Kısır…a tasty fresh turkish bulghur salad

I discovered this recipe, for most “the turkish version of tabbouleh”, from Ottolenghi’s cookbook Plenty (one of my favourite cookbooks together with his first book). I searched for it on the web to learn more about this dish and found two photos that didn’t make it to the print, but that speak for themselves, one in his own blog and another in his The Guardian Column “The New Vegetarian”. I’ve got to admit, that I am quite visual, so I get more inspired by photos than usually by recipes. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it!

Not that long ago, I had bought some different grades/coarseness of bulghur wheat to play around my take on tabbouleh, for which I undoubtedly preferred the fine grind. I’ve read various recipes in which they suggest the use of cracked wheat instead of bulghur, for those who may be confussed as to the difference between the two. As far as I know, bulghur is durum wheat kernels, bran removed, parboiled and then dried and cracked to different sizes. Whereas cracked wheat is just that cracked wheat, meaning it isn’t previously cooked, so it will take longer to cook. So, if you do use cracked wheat for any of these recipes, count on longer cooking times and more liquid to hydrate it.

 

Anyway, about the coarseness I’ve chosen for this salad/side-dish, although I’ve read that it is often done with fine bulghur, I preferred the bite the coarser grind brings much better. Plus, since in Ottolenghi’s recipe a “sofrito” is made rather than all ingredients mixed into the cooked wheat, the coarser bulghur absorbs more flavour and stays well separated to be then mixed with all the herbs and vegetables of choice. The only BUT is that I was missing two ingredients from Ottolenghi’s list: the pomegranate molasses (which are used in the south of Turkey to season this dish instead of the lemon juice to give it it’s sour notes)…PLEASE anyone who knows where to find sour pomegranate molasses in Spain, let me know!!!I’ve been looking for it for over a year, no joke! And the other, which is also for looks are the pomegranate seeds, now expensive and not in season…so I used some broken up walnuts instead, which I find go really well!Other than that, all I can do is INSIST you give it a try, it won’t disappoint you!

Kısır (adapted from Ottolenghi’s Plenty recipe)

(enough for 4 generous servings)

400g of coarse bulghur

2 medium onions, finely chopped up

optional: 1 garlic clove

about 75g of olive oil, plus extra to drizzle to the finished salad

1,5 tbsp of concentrated tomato purée (I used this)

1/2 tbsp of red bell pepper paste*

3 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced

optional: some cherry tomatoes cut in half or more fresh tomatoes diced

200g of water (he uses much less, but also suggests the medium bulghur)

1 tsp of ground cumin

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

about 2 tbsp of lemon juice or to taste

a handful of parsley, lightly shredded

a handful of mint leaves, lightly shredded

1 spring onion or the tender stalks of 3 or 4

a handful of walnuts, broken up a bit

*Ottolenghi does not use this paste, which is traditional in this dish, but instead adds green chillies. I substituted it for Harissa hot sauce. But if you have neither, just use 2tbsp of tomato paste and some dried chilli flakes to give it a quick!

Now, for the super simple recipe, make a sofrito with the onion, finely chopped up in brunoise and the olive oil (and the garlic, if you like, I didn’t add any either here or when seasoning). Cook over lowe heat until the onion is soft and translucent.

Then, add the tomato and pepper paste, cook a little bit and add the chopped up tomatoes and further cook for 5 minutes or so. Add the water,season to taste and bring it to a boil and stir in the bulghur. Inmediately, turn the heat off and cover so that the liquid get’s absorbed and the bulghur softens a bit, for about 15 minutes. It should get “al dente”, neither crunchy not mushy…so it’s always best to err on the crunchy side, as you can add more boiling water and cover to soften some more to taste.

When ready, leave uncovered until it comes to room temperature. Then, season to taste with extra salt if needed, pepper, the cumin, the lemon juice and pomegranate if available...it should be slightly on the soury side, to bring out that freshness. Add the finely sliced spring onion, the broken up walnuts and when ready to serve the herbs lightly shredded or whole if the leaves are very small like in the picture. If you like, you can also add some finely chopped up cucumber or more tomatoes.

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Peach, nectarine & ricotta galette on wholewheat & oat pastry

 

I really like galettes, savoury or sweet, they are really easy to put together and like pizzas are a good base for many combinations of seasonal ingredients. Last week I made a pâte brisée (savoury dough) to use up some courgette we had picked up from the orchard. I used the ingredients I had at hand: some wholemeal flour along with AP flour and I though of using up some rolled oats that have been sitting in the pantry for a while. As a filling I made a base with an “unorthodox” ricotta I’d made following Smitten kitchen’s recipe (in between a ricotta and a mascarpone really), the finely sliced courgettes scattered with some bacon that was close to it’s deadline! We absolutely loved the results! The dough was crispy and buttery, also you could really taste the toasted oats. The touch of ricotta made it really soft inside, which contrasted beautifully with the light crunch of the bacon bits and parmesan shreds put over the whole thing. But…I didn’t get to take pictures of any of it!

So, I gave a try to the sweet version of the dough, just incorporating some sugar and grated lemon rind (you could use orange instead…and I might even prefer it, but didn’t have any!) and as a topping some summer peaches and nectarines…over a bit of sweetened citrus ricotta as well. Here’s the result…I wouldn’t change anything other than perhaps the orange rind for the lemon one! I must say that I love summer fruit sooo much that I am always reluctant to alter it in any way to make desserts (other than the juices of citrus fruits for curds and such) except if transformed into shakes (frozen pulp sorbets), lassis (iced yoghurt drinks) or sorbets. But, this is one of the few exceptions…

I used the ricotta, because it’s what I had at hand, but an overnight drained greek yoghurt, crème fraîche or mascarpone are great alternatives…or you can just skip it altogether as the fruit on it’s own is good enough plus you can season it with spiced or rinds to taste!I also topped it with some blueberries I have frozen, if you like the looks or contrast, you can add any berry before or even after baking. Dust with icing sugar if you have a sweet tooth and you like how it looks at the end…and enjoy the contrast of the crisp toasted oat dough with the creamy citrus ricotta and luscious baked fruit!

Peach, nectarine and ricotta galette on wholemeal & oat pastry

(for 1x25cm diameter galette)

 

For the pâte sucrée:

60g wholewheat flour

60g AP or cake flour

20g rolled oats + extra for sprinkling

70g ice cold butter

35-40g sugar (or more to taste)

1 cold yolk plus some of the white or ice-cold water to make 30g

pinch of salt

some finely grated lemon or orange rind to taste

For the ricotta:

80g ricotta

grated rind of about half a lemon or some orange

aprox 5g of icing sugar or to taste

drizzle of lemon juice, to taste

For the peach/nectarine filling:

1 medium nectarine+ 1 peach (or 2 of either)

10g sugar, to season or to taste depending on how ripe the fruit is

aprox 5g of cornflour

drizzle of lemon juice to taste

If you are willing to make your ricotta/mascarpone yourself refer to the smitten kitchen recipe. I used 750g of pasteurised whole milk (not UHT)+ 250g of whipping cream (35% fat) with a bit of salt. Warmed up both to about 85ºC and added 2 tbsp of lemon juice.

The first time I prepared it, I expected it to curdle much more, so thinking it wasn’t enough, I kept adding lemon juice. The result was nice but on the soury side, so the times after that, I’ve just added enough juice to see the curds forming and tasting to make sure it didn’t feel sour. If you want some more info on this, I found this link on Serious Eats quite enlightening, though the drainage times vary considerable depending on what type of cheesecloth you are using!Still, I find it quite cool to make and it can find various uses, like these zucchini flowers&ricotta pizzas!

Ah, and here is the courgette galette phone shot before being devoured!

As you can see, it’s the same idea.

Anyway, back to making the ricotta…Once enough lemon juice (or any acid, for that matter) is added, let it sit a few minutes and strain over cheese or butter cloth. I have this cool really fine mesh coffee filter that cost me…about 0.50€, well worth the investment ;) I always use it to strain stocks leaving almost no impurities! It works like a charm! And just strain it for as long as needed to get the consistency you like. As simple as that!

Then, just whip the amount in the recipe (or more if you want a thicker layer) with the sugar, lemon or orange rind and lemon juice and set aside.

Prepare the pâte sucrée, which is the sweet counterpart of a pâte brisée. The sablée is usually sweeter but always has more fat, in the form of butter and egg yolks rather than ice-cold liquid, be it water or milk or…I always use the following mnemotecnic proportion and adjust according to the results I want: 4:2:1, that is 1 part flour, half of that of butter (or more for a sablée) and half of that of sugar. Then, I decide if I want it crumblier (with water or milk) or that holds better together (with some egg, as the proteins aid binding it. And always, be it sweet or savoury, a pinch of salt. Of course you can add any flavourings to taste or play around with the flours, like in this case. Does it help?

Anyway, I just put together the flours (I sifted the plain white one), and pounded lightly to leave some texture the oats (you could also increase the amount and reduce that of white or wholewheat flour).

Now, the other key to making pastries…the mixing technique. You can use either of the two methods: “sablage” or “cremage”. The first, my preferred one most of the time, means mixing the flour and butter into crumbs resembling sand “sable” in french, thereby the descriptive name. Then, you add the liquids and if sweet, the sugar. The “cremage” as the name implies, which is used for sweet dough, means creaming the sugar and the butter until pale and that the sugar is dissolved, then adding slowly the eggs or liquid and finally adding the flour in 1 “coup” all together at once.

I prefer the sablage method, 1) because I find it quicker and easier and 2) because I like to leave the butter in pea-size bits not completely integrated resulting in a more puff-pastry texture. So, for this method, it is key that all ingredients or at least the butter and liquid ingredients are very cold. This is for two main reasons, namely so that the butter doesn’t melt and so that the gluten does not develop at all, resulting in that crumbly pastry. Also, this is why it’s in any case important with these sort of pastries to NEVER overmix once wet and dry ingredients are mixed independent of the method, for the more you work the dough, the drier and less crumbly it gets!

So, a quick trick I use is to place the whole piece of  butter in the freezer (in this case it was a can, so I had to scoop out pieces), dip it into the flour and grate it with a coarse grater, that way it wont stick and you will already get small pieces, so you will save time and barely any mixing is required. Or you can go the food processor route by chopping the cold butter in small squares and blend them to get the crumbs. Add the flavourings then, or rub them into the sugar that will be mixed with the liquids and mixed all at once barely kneading, just bringing the whole lot together into a ball. Then, just wrap in film and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge (a bit more is better).

Cut the nectarine and peach by half to remove the stone and then cut each one into thin slices, depending on the size it will be about 16 slices. Season with the sugar, the bit of lemon juice and some cornflour to soak up the juices as it bakes and avoid making the pastry soggy. I usuall just sprinkle a bit to coat lightly, so if you feel you need more or less according to how juicy your fruit is, trust your instincts!

After the the dough has rested, roll out over some parchment paper (as you can tell I reuse mine a few times!:) ) flouring as needed (removing excess, so you don’t get lumps of flour that will taste ackward when cooked) on both sides until you get a very fine (about 3mm thick) circle, it will be about 30-35 cm, which once the sides are folded over leave you a 25cm galette.

I like to rest the stretched out dough a few minutes in the fridge or freezer before filling it and baking it, but it’s not really necessary. Smear the seasoned ricotta over the surface, leaving about 3 cm borders free to fold in later. Then arrange the peach & nectarine slices in a decorative pattern or without taking too much care for a more rustic look (you can also trim the borders of the galette to make a clean circle or leave them…which I prefer unless you are making lots of small ones, which is more convenient to stretch and cut with a pastry ring cutter). Fold the borders in by segments, one after the other.

And if you like a shinier effect brush the borders with egg wash. Also, you can sprinkle some granulated sugar over and some extra oats for decoration.

Bake at 180ºC for about 25 minutes, if the pastry is still not golden enough, you can lower the temperature to 160ºC and continue baking 5 more minutes or as needed.

You can drizzle with some agave syrup or brush some peach jam as it comes out of the oven for a little shine. Let cool down slightly and enjoy!!

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My favourite croquetas: flavourful but delicate boletus croquetas

As most of you know, croquetas, are a typical “tapa” in Spain. They are basically a thickened bechamel sauce, with various flavourings (most often cured ham: if you are lucky “jamón ibérico” though most likely just “jamón serrano”) coated with breadcrumbs and fried. The resulting fritter if served at once, should be crunchy on the outside (and not greasy) and creamy, meltingly soft on the inside bursting with flavour. Most often than not, this is not the case! Most restaurants now recur to the industrial frozen version (which could be good…but usually are not!) which has an evident excess of flour and with a deceptive flavour; bland in most cases as a result of little amount of “flavourings” or poor quality ones.

That said, though it can be time-consuming to prepare, it is very rewarding as a lot can be made ahead, be frozen and then fried from frozen to convenience. They are (deceptively) simple to make, but once you get the key points right, it really is a piece of cake. Though as with most dishes, I do like to take my time to get the most out of the ingredients in terms of flavour and texture. I think that with cooking in general you’ve got to take your time, not necesarily because it is time-consuming, but because you have to have all your senses in to get the most out of it. At least that’s how it is for me, it is amazing how things can turn out when I have a bad day and I get in the kitchen because “I have to” but I’m not really in the mood to cook. Things most likely will come out “just ok” (at least for me) or something simple might turn into a nightmare as I’m not really focusing on what I’m doing and I keep having to “fix” mistakes. On the contrary, when I’m doing what I want, it just flows and the results are more than evident!So, if possible, try to put that little time aside and be willing to cook to get what you want…it will most likely show in the results!

 

Anyway, about the croquetas…I have already published a more general post on croquetas, using cured ham as a flavouring. So the basic method is there, but here is my all-time favourite croqueta recipe flavoured with boletus! It is true that I do love this mushroom, it is one of my favourites, it not my favourite, but the resulting croqueta has a delicate flavour, evident, though not overwhelming. The creamy bechamel is tanned from using the hydrating liquid, so less mushroom as such is needed to give the right amount of flavour. A work mate suggested using a bit of another (cheaper) mushroom to give it more of a bite within the meltingly soft bechamel and it worked wonders. So, for little money you get a full of flavour “croqueta” to fry straight from your freezer as guests come or as you got a craving! I hope you like it as much as we do…I can only tell you that everyone else that tries it falls in love with it!;)

Boletus croquetas

(for about 50 medium sized croquetas)

800ml of milk

250ml of water (to hydrate the boletus and obtain 200g of flavoured water)

80g of mild-flavoured olive oil

80g of unsalted butter

175g of flour (you can use 160g for softer ones or up to 180g for denser ones)

1 medium sized leek

30g of dehydrated boletus mushrooms

150g-200g of fresh oyster mushrooms (or another inexpensive and mildly flavoured mushroom…mainly for texture)

salt & freshly milled black pepper

some semolina to coat (or flour, if not available)

1 egg to coat

breadcrumbs to coat*

*If you can get panko breadcrumbs, I’d go for them, for a crunchier coating. But this time I made my own by simply grating stale white bread (ideally without the crust)with a coarse grater and sifting through a thick colander to remove larger bits…although not as large as panko flakes, it was fairly close and I definately prefer it over fine crumbs.

To begin, hydrate the mushrooms by just covering with the water from the recipe. I use little water to concentrate the flavour and then add that to the milk, which adds creaminess. When soft, strain and weigh or check that you got the right amount of water: about 200g, otherwise add a bit more milk.

Chop up both mushrooms into smaller pieces and stir fry over high heat with very little oil, first the oyster mushrooms, then add the boletus.

They should just get golden, which will add more flavour into the bechamel. It is important to not use excess oil or to strain it at the end, or else if added to the cooked bechamel, that oil will separate giving a light “split” look. Then, just reserve to add later. Sorry about these photos, but they were taken at night, so the colours are so-so and there are shades everywhere!

Now with the leek “sofrito”, chop the leek as finely as possible. I first cut it in manageable pieces lengthwise, then slice it finely into a julienne and then cut that in brunoise.

Slowly fry it in the olive oil until very soft, but not coloured. Then, add the butter to melt to prepare the roux.

Add the flour and cook it over low heat for a while to get the raw taste out. Then add the milk+boletus flavoured water constantly whisking to blend it and avoid lumps until it’s completely homogeneous. At last incorporate the sautéed mushrooms.

Then, bring it slowly to a boil, constantly stirring to avoid it sticking to the bottom until it completely comes apart from the sides forming a denser dough-like batter.

 

Pour onto a tupper or mould to set, ideally until the next day. When it’s gained consistency, cut pieces out and roll them sprinkling a bit of semolina or flour. I’ve just realised that semolina works excellent as it sticks less, so you avoid adding excess flour which gives a doughy flavour and aids in adding crunchiness after frying.

 

Get ready 1 beaten egg which a tad of milk or water to make a bit liquidy without diluting it too much, a small frying pan and a tray of the breadcrumbs (the larger, the more comfortable to work with).

Roll the chunks of dough out and cut to the desired size and round them over the surface as if you were working with playdough. If you like the typical croqueta shape, just roll the balls a bit pressing on the center.

Place a few at a time on the pan and pour a bit of egg and sauté them until they are completely covered with egg and drop over the breadcrumbs. The great thing about this method, other than saving on egg (less than one egg for the whole recipe!) is that it’s very clean, as only the amount of egg needed to coat the croquetas is used, so when they are poured on the breadcrumbs, there’s no leaking of egg. So, you don’t need to keep sifting the crumbs.

Place the finished croquetas on a tray or large tupper side by side and freeze. Then, when frozen you can pack them in ziplock bags.

When you want to serve them, fry from frozen…

 

…serve and enjoy!!

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Three star duck foie gras mi-cuit

Some time ago I watched a series of videos and learnt about the “gavage” (feeding) ducks and geese undergo to obtain the foie gras. From that point on, as much as I liked this highly-valued delicacy, I was determined to not contribute to that and thus to stop buying foie gras in any form for myself. But, since I still have to work with it from time to time, to make it for others or to teach others how to make it, I thought I’d take the fact that I recently had to prepare it for work, to show those who might be interested how to make a proper mi-cuit at home, much better than most you will find ready made.

It may sound contradicting, but the truth is that aside from the fact that for ethical reasons I do not want to make it for myself from over a year back, I’ve learnt to cook using foie since I began working in kitchens. When I started this profession, it was in all the reknown restaurant menus, so I had no choice but to learn how to properly prepare it. And truth be told, I do agree that it is a delicacy, not just for it’s high price, but because if well-prepared it can be delicious; a subtle flavour with a melt in your mouth texture but with a bit of a bite. Though it is a liver, don’t be fooled, it doesn’t resemble a normal (non-gras) liver, not even from a distance. The flavour is completely different, the texture has nothing to do with it…and obviously neither does the price! 

But, like I said it is up to you to decide whether to consume it or not…A bit of info on the upbringing of these ducks: The duck used to obtain foie gras is from the “Mulard”variety, and only the males serve this purpose, as the females have too many veins. The ducks go through a healthy upbringing for 3 months (this is the “élevage”). Then, once they have reached maturity, the “gavage” (forced feeding) as such begins (this is the part that disgusts me). It will last about 14 days on which the ducks will be fed about 1kg of corn twice daily to reach the adequate weight.

This forced-feeding will lead to a hypertrophied liver, that is a larger, fatter liver that plays a role in fat storage due to an imbalance between the excessive production of fat and the (in)capacity to eliminate that fat. Though some people have argued the resulting liver is a sick liver,as far as I’ve read, this is not true, as ducks who are removed from the fattening process return within a few days to their normal liver weight, as happens naturally in the wild when migratory birds have depleted their resources after a long journey. BUT, though they are not sick livers, I do believe the animals are in inhumane conditions. Just like hens are in egg farms, but I find this to be worse as it is “gourmet food”, thus not used to feed a population! Type “gavage” on google and you will get to the ugly side of this, I’m sorry I just couldn’t link to it as it tears me to read or watch it.

Just to finish off on what a foie gras is, for the “appelation”, to be considered as such, in ducks, only livers within the 300g-800g range are accepted; on the lower end up to 550g are the “grand cuisine” ones (considered best quality), on the higher end the “restauration” ones.  In terms of nutrition, as expected a foie gras is high in fat, though surprisingly most of the fatty acids in it are oleique acid, that which we find in olive oil, rather than saturated fats,as may be expected. So, I wouldn’t make this the reason to avoid foie gras.

After all this, I leave you to what I find the best way to make a mi-cuit terrine (well, in a more convenient cylinder shape!). I hope those of you who like foie gras try it and find that it delivers an extraordinary quality terrine. The starting point, though, is a good quality foie gras!Here’s most of what you need to know…

Duck foie gras mi-cuit

1 duck foie gras (the one I used was about 600g)

13g/kg of salt (I used 8g/600g of foie)

pinch of granulated sugar (I used 1,5g)

freshly milled black pepper

8g of brandy

4g of sherry

8g of port*

*Port is traditionally added to the goose foie gras terrine, whereas armagnac is used for duck ones, but I like adding both!

Many foie gras are found vacuum packed fresh or frozen, so it is difficult to tell the quality. The colour, more yellowish or paler is not necessarily a sign of quality, it simply depends on what the type of corn they’ve been fed on. But, do look for redish stains or bruises, which are not desirable.

If you can check the foie gras fresh, as many french producers sell it, simply wrapped in a sort of parchment paper, look for a foie gras that when pressed though firm, leaves an indentation but that does not feel greasy to the touch, which means it will melt too easily to withhold the slow cooking required to make the terrine without loosing fat.

Most chefs recommend immersing the whole foie gras (out of it’s bag, if it comes in one, and already thawed if it was frozen) in salted water at around 35ºC. That is right, but I prefer to use cooler water, from 25ºC-30ºC maximum(specially now in summer, in winter it may be best to raise to the higher end), which results in a malleable foie gras to work with, but with less tendency to get greasy from heating it with your fingers as you work.

Leave it (covered, it’s a fresh liver after all) for at least 1 hour, until it comes to that temperature and feels softer to the touch. This salted water will draw out impurities and some blood from the veins, as well as temper it.

When ready, remove it from the salted bath and drain it on kitchen paper well. I like to work over a parchment paper to remove the veins on a clean surface and also cause it is really convenient to at the end, just throw away the paper and the veins removed keeping the work surface clean from being in contact with the fatty liver. Hope that convinces you!

The liver consists of two lobes, the large one and the small one, both connected which you’ll need to cut loose to work with each one at a time. The larger one is easier to devein, as the main veins are always located in the same way, whereas the smaller one is just a web of veins difficult to keep track of! So, I always start with the larger one to keep my patience and not demoralize!;)

Place the large one thicher side down leaving the smooth side down. The idea with both is to open as much as needed on one side to remove the veins, keeping the other smooth side intact, so that when placed back together, it almost looks as if it’s back to normal!

Use the back of a knife rather than the cutting edge, precisely to avoid cutting the veins and rather just slowly scratch off flesh to expose them and then with your forefinger cleaning it and pull to find the smaller ones that follow from the larger ones. 

You will find one vertical large vein running from top to bottom at around 1cm inside the flesh, once you find it, like I said with the back of the knife run it to either side as if you were opening a book to see the smaller connections. Slowly pull with your fingers removing all the smaller ones attached.

Once that first set is removed, 1cm further down runs the next large vein, repeat the same way. Try to get rid of as many of the smaller veins as possible, as a vein can ruin the texture of a good terrine, it happens way too often!Also try to get rid of the little drops of blood you find, or those will affect the resulting homogeneous colour and may give a bitter taste.

If your hands are hot and you realize it feels like you are literally melting the foie gras, try to immerse them in ice-cold water as you work, drying before touching it, and immersing again as they get warm again.

Funny that my hands used to be soo warm before, so I had to recur to the cooling of my hands; but with time, they have cooled down?!?God knows why?But this trick does it!

Devein the small lobe, though here you must trust your instincts! Go slowly trying to find all veins, just remember to keep the bottom side smooth and whole!

Here are both lobes and the veins removed…

Time to season! I never really measure the amount of salt and sugar, though it is always said 13g/kg is just right. I checked this time and it was about right! It will look like your foie gras surface is saturated with salt, but don’t worry, it is a must if you want it to have a taste, otherwise it will be too bland.

Then, season with a bit of sugar all over the surface (many people don’t add any, but I think it works great for flavour!). Then, pepper, freshly milled if possible! and then a not so light hand with the alcohols :) Well, I’m sort of generous and the amounts I’ve given in the recipe for the 600g foie gras are what I used to taste. Andoni Luis Aduriz, the chef of Mugaritz, who wrote a book on foie gras, recommends: 8cc of armagnac for a 600g foie, 3cc of port and 3cc of dry sherry. As you can see, I’m a bit more generous, specially with the port, I love the notes it brings!!…

Traditionally after seasoning, the foie was covered and left to macerate for 1 day in the fridge. But, I find that if cooked and then given that rest it works really well. So, time to wrap it up…First, notice how when folded back in place, the foie doesn’t look as damaged after all that extensive vein removal!!All the cut sides go inside, so it looks pretty neat again!

Place it on a cling film leaving the roll, to wrap it up. What we are aiming at now is to remove ALL excess air and press the cylinder tight! You don’t have to shape it as a cylinder, though it is usually done this way and it is quite convenient. In a restaurant I worked at, we kept the foie gras shape intact, just wrapping up in cling film to remove the air and then vacuuming in speacial bags up to about 80%, to avoid squashing of the delicate lobes! If you prefer that shape, keep it, even if you haven’t got a sous-vide machine.

Have a pin or brochette at hand to pick air bubbles as you turn to wrap. Give it as many turns as you need to get a tight cylinder with no air in.

Then, with some twine or cling film threads, cut from the roll (I find this more convenient) secure the sides, rolling to maintain the log tight!

Once rolled, time to cook it. The traditional methods are to either cook it in the oven (at around 70ºC) until the interior temperature is about 45ºC (also, most recipes, advice up to 60ºC), or to do so in a water bath at that temperature, 65-70ºC. But, once I learnt how to use the oven for the mi-cuit, I no longer want to go back to any other method!I was taught to use the oven at high temperature, almost top power for short periods of time, seconds and then, to cool rapidly in iced water.

I’ve slowly shifted onto doing it in a way that I find works best. That is, microwave on very low power, that is from 200-400watts (most microwaves go up to 1000 Watts), sort of like when melting chocolate. This way, the cooking is even, less fat melts and it reaches a perfect, homogeneous cooking, with a fade still slightly pinkish colour. That to me is the best texture, it melts in your mouth and it reaches enough temperature to mingle all those flavours from the seasonings in a very subtle way!

How to tell when it’s ready? By touch! Well, and visually. You should place the foie gras at that power for about 30 second intervals, touch it to test and turn it around for an even cooking. When it’s almost ready for even shorter periods of time. It will be ready when it feels slightly warmer than body temperature and when you see a thin yellowish fat layer forming.

A thin layer, that is, not a thick fat layer as most traditional terrines have…Not that it’s bad, but you just loose too much texture as fat cells burst and melt!So, keep it low (in temperature) until it feels just warmish!Funny that I think I measured how much it was…but I forgot!It’s best to just “feel” it and “see” it, that will tell you best!

Below, though it doesn’t show that well, is the foie gras before going into the microwave, when ready and out and once cooled and set. It will be soft when cooked, it is mainly fat, so like butter at room temperature, it will feel soft until cooled down.

If you can immerse the ready-cooked cylinder into an ice bath…though most of the time, if done right, it can go into the freezer to cool, even if not as fast, to let it continue a bit with the residual heat built up inside. It’s a matter of practice.

You can leave in the freezer, though I think it’s best to leave 1 day in the fridge and then freeze it either whole or into convenient portions that you want to defrost one at a time. Then, just enjoy finely sliced over some toasted bread or brioche (like in the first photo, refer to this brioche recipe, in one word: heavenly!). The truth is that the photo doesn’t make it justice as it was still too soft to handle and added some PX & balsamic reduction (Pedro Ximenez) but took too long to take the photo. But I can assure you it was good…or so did everyone in that cocktail think!

To cut it use a warmed up knife, either with a blowtorch (be careful!though it sounds obvious) or by immersing in some hot water and then dried up before each cut. Or if you have got a wire cheese slicer go ahead!

If you decide to try to make your own terrine, I hope this works for you!

Ah, by the way, mi-cuit means half-cooked in french, to differ with a traditional terrine in which the foie gras is usually cooked a bit more. Though, I think it’s terrible to have a mi-cuit underdone, I equally dislike it overcooked.  But, if you prefer it, simply cook it for a bit longer until more yellowish fat forms around the cylinder. Bon ap’

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