The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-02-24
How Pate dc Foie Gras Is Made.

If any of our readers feel disposed to orcrr
bate de fote qras from his grocer after read
ng the following description OF how the arii
cle Is produced, as given in the iaH NdH Gd'
Ee,te, we will give him credit for having a
very strong stomach.
We enter one of the mos, famous factories
In S,rassburc. A cool yard grects us, and Il
bland FrenchWan, who has become German
kzed like his geese, BY the force of circum
.tances noints 10 some hundreds Of feathered
hineds budlled together in a corner. Their
propretor explains that they are all nine
Snontbs old, and have cost him, lean as they
are. about two francs fifty centlmes apiece; he
hen makes a sign to half dozen bare armed
girls. and six geese are colared and borne
away to a cellar, half underground, where
wide and slOping stone tables arc arranged
in tiers. In the murky light it becomes ap.
parent tha, hundreds Of geese are already
Lying strapped on their backs and gasping on
the upper tiers. Our business being tor the
moment at the lower tables, the six girls each
takes her goose, lays HIM gently but firmly
on the stone, and then ties down his wings,
body and legs tight with plated whipcord,
the legs and wings being well spread out
1.-The birds neck is lett free, and it seems that
during the first three days he makes violent
use of it; but aferward he may be trusted to
| lie still for the next seven weeks; that is, till
| the hour of release and killing On the upper
| tiers the birds who have been lying for three,
five or six weeks respectively, waiting to be
fed by halfa dozen other girls laden with
wooden bowls Each of these bowls is filled
with thick white paste, made OF parbolled
maize, chestnuts and buckwheat; and the
mode of administering the dinner is tor the
girl to catch the goose by the neck, open its
bill with little squeeze, and then put three
or four balls of paste down its throat with
her middle finger. This is done six times
per day. But now we have done with the
women, for man climbs upon the topmost
liter of all and proceeds to examine the birds
who may be "rlpe.' He has an eye as Judi
clous as that of a gardener inspecting melons;
and his responsible task of pronouncing
what birds would die of a natural death with.
in twenty.tour hours If not dispatched be.
fOrehand.
II a goose dies of d natural death it is good
for nothing. He must be unstrapped and
executed at the precise psychological moment
when nature is growing tired of supporting
him. and the knack of detecting that moment
can only come Of long practice. This IN
spector has not been a minute on the table
before he certifies four geese ready tor the
slaughter. All four of them have stomachs
of the size of pumpkins, and it is sincere re.
lief to these when couple Of men climb up,
loose their bonds and bear them out of the
cellar to penthouse across the yard, full OF
knives and chopping- blocks A click with
the chopper on the NECK of each, rip with
the knife, and IN less than four minutes after
their transfer the carcases of the four victims
are lying in a heap, while their livers are be
ing conveyed with all respect and care to the
truffling house The carcasses, shriveled out
of all knowledge. are sold for about eigth
pence apiece to peasants, who make soup OF
them; the livers are first cleaned, then put to
scale, and our four geese are declared fine
birds, for their Iivers weigh from two and a
half to three pounds each.
The next step is to take each liver and lard
it with truffles in proportion OF one pound of
liver, and then TO convey it to an ice-house
where it remains on marble slab for week
that the truffle perfume may thoroughly per
meate il. At the end of a week, each liver
being removed, Is cut into the size required
for the pot which il is to hll, and introduced
INTO that pot between two thin layers OF
mince.meat made of the finest veal and ba
con fat, both truffled like the liver itself; and
one inch depth Of the whitish lard is then
spread over the whole, that none of the savoI
NAV escape in baking. When the cooking is
over, it is packed and shipped to the foul
points of the compass Hurdl Nee Yorker.