The holy grail of French cuisine, at least according to popular culture, is foie gras. A goose or duck is force fed until it fattens up (becomes morbidly obese) and it's liver becomes fatty. This liver is then cooked and served in a variety of ways. Foie gras is pretty controversial, what with the force feeding of said goose or duck. Not surprisingly, PETA has some pretty major objections, and it's actually just been banned in California. Despite some personal issues with the practice, I figured I wasn't going to be in France every day and ordered it. I wanted to know what all the hype was. This is probably going to sound sacrilege to foodies everywhere, but I didn't love it. It was almost too fatty, rich and intense for me. I think I preferred the onion jam it was served with, to be honest (sshhhhh, don't tell the French!!).
Dad's lunch on the other hand I loved. Fortunately, we'd agreed to order different dishes, eat half, then swap. He had the tete de veau, or calves head. Very quintessential French cuisine. I'm not really squeamish about offal or the parts of the animal North American's don't usually eat. In fact, I think it makes no sense to waste any part of an animal. Besides, having had my fair share of hot dogs, I've probably had calves head before. It was unbelievably tender and the flavor was amazing. It was served with simple roast potatoes, the perfect accompaniment to cut the nearly overwhelming taste of the tete de veau.
The number one thing I wanted to eat in Paris, though, was a macaron from Pierre Herme. As an aspiring macaron maker, it was a pilgrimage of sorts for me. In addition to a dozen assorted macarons, we also got a couple tarts and I got a tin of Ispaphan tea.
Aahhh, j'adore Paris. <3
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