Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-18
PATE-DE-FOIE-GRAS
How the Famous French
Delicacy is Produced.
FAT GOOSE LINERS
HOW THE PEASANTS "LoAD" THE
GEESE WITH FOOD.
Winter Meat and Goose Grease-The
Pates and Terrines of Nerae
and Toulouse.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

TOULOUSE, France. November 5, 1905.
There are French ladies' who love pate
de-foie-gras better than their husbands.
There are French men who VIII conceal
their possession of real terrine of nerac
from their best friends, benefaetors and
business partners. When they cut 1t they
send the children out to play. Then they
lock the door and eat slice each, with
moist eyes and flushed cheeks husband and
wife paIpitatfng in kind Of beatifie trance.
This happens in Paris, where T have
known married couple to quarrel seriously
over Toulouse pate. which the husband,
sneaking into the pantry at am, sur
reptitiously finished Off. In Paris, that
center of substituttons. you keep 1t a secret
when you know where to buy genuine
Camembert or Brie cheese real York or
Prague ham, a capon that has really come
from the Bresee-or a pate-de-foie-gra
that has not been faxed up in some Paris
factory out of pigs liver, instead Of goose
liver.
In Toulouse we see the real thing all
round US. Picturesque peasants with bas-
kets on their arms bring goose livers to
the great and little establishments, all
famous Phenomenally fat and voluminous
livers are exhibited one day each in shop
windows before they are cooked. Around
them rise piles of terrfnes-round or oval
the still more lovely ohfong pates In their
luscious brown pie crust. And, twice a
week. to the goose market are brought
thousands of live geese so fat that their
tail feathers spread out like a fan.
The Peasants Standby.
This Toulouse goose is one Of the stand
bys OF the French peasant. Where the
ordinary domestic goose averages from
seven to eight pounds, the weight of the
Toulouse variety varies between thirteen
and twenty three pounds In the normal
state, and between twenty-six and thirty
two pounds after scientific fattening for
their livers sake.
Only automobiles who have done the
roads of southern-center France can have
an idea of the wonderful goose population
of this favored land The bird has bad
name for general Stiffness; yet have never
seen one come to grief beneath the wheels.
To meter through the Bresse is to kill
chickens every hour. No one can help 1t.
The roads are full of them. and they are
the most foolish creatures. The geese
of the Haute-Garonne also love to loiter in
the road. pay visits and meet in conven-
ton; and In this one department County,
there are just 650,000 adult geese upon the
roads In summer; but when the automo-
bile dashes up to one or the conventions
the birds stalk off with swift dignity. never
miscaIculating the distance, and then they
turn and hiss at you Indignantly.
The agricultural census OF the Haute-
Garenne is CSC. 900 geese; but as the roads
are full of them from the mountains Of
Auvergne to the Pyrenees and from Caras-
come to Mont-de-Marsen, a reasonable
guess would put their total population at
millions; and this is justified by the recent
census made by Prof. Gtrard Of the Vet
Urinary School of Toulouse. whose figure is
100000 adults, having an agricultural
value of $1-2G piece and a merchantable
value (after fattening) of 81 a piece. which
represents a total value OF 100000.
he a nrodNcf of
ton only. He has the uniform gray-brown
plumage of his ancestor, the wild goose.
little darker on the upper parts, and Of
very light ash-gray for the belly and
legs Too dark or golden tones are elements
for disqualification In agricultural shows
and indicators for elimination In selection.
The characteristics sought for are: a strong
head with large skull: dark brown eyes.
almost black, the ocular fiiet being bright
red; the feet mandarin-red; the beak light
orange-yellow. almost white at the point;
and the possession OF two pouches Of tat
the abdomen tfanonl. These latter pc
culiaritiea, especially the "fanon," Is highly
esteemed as Indicating by its size and early
for their volume, preceeity and aptitude
for fattening.
Early Career Of the Geess.
We who come on countless troops of
these gigantic geese hobnobbing on the
hardly recognize them In their goose mas.
ket fat at their finish. During the first
eighteen months of their lives they are
let to wander and feed at their own sweet
will, like pigs or sheep. each troop tended
by q child; and tha impression that they
are not birds but a kind Of two-legged
animal Is strengthened when you see them
taken up with sheep at sheartng time, for
pluclxng.
At the two different epochs of the year.
when their feathers are empty Of the red
dish liquid, the live geese can be perfectly
well pluckcd without injury to their health;
and these Tive featherS. constitute an Ina
portAnt product Of goose raising. They are
piucked from the birds neck, shirt front"
and abdomen. producing half pound Of
five feathers per bird fos each seni-an-
nua1 pIucttne; sud this half pound sails
for AZ much a. q. 40
Remark, & q not "eoose down and the
Paris dealers who assure customers that
down are decssvess No snen tAiae e.5sss.
M the uyes of ~ seesa ~ ta11ne fhsir