The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-01-02
THE PATE DE F0IE GRAS.
HISTORY OF THIS DELICATE DISH
so POPULAR IN FRANCE.
Death Of It's Greatest Makcr-uow the
Goose Iivcrs Are Made Fat -Apooryphsl
story Of Dnmas- The Famous Pies ef
Strasburc Giving Them "A Soul.

At Colmar. in Alsace. died in his list
wear q worthy bourgeois named Jean
Mangold. who. In the opinion Of al! save
some members Of the medical profession.
deserved well, not only of his own coun-
try, but of the whole world. COlmar,
the antique Commbaria of the Romans,
next 20 Strasburg. Is unsurpassed for the
fabrication Of "pates de fOie gras. The
friends Of the late ". Mangod, indeed,
who was for many years the leading
pastry cook at Colmar. claim that his
pies were even superior 20 those made at
Straeburg. NJ Mangold was a poet TO
boot, and composed a large number Of
local idyis satircs. vaudcvilles and songs
for music But it will be with his pies,
and not with his poems In his hand that
he viii probably 90 down 70 postesity.
Ii might be desirable in the outset 10
sdgmatizc as wholly apocryphal the story
% which Alexandra Dumas the elder, IN
his "Dictionnaire de Cuisine, has given
currency as TO the horrible fortunes in
ficted Oh the Alsatian geese in order 10
fatten their livers 10 the degree required
by the pastry cooks. Starting with the
pOs;ulate that the liver Of the bird can
only be fatiened by the tumefaction Of
that organ and that for pie making pur-
poses the goose livers should be ten or
twelve times the normal size, the author
Of "Moute 'Cristo' goes on 20 say mat
the wretched bipeds are nailed by tl'eir
web feet 90 boards, that their eyes are
put ont. and that they are necessarily
stuffed with pounded nuts and deprived
Of water
sTUFTING TIE LIVE BIRDS.
Another alaunist, improving on Alex
andre Dumas asserts that the nailed
down geese are placed before a raging
fire and allowed to drink as much water
as they like. thus leading to enlarge
mcnt Of the liver. As a matter Of fact,
the birds, Ike capOns and turkeys, are
no doubt systematically crammed,
usually with a paste made Of Indian
corn and millet; but there is no more
truth in the wild stories Of the nailed
down feet, the binding and the semi
roasting in front Of on ardent fire than
there Is I'm the tales that turtle soup IL
made Of cOnger eel and the sauce called
SOY from cockroaches.
Toulouse. I'm the south Of France, Ruff
Gee, i'm the Charcnte and Nerac, in the
B0rdclais, have i'm modern times, rivaled
Strasburg and Colmar in the making Of
"pates de eJie gras;" and there are culin-
airy antiquaries who maintain that
pasiies of fattod goose liyers are a
Gallo Roman survival of Apician origin.
Tho mode of fattoning the geese was
somewhat cruel. The birds were COOped
in solitary confinement in very narrow
cages; three times "a day they were
eOrged with maize. and. on the twenty
second day Of examining, a spoonful Of
POPPY oil was added 10 the corn; water
was freely given them, but 1t was always
mixed with sweet wort from the
brewery. At the end of forty-two days
the goose became so fat as TO be In dan
Zor of gufiOcati0n and was therefore
Killed. It's proper weight should then lie
about sixteen pounds out Of which the
liver should weigh thirty-two ounces.
Another quicker but more eqnivOc3l way
of fattoning the geese was to mix anti
mony with the tarinaceOus paste with
which the birds were crammed.
HOW TO MAKE THE PIE.
At Stra5burg the construction Of a pate
Is q serious and even solemn affair Six
fattcned livers are the ordinary pabulum
for q pie; they must first be washed in
many waters and then parboiled, and are
next scrupulously trimmed so as 10 free
them from all iibrous substance and from
any matter approaching bitterness in
flavor. Each liver is then cut in two,
and, out of the dozen, three are chosen
TO be beaten in a mortar and passed
through a sieve with bacon, shalots,
parsley and mushrooms, SO as to make a
"farce, or fOrcemcat. which IS boiled /
and forms the basis of the pie. The other
half livers are then larded with the finest
PcrigOrd truillcs. cut in tho shape Of
dice. and the contents OF the pie are made
90 consist of layers of liver truilles and
fOrccmeat. Two hours are sufficient TO
bake this dainty dish, fit TO be set before
% whole congress Of kings and emperOr5.
When tho pic is Withdrawn from the
oven the top crust should be dolicately
lifted and large glass of Madeira poured
into the interior. Then il should be her
motically closed, so as TO be fit to be at
once packed and dispatched to the utter
most ends Of the earth.
IL remains, however, TO show how
these famous pies came TO be made az
StrasbIrg and COlmar at all. Only 100
years have elapsed since the French
military governor of the province Of
Alsace, Marshal de Contades, brought
with him to StrasbuTg as cook a Nor
man by the name of Close. Alsace was
already remarkable for It "terrines" Of
fat goose livers, which were preserved in |
earthen pipkins with layer of clarified
butter under the cover. They were
somewhat Tudely prepared, and lacked
one supreme accessory. The artistic
Close practically exclaimed, "Pipkin,
thou shalt become a pie" He discarded
the earthen jar and imprisoned the rich
livers in a caskot Of pie crust. The body
is there" continued the enthusiastic
chef, eve must now give it a SOUL" and
he found a spiritual element for his pie
in the exciting perfume of the Peri
gordian truflle Close, the Norman, must
assuredly be considered as the inventor
of the Strasburg pie. - London Daily
Nous