Fois Gras preparation from "Step Up to the Plate"

Like about everyone else in the movie theater I groaned when Sébastian Bras put this dish together. I remember the squash puree and the fois gras, plus olive (I'll maybe use a tapenade), but I feel like there was something else as well--something green/vegetal? I owe a friend a dinner party and was thinking of this dish, which seems relatively straightforward/easy.

ryanm
  • Posted by: ryanm
  • September 30, 2012
  • 2061 views
  • 12 Comments

12 Comments

ryanm
ryanm October 2, 2012
True--in fact in all of NYC it's only in two theaters, so I suppose that should have been my clue that not everyone on Food52 has had the chance to see it.
 
pierino
pierino October 2, 2012
I've read the review of "Step up..." but have not yet seen it. This has been a great year for documentary food movies; "Hiro Dreams of Sushi", "El Bulli". Unfortunately these only run in art theaters, and typically with short runs. If you live in a smaller market you may never get the chance to see them.
 
ryanm
ryanm October 1, 2012
Both Momofuku Ko and Nougatine have some wonderful fois gras preparations. I'd be at the barricades if anyone tries to deny me these! (For the record, I am *for* the ban on large soft drinks....) In the meantime, it looks like not enough people have seen the movie I asked about, so I'll either need to do some online research or--better yet--take a food trip to the Bras restaurant in Laguiole.
 
amysarah
amysarah October 1, 2012
Foie gras is not banned in NYC or NY state at this point. It's on many menus.
 
pierino
pierino October 1, 2012
Yes. I did a little more research and it's not yet banned in New York, but it seems to be on the Attorney General's work list of stupid things we can mess with. Actually not banning foie gras in NY would be smart because upstate has been one of the most important producers. And California has been knocked out of the game.
 
ryanm
ryanm October 1, 2012
I buy D'Artagnan fois gras at my corner store! (Maybe proof that Brooklyn is not like the rest of the world.) I'm with you on the silliness, indeed ignorance, of the ban. There's a good piece on the ethics of fois gras production over at Serious Eats:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/12/the-physiology-of-foie-why-foie-gras-is-not-u.html?ref=search
 
ryanm
ryanm September 30, 2012
New York, too? I live in NYC (Brooklyn) and haven't seen it disappear yet. But I lived in Chicago before it was banned there, and enjoyed it at the French Laundry last year before it was banned there, so it could be that I'm bad luck for fois gras lovers to have around.
 
pierino
pierino October 1, 2012
Possibly it's only a New York City thing (along with 32 oz soft drinks). The most important distributor of things like foie gras, D'artagan, is based in New Jersey so you can sneak some back through the tunnel anyway.

Unless you are talking about school lunches banning certain types of food is completely ridiculous. The foie gras ban in California is based on the traditional "gavage" which the hippies think is inhumane. And that's nonsense. I'm not a duck, you are not a duck. To actual ducks gavage is like Pizza Hut.
 
pierino
pierino September 30, 2012
Just please be glad that you still have access to foie gras. They've taken it away from us in California (and New York) for entirely stupid, hippie nonsense reasons.
 
ChefJune
ChefJune October 1, 2012
Pierino, where in New York is Foie gras gone from? I'm here and not at all aware of any ban. Some chefs have taken it off their menus, but it is still very much available in restaurants as well as from D'Artagnan and Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
 
ryanm
ryanm September 30, 2012
I very much liked it--not quite as food-porn-y as I'd anticipated, for better or worse. There are a few extended scenes of food preparation that just take your breath away; these are interspersed with long scenes about the passing of the torch from Michel to Sébastian Bras. There is also a surprising number of scenes of the two Bras chefs contemplating, or running in, nature. It's an hour and a half, maybe a smidge too long for the material. My recommendation is to watch this before a big meal, since you will leave with a growling stomach.
 
Kristen M.
Kristen M. September 30, 2012
Sadly I don't have the answer, but after looking around online I really want to see Step up to the Plate! Did you like it?
 
Recommended by Food52

Popular on Food52