The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-07-09
THE PATE DE F0IE GRAS.
HISTORY OF THIS DELICATE DISH
so POPULAR IN FRANCE.
Oath OF It's Greatest Maker-How the
Goose Livers Are Made Fat-Apocryphal
Story of Dumas-The Famous Pies Of
Strasburg-Giving Them a Soul.


strasburg-Giving Them a Soul.
At Colmar, in Alsace, died in his list
year worthy bourgeois named Jean
Mangold. who, in the opinion Of all save
some members of the medical profession,
deserved well, not only of his own coun-
try, but of the whole world. ColmGr,
the antique Columharia of the Romans,
next Ia Strasburg, is unsurpassed for the
fabrication of "pates de foie gras." The
friends of the late NJ. Mangoid, indeed,
who was for many years the leading
pastry cook at Colmar, claim that his
pies were even superior to those made at
Strasburg. NJ. Mangold was poet to
boot, and composed large number of
local idyls, satires, vaudevilles and songs
for music. But it will be with his pies,
and not with his poems in his hand that
he will probably go down to postesity.
1t might be desirable in the outset to
stigmatize as wholly apocryphal the story
to which Alexandra Dumas the elder, in
his "Dictionnaire de Cuisine" has given
currency as to the horrible tortures in
tiicted on the Alsatian geese in order to
fatten their livers to the degree required
by the pastry cooks. Starting with the
postulate that the liver of the bird can
only he fattened 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 Monte Cristo" goes on to say that
the wretched bipeds are nailed by their
web feet TO boards, that their eyes are
put out, and that they are necessarily
stuffed with pounded nuts and deprived
of water.
STUFFING THE LIVE BIRDS.
Another alarmist, improving on Alex
andre Dumas, asserts that the nailed
down geese are placed before raging
fire and allowed to drink as much water
as they like, thus leading to enlarge
ment of the liver. AS matter of fact,
the birds, like capons and turkeys, are
no doubt systematically crammed,
usually with 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 an ardent fire than
there is in the tales that turtle soup is
made of conger eel and the sauce called
soy from cockroaches.
Toulouse, in the south of France, Ruff
fec, in the Charente and Nerac, in the
Bordelais, have in modern times, rivaled
Strasburg and Colmar in the making of
| pdteS VIC lolc SIdS, tiIiu tiieIe are GUILT
airy antiquaries who maintain that
pasties of fatted goose ivers are a
Gallo-Roman survival of Apician origin.
The mode Of fattening the geese was
somewhat cruel The birds were cooped
in solitary confinement In very narrow
cages: three times a day they were
| gorged with maize, and, on the twenty
second day of examining, spoonful Of
! poppy oil was added To the corn; water
was freely given them, but it was always
mixed with sweet wort from the
brewery. At the end of forty-tw DAYS
the goose became SO fat as 10 be in dan
ger of suffocation and was therefore
killed. Its proper weight should then be
about sixteen pounds, out of which the
liver should weigh thirty-two ounces.
Another quicker but more equivocal way
of fattening the geese was TO mix anti
mony with the farinaceous paste with
which the birds were crammed.
HOW TO MAKE THE PIE.
At Strasburg the construction of pate
Is a serious and even solemn affair Six
fattened livers are the ordinary pabulum
for pie; they must first be washed in
many waters and then parboiled, and are
next scrupulously trimmed SO as 20 free
them from all fibrous 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 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
Perigord truiDes, cut in the shape OF
/ ~ l,n = Of m mo n 20 ~
TO consist of layers of liver, truflies and
forcemeat. Two hours are sufficient &c
bake th.i dainty dish, fit to be set before
a whole congress of kings and emperors.
When the pie is withdrawn from the
oven the top crust should he delicately
lifted and large glass of Madeira poured
into the interior. Then it should be Ter
medically closed. SO a. to lie fit to be al
once packed and dispatched to the utter
most ends of the earth.
1t remains, however, TO show how
these famous pies came TO be made al
Strasburg and Colmar at all. Only ION
years have elapsed since the French
I military governor of the province OF
Alsace. Marshal de Contades. brought
with him to Strasburg as cook a Nor
man by the name of Close. Alsace wa!
already remarkable for it "terrines" OF
fat goose livcrs, which were preserved il
earthen pipkins with q layer of clarified
butter under the cover. They were
somewhat rudely prepared, and Lacked
one supreme accessory. The artistic
Close practically exclaimed, "Pipkin
thou shalt become a pier He discarded
the earthen jar and Imprisoned the ricl
livers in casket of pie crust. The body
is there" continued the enthusiast,
chef, 1--WE must now give it a SOUL" ant
he found spiritual element for his pit
in the exciting perfume of the Peri
gordian trufiie. Close, the Norman, mus
assuredly be considered as the invento
Of the Strasburg pie. - London Dali.
News.
The shape and placing of the teeth arr
not without significance in the charactel
7 given ly the mouth. When the upper
gum shows above the teeth directly tn,
lips are opened, it is sign Of cold anC
phlegmatic nature. Short, small teetl
are held by the physiognomists to denot'
weakness and short life, while rather
I long teeth, if evenly set in the head, de
4 pote long life. The more the teeth, il
, point, size, shape and arrangement ap
!: proach to those Of carnivorous animals
? the more violent are the animal instinct
i T.. i. IL Il.