Foie Gras Vs Pate: Taste Of A Gourmet
Foie gras and Pate has a special power on the reader. That power is the ability to excite the reader because they know they will taste something divine. They don’t even have to be made into a fancy dish, a simple dish will be enough to make anyone scream “yummy”! However, there is one big problem that people will face when they are presented with both of these delicacies and that is trying to figure out how to eat them.
You can eat pate with regular ingredients or with foie gras. But you won’t be able to enjoy unique recipes that are made with foie gras. Thus I will be providing an in-depth comparison between the two. By the time you are done reading through my article, you’ll have things figured out!
Origins
Foie Gras
When most people look at the word foie gras, they think that it came from France. But you might be shocked to hear that you would be wrong to think that! Foie gras actually started a long time ago from Egypt. The technique would be passed onto the Jews and they would be the ones to pass it onto the French. The French would then be the ones to name it foie gras which means ‘fat liver’.
The name is another way to describe the process of making foie gras. They would force feed the birds to make their liver rich. With some experimentation the french found out that duck liver can also be made delicious with this technique.
Pate
On the other hand we can safely say that pate has started in France. The earliest known pate was made with foie gras. This means that pate is more unique in this comparison article. You would be able to enjoy a wider variety of flavors but unfortunately the recipes won’t be unique. The French didn’t do much for the food but they had the honor of naming it pate which means ‘pate’.
The name (as you guessed) is another way to describe the process of making pate. It is a mixture of a variety of ingredients like liver, meat, and vegetable. This would then be made into a paste which is enjoyed with bread.
Ingredient
Foie Gras
Making foie gras isn’t complicated at all. It is made by force feeding ducks with a mixture of whatever food they think would make the liver delicious. That is all it takes to get the foie gras for a wide variety of french recipes. This means that you don’t need any more ingredients if you want it simple. Additional required ingredients will depend on the recipe that you intend to follow!
Pate
Pate is made with a variety of ingredients but I will try to make the explanation simple. You start off by prepping the variety of meats and liver that you like. Then you combine it with the vegetables that you like and put the mixture into a blender. That doesn’t mean this is the only way to make it though. There are a wide variety of techniques that you can use in addition to this simplified method. I could take up the rest of the article to explain the different methods but that would do no one any good, this is why I encourage you to experiment!
Taste
Foie Gras
Foie gras is tasty but unfortunately expensive and that is why it might not be well known. Fortunately for you I have tasted it, so I will do my best to describe the taste for you. It is rich, buttery and melts in your mouth with each bite. There may be additional flavoring like wine, vegetables, and other possible garnishes. Of course it depends solely on the recipe used but it will always be tasty.
Pate
The taste of pate is a little more complicated to describe. That is because it is dependent on what type of combination that you use. It could taste like chicken, fish, pork, etc. You can also taste vegetables, herbs, and other possible spices. The only thing that is common in the different forms of pate is the texture. There will be a whole section dedicated to the topic on the texture of pate.
Texture
Foie Gras
The texture of foie gras is smooth and soft. But you would normally never eat foie gras raw like this. It is most likely to be seared and that will provide a crispy texture on the outside. The inside will still retain the smooth texture that is easy on anyone’s palette. Something is wrong if the foie gras is hard or/and rubbery. You are either being ripped off or the chef is extremely incompetent with the handling of foie gras. You’ll always love it if it is prepared correctly and will always hate it if it is not!
Pate
The texture of pate is comparable to the texture of cream. They are both soft and extremely easy to swallow with minimum chewing. That is only if you eat the pate by itself but no one really does that. Eating pate with toasted baguette adds another layer of dimension to the texture. The bread provides a crunchy texture that compliments the texture of the pate considerably. You’ll always love the texture of pate unless you dislike the taste of liver in the paste mixture.
Shape
Foie gras and pate can both have similar shapes if you prepare the same way. As mentioned earlier in the article you can make pate with foie gras. This means the shape of both of them can look like pudding in a container. The uniform look of the pate is extremely pleasing on the eyes.
But if you decide to not make the foie gras into a pate, then the look of the foie gras can best be described as a steak. This is also extremely pleasing to the eye and it stimulates the appetite. There is no one who won’t be eager to cut into the foie gras and enjoy a good big slice of it. The difference in shape also provides a different flavor because the prep is different.
Foie gras made into a pate will taste like duck liver and a variety of vegetables that may or may not complement the duck liver. A foie gras that is served normally and looks like a steak can be described as old reliable. The foie gras may always taste the same when served this way but you will never be disappointed!
Foie gras and Pate: Must Try Delicacies
Throughout this article you might have thought to yourself, ‘why not try both’? This I can understand because you can just eat pate as an appetizer and foie gras as an accompaniment to another food as a main dish. I don’t recommend this because this is too much liver for dinner. What I do recommend is that you should try one or the other when you can afford to have a luxury dinner. One of them is enough to elevate your dining experience tenfold.
There are good reasons as to why I make such a claim. It is nothing complicated and is actually quite straight forward. They have always been highly regarded by many Michelin star chefs. They are people who have constantly been to the world of flavors and thus this means that their words should be taken into consideration!
Flexibility
You might be shocked to hear that there are vegan versions of both pate and foie gras. On second thought you shouldn’t be surprised about pate but you definitely are surprised about foie gras. It is duck liver, so how are you going to make it vegan you are probably thinking. It is actually quite easy, make something that is similar to foie gras. That is done by combining vegan ingredients to make something that looks like it.
Pate is also made the same way. You just combine a wide variety of ingredients that are considered vegan. Then you blend that together to get that vegan pate. You will have to experiment with both the vegan version of pate and foie gras. This is required because you may or may not like the taste. There also isn’t much experimentation done because they are typically meat dishes.
Required Tools
For pate you would need a good pan, strainer, and blender for the preparations. The pan can also be used to help you prepare foie gras. The pan will help create a nice sear on the foie gras and to prepare ingredients for the pate. The foie gras process is done here but for pate you need to put it into the blender. The strainer is used if you want to do additional steps to heighten the flavor of the pate!
Conclusion
My winner in this comparison is foie gras! The reason for this is that I believe the foie gras outclasses the pate in several key points. It is very easy to make bad pate if you use bad combinations but it is very hard to make bad foie gras. Foie gras also provides a lot of complexity with the wide variety of recipes out there. Pate on the other hand always ends up the same way regardless of how you prepare it. The only real positive is that pate is cheaper to make but in terms of scoring foie gras still wins.
In the end you might not agree with me about foie gras being better than pate and that is okay! Your reason for preferring pate might just be you like the taste more and that is also fine. I just hope that in the end I managed to make you more informed about the two!
