No. 2413

Terrine of Foies-Gras in Aspic—Whole

Terrine Entiere de Foies-Gras en Aspic

Unmold a terrine of foies-gras; scrape it neatly with a knife on top and sides to remove all the exterior grease, and keep it on ice. Procure a mold of the same shape but an inch wider in diameter and an inch deeper; incrust it in pounded ice; decorate the bottom and sides with fanciful cuts of truffles, tongue, egg-white, and pistachios, dipping each piece into half-set jelly before fastening them on; cover this decoration with a layer of jelly, and pour in more to lay half an inch thick in the bottom. Place the foies-gras exactly in the center and finish filling the mold with cooled-off jelly; keep on ice. Put a rice foundation bottom one inch and a half in height on a plated metal tray with a half-inch high straight edge (the rice foundation should be one inch and a half less in diameter than the tray), turn the aspic out of its mold on to the rice foundation, fastening a small basket on top secured by a skewer, and filling it with small glazed truffles. Decorate around the rice foundation with triangular jelly croutons, as shown in the drawing.

← No. 2412 Aspic of Poies-Gras—Small The Cold Service No. 2414 Aspic of Lobster →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is an assembly piece rather than a cooking recipe: Ranhofer assumes you already have a finished terrine of foie gras and a pot of clear aspic jelly, and the whole exercise is about temperature control and patience. Everything hinges on the jelly being at the right stage — syrupy and just beginning to set, never warm, never firm.

The jelly"Jelly" here means a clarified, well-reduced meat or poultry aspic, set with its own gelatin or reinforced with added gelatin. "Half-set" is the tacky stage at which a spoonful clings; "cooled-off" means still liquid but no warmer than it has to be, or it will melt the decoration off the walls and soften the terrine.
Incrusting in pounded iceCrushed ice packed around the mold is the period's substitute for refrigeration, and it chills the metal walls directly. A deep bowl or tub of ice and a little water, with the mold seated in it, does the same thing; add a handful of salt to drive the temperature lower.
Building the liningSet the decoration one piece at a time, dipping each into half-set jelly so it sticks, then flood a thin coat over the whole design and let it firm before adding the half-inch base layer. Trying to do it in one pour lifts the truffle and tongue cuts and clouds the finished surface.
Mold sizesAn inch wider and an inch deeper than the terrine gives a jelly wall about half an inch thick all round — enough to hold together when turned out. Do not go thinner or the aspic cracks on unmolding.
The rice foundationThis is a socle: rice cooked to a stiff paste, pressed into a block and used as a display plinth. It is structural, not eaten, and modern presentations generally skip it and set the aspic straight on a chilled platter. The same is true of the little basket skewered on top.
Glazed truffles"Glazed" here most likely means truffles coated with reduced, near-setting aspic or meat glaze to give a shine, probably after cooking. Preserved whole truffles are the practical stand-in.
Croutons of jellyPour surplus aspic half an inch deep into a flat tray, chill until firm, and cut triangles with a knife dipped in hot water. Cut them shortly before serving; they weep if held long.
Holding and servingKeep the finished piece thoroughly cold until the moment it goes to table and serve it within a day: aspic-coated liver left at room temperature is a bacterial risk, and the jelly softens as it warms. Slice with a hot knife. Ranhofer gives no size for the terrine, so the yield depends entirely on the mold used.
Foie gras itselfProduction by gavage is banned or restricted in a number of countries and localities, so availability varies; a good duck liver mousse or pâté can be molded and treated the same way.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the repertoire he cooked at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry belongs to the long "Cold Service" chapter that supplied the buffet and ball supper — dishes built to stand for an hour on a sideboard and be looked at as much as eaten. Terrines of fattened goose liver were associated above all with Strasbourg, and by the second half of the nineteenth century tinned and potted foie gras from Alsace and the southwest of France travelled reliably enough to appear on American menus year round. The aspic casing is doing two jobs: it seals the liver from air, which was real preservation before mechanical refrigeration, and it provides a transparent field for the cut truffle, tongue, egg white and pistachio work that signalled an expensive kitchen. The rice socle, the skewered basket and the ring of jelly croutons are pure Carême-descended architecture, the sort of construction that fell out of fashion when service à la russe and plated courses took over the dining room.