Foie Gras Terrine with Cherry Jam

How to clean and cure foie gras

1. Place foie gras on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and allow to come to room temperature.  Once the foie gras is not so cold it will start to become more pliable.  This is when you clean the foie gras of all the blood veins trying to touch it as little as possible because the heat from your hands will melt the foie gras. (gloves and a paring knife helps with this)  

   Follow the vein lines in the foie gras and remove any veins or extra fat or sinew, if you can’t find the blood veins just starting cutting into the foie gras all over you will start to see them. Don’t worry about messing up the foie gras, remember its butter and you going to reform it later. The more you cut it up the more veins you will fine.  You must have the foie gras completely cleaned of veins to have a clean finished torchon or pate.  

   Once you have removed all the veins season the foie gras mix salt and sugar together in a bowl aggressively season the foie gras with the mixture making sure that every inch gets seasoned. You might not use all mix but be aggressive with it.  Mix well using your hands (in gloves) so everything is well incorporated.

   To wrap the foie gras take two long pieces of plastic wrap and overlap them. Then place the foie gras an inch from the bottom of the plastic wrap making a cylinder type shape..  Using the plastic wrap you roll the foie, using the techniques of pinching the sides and holding the foie gras in one hand and pulling the top of the plastic in the other hand (think sushi roll using the bamboo mat).  You want to try and roll it as tight as you can.  

   Once you have roll it up as tight as you can, take a toothpick or cake tester and poke a few holes in the plastic for air bubbles to escape.  Then take the two ends of the roll, pick the torchon up in the air and swing the torchon or twist the foie gras roll (torchon) so that it will become even tighter.  The air will get pushed out and your torchon should become a little fatter from the ends becoming tighter.  It should resemble a cylinder at this point.

   Tie both ends of the plastic wrap with butcher’s twine.  Place the torchon into a cryovac back and seal airtight. if you don’t have a cryovac use a ziplock and try to get all the air out and seal. Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.  

How to cook the foie gras

1. After the 24 hours have passed, set your sous vide machine or pot of water to 140 degrees.  Meanwhile get a large bowl of ice water ready.  Take the foie gras torchon out of the refrigerator and place into the sous vide.  Sous vide for 10 minutes.  At that point pull the foie gras out of the water bath and shocked it in the ice bath.  After about 2 minutes in the bath, take the foie gras out of the cryovac bag.

   To make things really easy you can pour all the foie gras and melted fat into a bowl (or food processor) and using a hand stick blender puree the foie gras for 1 minute (or food processor). It should look a little something like tan soup, this step is re-emulsifying the cooked and melted foie gras. Once you have your emulsified foie gras you know can put this pate into any mold you want.

   If you have terrine molds, ring molds (square, round, triangle, silicon, if you use silicon you will need to freeze the foie gras so you can cleanly remove it from the molds.) you could fill each ring mold with the foie gras, once it cools in the refrigerator for about an hour or two, it will be the classic torchon foie gras pate. Once you’ve molded it and you don’t plan on using it in the next day or so make sure to keep it in a cryovac bag to prevent oxidation, and it is fine to freeze at this point as well.

   Now traditionally you would take cheesecloth and rewrapped the torchon in the cheesecloth, leaving the original plastic wrap on.  Poke a few more holes in the plastic and tie the ends of the cheesecloth in the same way you tied the plastic.  On one end of the cheesecloth leave the string really long because this is what you use to tie the foie gras torchon up with in the refrigerator.  

   So then you tie the torchon from one end on whatever you can find in your refrigerator (rail, bar, rack, or grate).  Hanging the torchon allows gravity to take the natural weight and force it down into a very compact roll.  This is crucial to having a tight torchon along with making tiny holes in the plastic so air can escape.  

   Let it hang over night and by lunch (or breakfast) the next day you have one of the best tasting foie gras torchons you have ever tasted.

How to make cherry jam

1. Add crushed cherries, sugar, vanilla, lemon, and water to a pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes and then stir in the pectin. Cook another 2 minutes and then your jam should be done. Can or place in a container all allow to cool completely

To Finish

1. One the plate add fresh cherries and a streak of balsamic glaze. Take your foie gras pate and slice it, season it with sea salt, and serve the cherry jam.  Have some toast or brioche on the side. Serve and Enjoy!

   Keep the foie gras pate in a cryovac bag to prevent oxidation if you have any leftovers, you can also freeze it for another day.