Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-26
THE PREPARATION OF
PATE-DE-FO|E- CRAS
How the Famous French Con-
coction of Fat Goose Liver
Is Made.
HOW THE GEESE ARE FED
Two or Three Times a Day They Com
pei the Birds to Feed Until They
Weigh as High as Twenty
Three Pounds.
From the washington Star.

a. 80 AAAS " NRAAAAAo wa 1900
Some French ladies love pate-de-foie-
gras better thar their husbands. There
are French men who will conceal their
possession of q real terrine Of nerac
from their best friends. benefactors and
business partners. When they cut it
they send the children out to play. Then
they lock the door and eat a slice each,
with moist eyes and flushed cheeks,
husband and wife palpitating In a kind
OF beatiic trance.
This happens IN Paris, where / have
known a married couple TO quarrel Sc
riously over a Toulouse pate, which the
husband, sneaking into the pantry at 2
a. m, surreptitiously finished off. In
Paris, hat center of Substitutions, o
keep 1t a secret when o know where
to buy a genuine. Camembert or Brie
cheese, q real York or Prague ham, a
capon hat la really come from the
Bresee-or a pate-de-foie-gras that has
not bSen faxed up In some Paris factory
out or pigs liver, instead OF goose liver,
In Toulouse we see the real thing all
round us. Picturesque peasants with
baskets or their arms bring goose liv-
ers TO the great and little establish
ments. all famous. Phenomenally fat
and voluminous livers are exhibited one
day each in shop windows before they
are cooked. Around them rise piles of
terrines-round or oval earthen pots of
the perfected product-and h still
more lovely oblong pates in their lusci-
Gus 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
standbys of the French peasant. Where
the ordinary domestic goose averages
from, ava ~ nirht .a.n1 tkA xxrAf.~1f
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 automobilists who have done the
roads of southern-center France have
an idea Of the wonderful goose
population OF this favored land. The
bird has a bad name for general silli-
ness; yet | a never seen one come
to grief beneath the wheels. TO motor
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 conventions; n in this one depart
meat County, there are just $50, 900
adult geese upon the roads In summer;
but when the automobile dashes up to
one of the conventions the birds stalk
off with swift dignity, never miscal-
culating the distance, and then they
turn and hiss at you Indignantly.
The agricultural ensus OF the Haute-
Garonne is $4,000 geese; but as the
roads are full of them from the noun
tains of Auvergne to the Pyrenees and
from Carasconne to Mont-de-Marsen, a
reasonable guess would put their total
population at millions; and this is justi-
fled by the recent census made by Pro-
fessor Girard, of the Veterinary School
OF Toulouse, whose figure Is 1000, 900
adults, having an agricultural value of
S1.20 apiece and a m~erchantable value
(after fattening) of "a apiece, which
represents a total value of $S, 900. 900.
The Toulouse goose is a product of
selection only. He has the uniform gray
brown plumage OF his ancestor. the
wild goose, a little darker on the upper
parts, and OF very light ash-gray for
the belly n legs. Too dark or golden
tones are elements for disqualification
in agricultural shows and indicators for
elimination In selection. The charac-
teristics sought for are: A strong head
with a large skull; dark brown eyes,
almost black, the ocular fllet being a
bright red; the feet mandarin red; the
beak light orange-yellow, almost white
at the point; n the possession of two
pouches Of fat dangling beneath the
chin (bavette) and the abdomen
(fanon). These latter peculiarities, es-
pecially the "fanon," is highly esteemed
as indicating by It's size and early ap-
pearance birds that will be remarkable
for their volume, precocity n apti-
tude for f%attening.
Early Career Of the Geese.
We who come on countless troops Of
fhagn ut0antsn oQaca h~nhnnhhinO m thu
highway or touring gaily through the
fields hardly recognize them in their
goose market fat at their finish. Dur
ing 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 a child;
and the impression that they are not
birds but a kind OF t~wo-legged animal
Is strengthened when you see them TAX
en- up with sheep at shearing time, for
plucking.
At the two different epochs Of the
year, when their feathers are empty OF
the reddish liquid. the live geese can
be perfectly well plucked without in
jury to their health; and these live
feathers" constitute an important
product of goose raising. They are
plucked from the birds neck, shirt
front" and abdomen, producing half a
pound OF live feathers" per bird for
each semi-annual %plucking: n this
half pound sells for as much as S1.40.
Remark, IL Is not goose down." and
the Paris dealers who assure customers
that this or that quilt is filled with
Tive" goose down are deceivers. No
such thing exists, because no peasant
would dream of risking the lives of his
geese by taking their down from them.
When the goose down is not itself
separated from the feathers plucked
from dead birds the mixture sells as
high as $1.75 per pound. though in
themselves dead feathers" are quoted
very much lower than live feathers,
The pure unmixed down sells anywhere
between $3.50 and $3.50 per pound, espe-
cially when il passes for swans down.
1t is used for the swans down and
e%iderdown quilts. without which no
middle-class Paris family considers it,
SELF equipped.
Feather beds have zone out in Paris
and the great towns, but well-to-do
French peasants still prefer TO sleep
on feathers while goose feathers are
always an important trade staple for
the making OF pillows.
Importance CT the Goose.
An even more important product of the
goose Is had from the birds the farmer
does ROT cell alive at the goose market. The
farmeY KRIS the goose. sei,s It's Town and
feat for quilts and pillows, sells IT,
liver de fo.e gras. sells its breast
TN a-d then pots down the 1sxa,