questions about foie gras

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

That was a nice barn in the article.

 

[becky3086]

Interesting, I had no idea what this was and read the article and it doesn't seem any different from any other animal produced for food. I can't see where the problem is.

 

[dacjohns]

Kind of like veal.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Good article, but it's still not natural. Which is why so many people oppose it. I mean think about it.... you shouldn't have to force feed a duck to make it's liver bigger?

I'm sure good results still happen from giving them plenty of high carb feed. For a backyard producer trying to raise this for themselves I would see no reason to force feed them.

Put them in a chicken type tractor and fatten them up with good quality feed. Ducks are glutins anyways especially Pekins.

By the way... in those pictures they look like a muscovy / pekin cross.

Good luck with your venture... either way as long as the ducks are given a good life I don't see a big problem with it. Don't support it... but I'm not going to talk you out of it either.

Veal is the same way... I don't support it and won't eat it... but that's as far as I take it. I'm not about to protest at a restaurant that serves it... That's just creepy in my opinion.

 

[sommrluv]

I'm interested in discussing this as well.

Birds naturally gorge themselves for upcoming migration, or once it gets cold out. If you've ever hunted geese over a cornfield a month into migration, you'll see some extremely large livers! It is a natural process.

There are a couple producers who don't gavage, and some still good ones that do, but their ducks have a happy life. Some offer a chilled environment so the ducks will feed themselves.

I have ordered Grade B from several different foie producers, and it's normally $35-$40 a lb, but in season, grade A can run you over $100.

It doesn't taste a thing like liver, just vaguely.

 

[Ibicella]

Quote:
Typically in commercial operations, ducks and geese are kept in small cages so they can't move, and force fed several times a day by having a tube stuffed down their throats and injected with high carb mash into their stomachs. Kind of like veal with ducks. This forces their liver to become highly fatty as quickly as possible, and the harvested liver is foi gras. It's considered a cruel practice, and this is why it's illegal in many places.

But as Wifezilla has pointed out, you can just have a fat and happy goose/duck without caging or force feeding and still get some good fatty liver and delicious meat without being cruel to the animal. A much better option for the home grower, as the the OP wanted.

I think I may well try this out myself. I love liver pastes of all kinds, but object to the treatment of the ducks/geese in commercial operations. This would be a wonderful alternative.

 

[pardygwyn]

Hmmm I might have to try that the next time I have some unnecessary drakes. :9

 

[lokalori]

although it may be unnatural to force feed ducks it is also unnatural to farm raise any type of poultry. It is especially not natural to raise ducks on grain. I think the point is that gravage can be used in a way that doesn't harm the ducks and will produce a high quality fatty liver. I plan to do a direct comparison of over fed "natural" glutton ducks vs gravage ducks. I'll probably start with pekin instead of a hybrid.


-Loki

 

[Wifezilla]

Let us know how your test turns out.

 

[irf1983]

I've seen in Italy where they harvest "natural" foie gras right before winter when the geese naturally gorge on food. However the liver wasn't nearly as large and was not rated as well in taste tests. Force feeding seems to be the only way to get a true fatty foie gras.