There are certain foods that are banned in India, and I mean beyond the belligerent ban on beef, and one of those foods is foie gras. While foie gras is served in most sought-after restaurants in the world, India became one of the first countries to ban the importation of this French dish.
Foie gras, for the uneducated, translates as “fatty liver”, and is the liver of a goose or duck that has been fattened by force-feeding the bird. Considered horrifyingly inhumane and cruel, many countries ban the production of foie gras but continue to import it. After all, it’s heavily favored by people who like the finer things in life, I hate to say, including myself. But while my interest abroad sometimes entices me to order something, my heart often stops me from doing so. It is a battle between the heart and the lust.
There are a few accepted ways to cook foie gras. A terrine of foie gras is one such pure and reliable way to actually cook liver. Liver slices are placed in a pan with a little French sweet wine or Armagnac (French brandy). The terrine is then packed into a terrine mold, pressed firmly to remove any air bubbles, ensuring the liver is pressed into the corners of the tin and kept at a low temperature in a bain marie (water bath). is cooked on; Once done, it is cooled and sliced. I love all kinds of terrain, especially meatloaf, and the smooth liver terrine is a winner.
But the simple looking foie gras is what I love the most. Traditionally, foie gras is cooked simply by carefully placing the whole liver in a hot pan, as foie gras is soft and delicate and can melt easily. When seared easily, foie gras tastes softly smoky on the outside and is rich, meaty, and buttery on the inside. At her flagship restaurant in London’s The Connaught, Helen Darrows makes a heavenly pan-roasted foie gras consisting of sesame, sobacha (buckwheat tea) and toasted buckwheat, served with melon and koji rice sauce. is served. It is too charming for words.
And then there’s pate de foie gras. The most popular and bourgeois form of eating foie gras. Easily available in jars, bottles and tins, and is usually made from duck liver. Cooked foie gras is mixed with brandy and butter to make a smooth, gooseberry, silky paste or a mousse that can be spread on firecrackers and eaten. At Restaurant Diner by Heston Blumenthal in London, they offer chicken livers and foie gras parfaits encased in mandarin orange jelly to look like a small mandarin orange. Not only the way it tastes, but the way it looks, it is a brilliant stroke of genius.
But alas, foie gras in India is elusive as well as unimaginable so we have to make do with the goose’s cousin, the chicken and its liver. Chicken liver pate or parfait is easily made in most fancy restaurants and appears on most charcuterie boards in Mumbai’s social dos. Even retro-classic home chefs and confectioners make tubs full of silky chicken liver belly and some of them are just so good.
Chicken livers are fried with butter, garlic and shallots, and then traditionally deglazed with cognac, port, red wine or even whiskey. Then you boil the alcohol until you get the edge off the flavor and let the liver cool. Then perhaps with a little cream, the liver is blended into a smooth paste, transferred to a bowl and covered with melted butter on top and then refrigerated. On a piece of Melba toast, it’s good enough.
From my earliest memories, we have always cooked chicken liver at home. Parties always have liver-on-toast, salver filled with small slices of toast, or a mini wall-au-vent with chicken livers. Kale, pungent and spicy, sautéed with onions, garlic, spices and random sauces, chunks of shredded liver, from tomato ketchup to Worcestershire, make a wonderful passé.
Older clubs like Willingdon and Cricket Club always had kidney or liver masala on toast in the form of verandas. A piece of toast soaked in a thick gravy of spicy masala liver, garnished with coriander. My grandmother made her own version of risotto, spicy, tomato-flavored rice with chunky pieces of chicken liver, topped with grated processed cheese and cooked in the oven. Although it was nothing like an authentic Italian risotto, it was simply amazing.
Even on the roads of Delhi, Agra, Lucknow and Mumbai, College and Khima, kaleji and gurda, or simply kaleji on the pan is the food I always follow zealously, food that remains time-honored and revered on the streets of our country. And that is why, from the best-bred to the straight street-bred, the liver is a sacred organ that I respect so much.
Kunal Vijaykar is a food writer based in Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. What is the name of his youtube channel? The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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