When you fail, try again

After my spectacular failure with foie gras, I was never sure if I dared to attempt it again. But I recently attempted to overcome my fear of cooking the huge lob of fatty liver, bit by bit: slices rather than a whole liver and a simpler recipe. I also recently spent some time talking to a chef who spent a long time mastering the art of cooking foie gras, who explained to me, the some important basics: it needs to be sliced not too thin or thick, and use butter and oil to raise the temperature. Also, after working through numerous recipes with him, I more or less concluded that one minute on each side would give me my golden brown crust and my creamy soft centre. I cooked with one eye on the liver and the other fixed on the second hand on my watch, scrambled to flip it after a minute and I succeeded! I’ve bounced back from my spectacular failure, I can now cook foie gras! For that evening’s experiment, I used Tetsuya’s recipe of pan-fried duck foie gras with rice, honey and soy.



Pan-fried Duck Foie Gras with Rice, Honey and Soy
This makes 4 servings

4 pieces of 30 g slices of duck foie gras
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
8 tablespoons of steamed short-grain rice
1/4 avocado, finely diced

Avocado Puree
1/2 avocado, peeled and sectioned
100 ml milk
salt and cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives

Sauce
1/2 tablespoon honey
50 ml soy sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
To make the sauce, bring the ingredients to a boil.

Garnish
Toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Prepare avocado puree. Blend together the avocado and the milk. Add salt and black pepper to taste, and then add in the chives.
2. To make sauce, bring all the ingredients to the boil.
3. Mix the rice with the diced avocado.
4. Heat butter and oil in the pan until nearly smoking, sear foie gras slices on both sides.
5. To serve, place about 2 tablespoons of the rice and avocado mixture in the base of each serving plate. Spoon on a little avocado puree and add the foie gras. Spoon over some sauce, then garnish with sesame seeds and chives.

Recipe taken from: Tetsuya by Tetsuya Wakuda, Ten Speed Press