Chicken Faux Gras on a cracker

I caught an episode of Diary of a Foodie from 2007 (Season 1:  Contraband Cuisine) the other day, and Ruth Reichl provided a recipe for imitation foie gras that she spoke highly of.  Since I don’t eat foie gras (French for “fat liver”) due to the force-feeding procedure involved in its production, I’m always happy to find a recipe that might reasonably mimic its taste and texture, which are mild and silky, respectively.  I figured that I had nothing to lose by trying it, since I’d be fine with a good chicken pate anyway.

The result was excellent, I think, in terms of texture and look.  If you formed this stuff to look like foie gras you’d be hard pressed to think it wasn’t the real thing.  Taste was good, but certainly fell short of real foie gras, which I expected, since I doubt there is any concatenation of ingredients out there able to match that buttery and mild liver flavor.

Final verdict:  All three of us really liked this recipe, and it is the closest I have ever come to foie gras.  If you think of it as a smooth, mild and creamy chicken liver pate, you’ll be fine.  I will be making this for the holidays, that’s for sure.

You will find the recipe on  the Gourmet website here.  Note that I did not bother with the gelee, and I made only half, since it is very rich and does not keep long.