Cooking foie gras sous vide?

One of the driving reasons for the creation of this style of cooking was stretching foie gras a little further by reducing liquid loss. 56/57 deg c works well for 50 mins to an hour ive found.

Here are two articles about sous vide foie gras, hopefully one of them can help you as well.

SousVideCooking.org and FiftyFourDegrees.com

Thanks for the answers. I missed the FiftyFourDegree version, and I am assumingDaveyT is referring to a terrine style foie gras as well. I had read elsewhere that someone had lost most of his foie gras when he followed the Fat Duck method of sous vide cooking (I don't recall the exact cooking time/temp), but I will give the 56/57 deg c a try. Thanks!

Claire,

Yes I was thinking of a ballotine, sorry should have specified. Can't think why that wouldn't work with a plain slice though they aren't too dissimilar.

I do foie gras sous vide and it works a dream. I'll not say it's the best foie gras I've ever eaten but it stands comparison.

What we do is to warm the raw foie gras at about 22 to 24°C for about half an hour. At that temperature you can split it into the two lobes fairly easily and then devein easier and more thoroughly than any other way I've tried (I live in Foie Gras country!!).

After that, we marinade in a spice mixture I found on ChefSimon's website consisting of (for a whole 600g liver) 2 tsp sea salt (maldon type), 1/2 tsp sugar (this is half his quantity), 1/2 tsp szechuan pepper and 1/2 tsp 5 grain pepper, all ground together. That's rubbed all over the liver and then I pour over a liqueur glass of sercial madeira (port could be used too, but I want to keep the sugar content down.) What I actually do is to make this up in larger quantities and just use what I need depending upon the weight of the liver.

We let this marinate overnight, then warm again to be able to form into rolls, one from each lobe, shaped in cling film, ends twisted together to put the f.g. under pressure. Hard vacuum. Measure the diameter - because this will determine the cooking time Then into the water bath at 66°C (I'll put in Fahrenheit temps if you put in centigrade ones !!!!) till pasteurised. Here are the timings (Baldwin)

thickness time
mm
05 0:05

10 0:10

15 0:17

20 0:26

25 0:38

30 0:51

35 1:05

40 1:22

45 1:40

50 1:59

55 2:20

60 2:43

65 3:07

70 3:33

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When done, remove, put into ice water and when set, store in the fridge. It will keep several weeks unopened. If you go much below 66°C, the foie gras has a tendency to have a fatty mouthfeel. Not as good. I found a fat weight loss of 12% at that temperature using craftsman produced foie gras from hand fed moulard duck.

So I made a roll, and it turned out smooth and rich! I warmed the liver to 22deg C to devein, as suggested above. Added probably a scant tsp salt, probably a tsp of black peper, and a total of about 1/2 cup moscato (what I had on hand for a sweet wine). Wrapped the entire liver in several layers of saran wrap and formed it into a log shape roll. Refrigerated 2+ hours. Vacuum sealed roll under hard pressure. I cooked it at 119 deg F (the internal temperature that I cook the foie gras to using the usual water bath oven method) until the roll was soft, maybe 30-40 min? (sorry, its been awhile since I made it)... Quick chill the roll, then stored inside a paper towel cardboard roll cut down 1 long side in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Had minimal fat loss, and a wonderful smooth texture and flavor. Does anyone know if the temperature of 119 deg F is too low to be safe?