Castaing Entier Goose Foie Gras Duo

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

The Cas­taing com­pa­ny has been pro­duc­ing foie gras and oth­er duck and goose prod­ucts in Saint-Sev­er, Nou­velle-Aquitaine since 1925. Their whole goose foie gras is por­tioned per­fect­ly for lunch or a light evening meal for two, with a more sub­tle but­tery meat fla­vor than that from a duck. It express­es itself more in an extend­ed after­taste than a shock­ing first bite, over­whelm­ing the sens­es — taste and smell both — in a mul­ti­sen­so­ry culi­nary micro-jour­ney like no other. 

PAIR­INGS

The tex­ture of foie gras is best enjoyed when han­dled as lit­tle as pos­si­ble. Cut thin­ly into your block with a warm knife and place the por­tion onto a small slice of bread — with a sprin­kling of pep­per, if you wish, to flesh out the fla­vor. A swipe of French mus­tard or bal­sam­ic spread will only height­en the savory taste fur­ther. If you pre­fer to soft­en it, a dol­lop of jam or fruit pre­serve, or a side of crisp sliced fruit like apples or pears steeped in wine pro­vide won­der­ful com­ple­men­tary fla­vors. The clas­sic wine pair­ing for this del­i­ca­cy is a sweet French Sauterne, but if you have your foie gras with fruity accom­pa­ni­ments, a Pinot Gris or Pinot Gri­gio will also serve you quite excel­lent­ly. For a change, try a pear or apple cider for a touch of acid to cut through the heady min­er­al fla­vors of the liv­er, and you’ll be sur­prised at how well it pairs!

A HIS­TORIC DELICACY

Long before the French took foie gras to the very pin­na­cle of haute cui­sine, the ancient Egyp­tians devel­oped the tech­nique of gav­age to pro­duce fat­ti­er fowls. The prac­tice spread through the Mediter­ranean and was adopt­ed by the Greeks and Romans, who made it a del­i­ca­cy, fat­ten­ing ducks and geese explic­it­ly for their liv­ers. Hun­dreds of years lat­er, dur­ing the Renais­sance, Jew­ish influ­ences spread what we now know as foie gras to the court of Louis XIV. From there, the foie gras went on to be deeply ingrained in the high­est cir­cles of French dining.

Storage Instructions

Store in fridge.