Days Twenty Nine to Thirty One

They blindsided us with escargot and calf's liver, all in the same week. "Whut ease zhe ahntrhay toodhay?" The Head of Everything inquired. "Le Foie De Veau A L'Echalotte," Chef replied. I've never seen the Head of Everything so hungry. "Oh yhes!" he replied, as I do when I see a margarita. "Hav zhem surve me twho."

Liver is a love it or hate it piece of meat. Everyone has someone in their family who loves it. Liverwurst, by the way, does not count since it is only 20% liver at most. Have you ever seen a whole calf liver? Its huge. Bigger than a whole chicken. Intimidating in a floppy, sinewy, organy kind of way.

It didn't taste nearly as bad as it looked. After chef's morning demo, we cornichon usually spring out of our seats, tasting spoons in hand, and skip up to the chef's table to get our breakfast. We are required to taste EVERYTHING. We were visablly unenthused about tasting the liver. As I expected, it was just okay. The texture is too smooth and the aftertaste is too prominent for me.

The escargot were surprisingly good. We served those little guys doused in compound butter (a butter flavored with fresh herbs and garlic), over a small circle of freshly baked puff pastry. How do you buy fresh escargot? You don't. You buy canned. They even used canned in Paris.

The liver recipe is below. The Head of Everything believes, "Evrheeone shood knowe ow to mhake guud lhivur." It is a cheap meat that feeds half of the world.
Also included is useful information about deglazing pans, a wonderful technique.

LE FOIE DE VEAU A L'ECHALOTTE (Veal or Calf Liver with Shallot)

Ingredients
Calf Liver - sliced 1/4" to 1/2" thick
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Clarified Butter or Oil
Shallots
1/2 c. Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 c. white wine

Methods
Begin heating a pan over high heat. Slice liver 1/4" to 1/2" thick and coat with flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Put clairified butter in the pan (or oil) and heat until bubbles begin to form. Drop in the liver. Sear it for no more than 1 minute and flip. Sear the other side until just cooked. Calf liver should be cooked through, but have a slight tint of pink in the middle. Remove it from the pan, cover it with foil and let the meat rest.

Now comes the deglazing part. Deglazing is a must in French cooking - it is the only way to make a rich, flavorful sauce. Its also a good way to clean a crusty pan. When the pan is hot, pour white wine (water, stock, or whatever) into the pan and scrape the crusty stuff off the bottom and sides with a wooden spoon. If the crusty stuff was burnt, discard the deglazing liquid or your sauce will be bitter. If the crusty stuff was brown, you can reduce the deglazing liquid until the pan is almost dry and it will be a tremendous base for a sauce.

While the liver is resting, deglaze the pan with white wine. When pan "au sec," (or the white wine has cooked away and pan is nearly dry), add the sliced shallots to the pan. Sweat the shallots until soft and add the red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Reduce the sauce until it thickens and finish the sauce with 1 Tbsp. of butter before serving over the liver.