Foie Gras Terrine Chargrilled like in Sauternes

Keywords:	Restaurants ¦ Foie Gras ¦ French cuisine
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People who say French winemaking is in crisis obviously haven't visited Sauternes. This tiny village near Bordeaux is so affluent you could swear you are in a posh Swiss or Bavarian suburb. Streets are clean and adorned with flowers. You almost expect an armed convoy of Rolls Royce tractors with gold plated rims to come out of the wineyards with their loads of precious nobly rotten grapes.

So when we read in Gault Millau about a little Sauternes country inn specialized in grillades aux sarments (wine shoots grill) we knew we were in for a good meal.

If the best selling starter at Saprien is not the Duos de terrines de foie gras: au Sauternes et grillé aux sarments, then people can't read. This combination of a classic Sauternes-marinated with a wine-shoots smoked foie gras terrine is so appealing, you would come only for that dish. What an extraordinary dish. South West chef Hélène Darroze, known for her profligate use of duck fat in her 3 Michelin stars Paris restaurant, also offers a foie gras freshly grilled over wine shoots with a grapes-figs port wine relish. A winning combination.

Seeing the nice raw foies gras at Mulhaupt, my local supplier, I decided to try and make my own foie gras terrine. But which recipe? I found load of them in my library, but it did not take long for me to recall my most memorable foie gras terrine ever. Saprien in Sauternes. So I put the cookbooks back on their shelves and called ther estaurant. The chef, Monsieur Garrigue, kindly answered. "You can do this only with foie gras of the very best quality, otherwise they will melt as soon as you put them on the grill. Devein the foie and cut it in large slices. Prepare a wine shoots fire and wait until the ambers have almost died out, then grill the foie gras very quickly. Aller-retour (back and forth)" he said in his lovely South Western French accent. "So, what, a minute in total?" I asked. "Yes, something like this. All you want is to have grill marks on the foie gras. Then you season it with pepper and salt. We add some Piment d'Espelette" he added, sounding less confident. Perhaps adding chili to foie gras would shock a traditional gourment. Indeed, in the French culinary canon foie gras is to be very lightly seasoned and the relish must be sweet. But I like chilies and his terrine was great, so he carried on. "Then you put it in a terrine and cook for twenty minutes at 50°C. Stick a needle into it and check that it comes out lukewarm, not cold. Cover, put some weight, not much, and leave in the fridge for a night. That's it."

I started work the next day. Watch me making Mr Garrigue's terrine:

To devein it properly the foie gras must be around 18C°. If it's too cold, you won't be able to remove the veins. Cut the large lobe in the middle.

Find the two large veins and pull them gently to remove all of the smaller subveins.

Leave the deveined foie gras in a bowl of ice cold water for at least 30 minutes. This helps removing some of the bitter substances contained in the liver.

Prepare ambers by burning either hard wood or, better, dry wine shoots like they do in Sauternes. Don't do this with gas or charcoal, you won't get the taste. You need to wait until the fire has almost died out.

The foie gras is put over the medium-hot grill when the ambers are almost dead, and left for less than 30 seconds per side or until well marked. We don't really need to cook it a this stage - all we want is the smoky flavor.

Having woken up early on a chilly December morning and waited about 2 hours to get my ambers ready, I did not want to risk having to start my fire from scratch for waiting too long before grilling the foie gras. So my ambers were still quite hot when I grilled the foie gras, and you can see what happens on the picture above. The foie gras melts a little, and the melted fat flares up like a Kuwait oil well. A nice way to support your local oncologist!

Start to salt with coarse sea salt, black pepper and Piment d'Espelette. I believe powdered chipotles would do even better but the only chili officially used in French gastronomy is the Piment d'Espelette.

You can make a terrine in any cake mold, but given the quality of my ingredient, I went shopping for a nice terrine dish and found this beautiful cast-iron enameled La Cornue terrine. Lay the foie gras piece by piece in the terrine. Some people wrap the sides with a thin layer of pork fat for better preservation and easier unmolding but I find this bit of pork meat very unappetising. You choose.

Put additional pieces of chargrilled seasoned foie gras in the terrine until full. If you have too much foie gras, you can eat the extra foie gras on a piece of toasted bread.

The foie gras is really beautiful - what a pity to have to wait an extra day before eating it!

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Lay the terrine or cake mold in a large ovenproof dish and fill with water. You can rest the terrine on two knives to prevent direct contact with the dish. The idea is to provide smooth, uniform heating so that the foie gras will not melt around hotspots.

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Put in the oven and cook for 20 minutes at 50°C. Usually foie gras terrines cook longer and at higher temperatures but here the foie gras has already been cooked on the grill. This process will tenderize the foie gras so they can later be pressed into a tight terrine.

Let the terrine cool down to room temperature, then wrap in kitchen film.

Add a piece of board or cardboard that covers exactly the inside of the terrine so that you can apply even pressure and obtain a regular shape.

Put in the fridge with a weight over the cardboard - here I used two packs of tomato passata. You do not need an awful lot of weight but it has to be spread relatively evenly across the surface.

The next day, remove the weights and unwrap ...

The foie gras is ready to be served. See below for better pictures.

Heat a kitchen knife blade over a flame and use it to cut a slice of foie gras.

Serve with toasted brioche bread or here our lovely Swiss saffron-infused cuchaule and my Quince Balsamico Chutney. A big success!

If I may contribute about the ethics of foie gras, I do respect the people who care more for the goose's well-being than for their appetite. Without demand for foie gras many geese would probably never have been born. Is a two week force-feeding ordeal worth a goose's life? You find your own answer. Let me just say that I cook foie gras with greater respect than many ingredients save perhaps truffles.

To have lunch or dinner at the restaurant: