras, and then weigh exactly 2.5% of foie gras’ weight in spice mixture. Store the remaining spice mixture for later use.

Cover the cutting board with a triple layer of plastic wrap that should be 12x18-inches in size. Place the foie gras, smooth side down, onto the plastic wrap. Cautiously butterfly the foie gras using your fingers only, then spread it out until you have a 9x9-inch square that is of equal thickness.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, sprinkle half of the spice mixture over the foie gras, then sprinkle with half of the brandy as well. Cover the surface with a piece of plastic wrap and carefully flip the foie gras over, then peel the plastic wrap off, and sprinkle with spice mixture and brandy as was previously done. Flip back the foie gras over onto a layer of plastic wrap, then remove the plastic wrap from its surface.

Place the foie gras together with plastic on top of a bamboo mat, taking care that the bottom edge of the foie gras and the bottom edge of the bamboo mat are at the same level. Fold the overhanging plastic wrap under the bamboo mat. Roll the foie gras away from you, taking care that you pull back tightly on the bamboo mat as you do. This will give for a tight, even cylinder.

Layer four pieces of cheesecloth (16 inches wide, and 2 feet long) one on top of the other. Roll the foie gras off of the plastic wrap and onto the cheesecloth, taking care that it is positioned a few inches from the bottom edge of the cheesecloth.

Tie off the cheesecloth and leave the torchon to hang from a refrigerator rack anywhere from a day to up to three days.

Prepare a large ice bath and heat a large pot of water to 160 °F, meaning at that temperature there should be bubbles at the bottom of the pan. Place the torchon inside the water, taking care that it's fully submerged, for 2 minutes, then immediately transfer to an ice bath afterward.

Leave the torchon in the ice bath for 10 minutes, then transfer it onto a triple layer of paper towels and roll it carefully, so it dries out.

Once again, tighten the torchon as it was done earlier until it starts leaking fat, then stop and tie off the ends. Place in the refrigerator to hang from a rack for one to three days.

Slice off the ends of the torchon, then unwrap it. For serving slice into disks, then with a round pastry cutter trim off the oxidized edges. Sprinkle the disks of foie gras with coarse salt then serve atop of toast or alongside preserves or dried fruits.