madbaker | Screw you, California

This week's Resolution Recipe: Foie Gras Torchon.
I follow a Fronch tradition of eating foie gras for New Year's. It's symbolic of richness and indulgence for the coming year. However, California voters apparently know better than I do what I am allowed to eat in the privacy of my own home.

100 g foie gras
2.5 grams cure:
1.5 g salt
0.5 g sugar
0.25 g curing salt #1
0.25 g white pepper

(Mix up a larger batch of the cure, since many scales - including mine - do not register fractional grams. Then you can use a total of 2.5% of the weight of your foie and the percentages are much closer. If you are making a bigger batch, say a kilo, it won't matter.)

Warm the foie to room temperature. Carefully remove any veins with tweezers or a paring knife. Foie is like play-doh, so you can moosh it around pretty easily.

Spread the foie on a triple layer of plastic wrap. Carefully work it into an even square that's 1/4" thick and sprinkle the cure on top, using a strainer to get an even snow-like coat. Using a sushi mat, roll the foie into a tight, solid cylinder of fatty liver goodness. Wrap the foie in cheesecloth and tie off both ends with butcher's twine. Wind twine around one end, slowly working it down, squeezing the foie tighter and tighter to remove any air bubbles. When it's done, the torchon should show spots of fat oozing out and have the resilient bounce of an inflated air tire.

Hang the torchon for a day in the fridge, or a couple. The cure will alter the proteins so the foie becomes firmer, more opaque, and with a tender, fatty texture similar to butter. Bring a pot of water to a sub-simmer and poach the torchon (cheesecloth and all) for 90 seconds. This doesn't cook it but softens the exterior so that you can tighten the cheesecloth a bit more for a better-looking product.

Hang the torchon overnight in the fridge to firm up. Unwrap, slice with a warm knife, and serve on toast with a bit of fruit preserves.

What worked: Oh yes, this was good. The sushi mat is brilliant.

What didn't: I need to figure out how long a rectangle to make to get the right size roll. Mine was maybe six inches, and the resulting torchon was quarter-sized rather than the 1.5" or so diameter I'd prefer. More foie would make that easier, of course. I could probably figure it out with math - but it will be quicker and most likely more accurate to take some 1/4" thick fabric, roll to the right diameter, unroll and measure.

Will I make it again? Ohhhh yes. I may turn the entire bag of frozen foie into torchons that I vacuum seal and freeze. This isn't heavily spiced at all, so it could still be used as an ingredient if we wanted and it will be easier to slice off than the triangular pieces of raw liver we have now.