France: November 8 -- Foie gras from egg to jar

Today we headed off to a real farm, La Campagnoise. This is a farm where I get my successful terrines of rabbit and duck, as well as the famous onion compote with Cahors wine. It was an exciting visit as they do everything themselves here -- raising birds, feeding them, and producing the end result. The farm is pretty much self-contained and epitomizes the "farm product" ideal. Starting with this concept about 30 years ago, they claim to be one of the first in the region to have this kind of business. Many other farmers deliver products to large companies instead. They are small and happy with the revenue that they have, though a bit amused that Norwegians should want to import their products!

We met Mr.Toulzac, the manager of the farm, and were first shown the fields where the geese and ducks are (separately) raised. We looked over a large expanse of open fields where ducks sporting black and white feathers were running around, some drinking water from a fountain, most mainly flying a bit here and there. He explained that these were hybrid ducks ("mulard") which were a cross between the barbary duck (the one one normally sees in rivers etc, "stokkand" in Norwegian) and Peking duck (which is tasty in Chinese restaurants). The result is a duck which is sterile. This hybrid is used as the duck requires less resources and feed in order to produce meat and liver which meet standard size requirements. The geese were off in a separate field, a ways away. He explained to us that while one could make foie gras of ducks all year round, geese could only be fed during the summer months (June - September) and that they respect the seasons at the farm. (I met another farmed later in the day who claimed that goose season was from now until April, so go figure.) In any case, the geese they had now were only for "reproductive purposes".

We were then led into the hatchery, where we saw many egg types: duck, goose and quail eggs, in order to see and compare sizes.They hatch their own birds at the farm, using a couple of different incubators. Then the ducklings and geeselings (is that a word?) are brought out to the fields to be raised in the open. This is called "élevage".

When the ducks are grown enough, they are brought into a barn to start the period called "gavage". This is where they are force-fed for 2 weeks (3 for geese) and also the process which some might find difficult to accept. It was therefore very interesting to finally see the process for myself. We were shown the traditional funnel, which was no longer used, as well as a machine that the farm used for feeding. Here I learned that there are two kinds of feeding machines: hydraulic and pneumatic. Often this feeding is portrayed only by description of the pneumatic machines, which violently shoot feed down the neck of the bird. However, this farm uses a hydraulic system where they gently press a piston in order to slowly ease the food into the duck. It is more comfortable for the duck as well as producing a better product. Ducks are fed corn flour at first, then whole corn pieces, when their systems are more adapted to receiving the feed, and always mixed with water. The barn was divided into pens with low walls, where there were several ducks per pen with plenty of room to move and walk around. We did not see the actual feeding, which happened later in the day, but the ducks seemed in good shape, and had been fed since Monday.

I am not going to rehash the whole feeding debate here except to say that I was glad to see that single cages were not used, feeding done as gently as possible given the process, and that the birds seemed fairly happy and had spent most of their life in large open fields. The pens were no worse than similar pens for pigs, sheep or goats on other farms, and the birds are genetically designed by nature to receive the feed, which is why no other kinds of birds can be used to make foie gras.

We were led then to the production building where the final product is made after the birds are slaughtered and plucked. The process was fairly similar to that of Valette that we saw earlier, but of course on a smaller scale. Still, there were clean rooms and a few employees in white coats, sorting, cooking, and canning. They all seemed in good moods. We saw how the livers were sorted into various categories to make "entier" (the best pure quality), "bloc" (the mixed liver at a lower price), as well as that which goes into terrines, sauces, etc. Color, texture and size were all important. We saw the duck breasts and smoked meat, sausage, confit, canning and sterilization, all of course done by hand.

At last we left the small production facility and were invited to a tasting. It is indeed a hard business when one has to taste foie gras at the end of every meeting. But oh, well, such is life. We were offered a couple of new products, a foie gras of duck which was made with a jelly of a local sweet wine, Vin Paillé du Corrèze, a favorite of mine. The wine is made with grapes dried on straw mats, and is sweet but not too sugary, with a distinct meaty and raisiny character with goes very well with duck liver, to my mind sometimes better than Sauternes. So this combination was a delight. I was also extremely pleased to see a new "confit d'oignon" or onion compote. The one I sell from this farm is made with red wine, and is robust, while the new one is made with Sauternes, and is delicate and sweeter, and is possibly an even more perfect match to foie gras. I am definitely considering putting this product in my selection.

After this eventful morning we went back to the house for a simple lunch of pumpkin soup, Toulouse sausages, rillettes and cheese. We did a couple of errands in Brive, including a little Christmas shopping. I then had the urge to try a completely new foie gras producer so started driving off in the direction of Collognes-la-Rouges, a very picturesque village made of red brick. We did indeed along the way find a small hand-painted sign saying "foie gras" and turned off the road, up a hill, onto a farm. One is always unsure if one is intruding in situations like this. There seems to be nobody home, tourist season is over, dogs are barking at your car... but then a nice man came out and showed us to his small showroom. It turned out that he was a producer of only goose foie gras, something rather rare, as most farmers deal with ducks, which are cheaper to feed and more reliable. Geese are more easily stressed and require more care and feed for ultimately less product. But nothing rivals the true elegance of a goose liver, and goose confit has a rich yet mild taste which to my mind is better than duck.

We bought a jar of foie gras, and saw his farm. His geese were raised off in the distance, and we saw some of the geese in the feeding barn, in a setup nearly identical to the one we saw earlier that day. The geese were as I had heard more skeptical of strangers, and when we came in they crowded away from us. Asking the farmer about this, he admitted that they were afraid, and that they became easily stressed when strangers, those who had not raised them, were present. I was assured that they were more relaxed when the farmed alone came into the barn. They seemed otherwise healthy and happy, and were about halfway through their feeding program.

The farmer's father then came out to greet us, and I understood at last what the South-West dialect really was. I have gotten a lot better at understanding and speaking French during this trip, but I felt like this old man spoke a different language entirely!

Dinner at home was goose foie gras from the local farm, which was flavorful if a bit dry and crumbly, more veal steak, this time with samples of flavored mustard from Denoix and a mushroom risotto, cheese and ice cream. All accompanied by the wines in the house, it was a good end to a very interesting day.