Quebec Foie Gras

As the holidays approach, there are certain foods that I crave, and one of them is foie gras. Although it’s available all year long, foie gras is at its best from autumn to late winter, when the birds naturally accumulate fat, particularly on their livers. France is the biggest producer and consumer of foie gras, but, luckily for me, very high quality foie gras is produced just next door in Quebec.  

Part of Quebec’s French heritage, foie gras is a staple in the province’s upscale restaurants, and it is the only Canadian province that raises fowl specifically for foie gras. Most of the production consists of the smaller and more distinctively flavoured duck liver; however, it also includes the rich, large, luscious goose liver. Quebeckers have long championed their local products, and, as a result, their foie gras is on the menus of better restaurants across Canada; many American chefs buy livers from Quebec as well.

In Quebec, foie gras is also a mainstream ingredient, and more restaurants – not just upscale ones – feature at least one foie gras dish. This is probably due to larger-than-life Martin Picard, chef-owner of Restaurant Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. While many chefs make hamburgers with foie gras, Picard really democratized it when he added it to “poutine,” a traditional Quebec snack food. It was an instant success. For those of you who don’t know what this is, let me explain: Poutine is a plate of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and hot gravy. While many dismiss it as junk food, Calvin Trillin, writing in The New Yorker in November, went so far as to dub it Canada’s national dish. Despite that overstatement, it is a very popular late-night snack right across Canada and more commonly eaten at a roadside stand than in a restaurant. Picard didn’t stop with poutine; he uses foie gras to garnish the Quebec classic habitant soup (split-pea soup) and stuff pig’s feet. His menu has an entire section dedicated to foie gras that even includes a foie gras pizza!

This democratization of foie gras reaches into Quebec supermarkets as well. From Montreal to Quebec City, you can buy jars of foie gras terrine and foie gras au torchon – marinated foie gras wrapped in a cloth and then gently poached – in all the better supermarkets. As the holidays approach, they also offer whole raw lobes for those who want to cook it themselves. It is almost enough to make me want to move to Quebec (especially when I remember that wine and beer are available at the corner store).

Outside Quebec, specialty stores and good butchers stock foie gras. This holiday season I’m going to widen my repertoire. Along with thick slices of terrine and hot, caramelized escalopes of foie gras, I’ll add it to everything from pasta to sandwiches. Perhaps homemade poutine with foie gras butter will become my favourite holiday snack!

Now, just in case anyone of you are worrying that all this foie gras might be bad for my health, you should consider the words of respected, Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc. He nominates foie gras as a superfood, pointing out that it is rich in B vitamins and a source of copper, iron and iodine, and that good fat is an important part of a healthy diet.

Now that’s a reason to celebrate.

Foie Gras Butter Recipe