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Get Stuffed - French feast

Belgian family making Old World foie gras in Quebec

Variety meats, called offal in Britain, were not uncommon dinner entrees when I was growing up. By the time I was 10 years old I was well acquainted with brains, tripe, kidneys, sweetbreads and other such fare. My favourite at that time was cow tongue which I adored eating cold the next day in a sandwich, sliced thinly and spread with chutney.

I never admitted this to my school peers however, already well aware of how disgusted they would be to know that I not only ate these things, but that I actually liked them. Liver was always on the top of every school kid’s list of "most vile things to be served for dinner". Strangely enough though, many kids didn’t mind the occasional liverwurst sandwich.

My dad used to fry up a pan of liver and onions on a regular basis but his eyes would glaze over when he reminisced about eating foie gras when he still lived in Europe. He would shake his head lamenting that the real delicacy could not be had in this country.

Foie gras does not belong to the offal category of foods despite being liver. It is a supremely exquisite, highly expensive culinary luxury. At its best, it has the texture of butter and similarly melts on the tongue when eaten. My brother’s girlfriend regularly scans restaurant menus, judging their culinary worth by whether they include foie gras or not. In one of my cookbooks, the author guiltily admits to saving the butter that she sauteed foie gras in – even freezing it. She uses the drippings in her cooking to give that extra flavour boost to things like sauteed mushrooms, roast potatoes or omelettes.

Due to the prohibitive cost of foie gras it remains a luxury that I seldom indulge in. You can imagine my surprise when I received an invitation to attend a foie gras tasting menu at Val d’Isere last week. Despite a last minute invite, I scrambled for a babysitter – there was no way I would miss this!

Roland Pfaff, chef/owner of Val d’Isere, stood behind a table laden with foie gras as the star ingredient. The event was hosted by Hills Foods Ltd. who had invited local restaurateurs, chefs and servers to showcase the product. Select Wine Merchants provided a selection of different wines that complemented the food. Special guests also in attendance were Élisé and Annette Francois, the producers of the duck foie gras sampled.

Foie gras is difficult and messy to prepare in the kitchen. It is wonderful pan seared in butter but the pan needs to be smoking hot and the foie gras seared quickly to prevent it from turning into a liquid puddle.

Roland had outdone himself with the several dishes he had prepared to highlight such a glorious ingredient. I got the feeling he really enjoyed himself doing it too. When he gestured to the array displayed on the table he laughingly said, "The perfect breakfast table," – green lentil soup with foie gras royal, jellied foie gras terrine with seared muscovy duck breast, foie gras mousse with smoked muscovy duck breast, duck foie gras terrine in brioche, foie gras creme brulee with mache, and foie gras ice cream.

As I was speaking with Roland he interrupted me to urge that I sample the pan seared foie gras served on pain d’epice with a grilled fig that had just been placed on the table. By the time I had finished this delicious morsel, the plate of allspice french toasts had disappeared. They were my favourite and I suspect other people there felt the same way I did.

"You have to start with the right product, it doesn’t matter how much you cook. This is a beautiful product," emphasized Roland.

Annette and Élisé Francois arrived in Canada from Belgium in 1948 and were dairy farmers before they began producing foie gras. The switch came about after several mishaps, including a fire that destroyed their farms. In 1988 they began raising ducks, about 50 a week to start off; now they distribute foie gras all over North America and export the product to Japan.

When I asked Élisé if it was difficult to raise the ducks and to have the unique product recognized in this country he raised his eyes to the ceiling, blowing air out his mouth to answer affirmatively, "Very difficult, very hard to get off the ground." This was mainly due to the fact that in this country there is no knowledge or experience among the veterinarian or animal nutritionist community about the specialized production. Élisé explains that in France the knowledge is not the same and that the techniques are different. There are also differences in climate and feed type between France and Quebec, where their company Aux Champs d’Élisé is located. It took many years of trial and error to get the right balance of feed and raising the ducks in the right environment to get the superior product. Today they produce up to 2,000 ducks per week, which translates roughly into 40,000 kilograms of foie gras per year.

In my frighteningly halted, unpractised French I spoke with Annette. She was very proud of their four children who also help with the family-run business. After training in careers in law and mechanics and working with Air Canada, the three elder children returned to help on the farm. The youngest has just graduated from a program in animal husbandry and also works on the farm. Élisé says he has a lot of respect for all of them and that it is a pleasure working with his children. "We are fortunate and blessed to have fun together," he says.

Aux Champs d’Élisé uses the Mullard duck, which is a hybrid between the Peking and the Muscovy duck. Only males are raised for foie gras production, because the product is better and larger. Ducks and geese naturally over feed themselves just prior to the migratory period so their livers will act as an energy source from which the bird can draw on during the long and tiring journey that is migration. In the farm setting the ducks are fed twice a day for 14 days during a time that mimics this naturally occurring phenomenon. The inhumane methods used to force feed ducks and geese in the 19th century are no longer practised.

Aux Champs d’Élisé, despite its large scale production, is able to maintain many of the traditions that help to create the taste and texture of foie gras similar to that in France. For example, a group of ducks is assigned to an individual feeder, who is able to adjust the amount of feed specific to each of the ducks under his care. The feed that the ducks eat is 100 per cent corn.

Jason Pleym, sales representative for Hills Foods Ltd., explained how the different grades of foie gras are maintained. Grade A or #1 foie gras is uniform in colour and firm in texture. It runs at about $80-$100 a kilogram, while the grade B is slightly smaller and may not be uniform in colour so that when it is cooked bruising may become visible, although both products taste equally good.

After speaking with Jason I asked Roland how much foie gras he had used to prepare his buffet; about 12 kilograms. Yeah, you do the math. It was a real treat to taste so much of the good stuff prepared in so many different ways.

Dine & Unwind deals

Until Dec. 10th, Wednesday of next week, the Whistler Dine & Unwind program, which helps support the Vancouver Ski and Snowboard Foundation, is still in effect with some excellent deals to be had. Recently launched by Tourism Whistler, the program supports athlete and sport development on the path to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The Dine and Unwind program is offering prix fixe menus starting from $29 at a variety of restaurants throughout the resort, as well as prix fixe menus of $75 and $100 at participating Whistler spas. A portion of each prix fixe menu will be donated to the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, home to youth ski racing in the Sea to Sky corridor, and the Vancouver Ski and Snowboard Foundation, which supports the alpine programs of more than 1,000 club athletes in the Coastal Zone of the B.C. Alpine Division.

"I commend what the Dine and Unwind program is doing for our athletes," says Randy Scott, director of the Vancouver Ski and Snowboard Foundation. "Every dollar provides better coaching and better training for athletes whose dreams and goals of winning gold at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games are now that much closer."

"It's fabulous what Tourism Whistler and Visa have done in creating the Dine & Unwind program," said Whistler's Britt Janyk, a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team. "The donations are absolutely important, and so is the fact that the program will draw attention to how necessary increased sports funding is, especially with the Winter Games coming to our backyard."

A number of Whistler's renowned restaurants, including Araxi Restaurant & Bar, Edgewater Lodge, Kypriaki Norte, Jayde, Quattro @ Whistler, The Den at Nicklaus North, and Trattoria di Umberto, offer prix fixe menus between $29 and $39. Another bonus is the amount of flexibility with the choice of dishes available on the fixed price menus.

Prix fixe menus of $75 and $100 are featured at Whistler spas, including Esperanza Day Spa, Nibbana Healing Spa, Solarice Wellness Centre & Spa, Vida Wellness Spa, and Farfalla Hair & Body Spa.

Combined with outstanding early-season ski and snowboard conditions, Whistler's award-winning restaurants and wide range of spa treatments are a welcome ending to a day on the slopes. Patrons can book reservations for Dine & Unwind offers direct through participating restaurants and spas. Dine & Unwind details and current hot deal room rates are posted at myWHISTLER.com/hotdeals.