We love foie gras and I was curious to try and make foie gras ice cream. I looked at some recipes on-line, but found none that made sense to me. Some even suggested to discard (!) or save for another use the fat rendered from the foie, and to replace it with butter?! That would be such a huge waste of flavor. So I decided to think of my own recipe and keep it simple: pureed cooked foie gras with an ice cream base (crème anglaise) and some reduced Sauternes. The result was excellent!
The easiest way to cook the foie gras is sous-vide, but if you don’t have sous-vide equipment you could also cook it in the oven.
Ingredients
Makes about 500 ml (2 cups)
300 grams (.66 lb) raw foie gras (goose or duck, frozen is fine)
60 ml (1/4 cup) Sauternes
100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
4 egg yolks
250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream
pinch of salt
Instructions
Vacuum seal 300 grams of foie gras…
…and cook sous-vide for 2 hours at 57C/135F. This will pasteurize it. It is best to remove any veins from inside the foie before cooking, but because mine was frozen I didn’t bother. You won’t notice it anyway after the foie has been pureed.
Alternatively, place the foie gras in a baking dish and bake at 135C/275F for about 15 minutes or until the foie gras is just set inside. Cut a piece in half to test for doneness.
Meanwhile, make an ice cream base. Combine 4 eggs and 100 grams of sugar in a large bowl.
Whisk until it becomes pale and creamy.
Add 250 ml of heavy cream, and whisk to mix.
Heat this mixture in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until it reaches a temperature of 85C/185F. You have now made crème anglaise.
If you don’t use a thermometer you can keep going until it coats the back of a spoon, but using a thermometer is a lot easier and faster (because you don’t have to be as careful that it heats up too quickly because the thermometer will tell you when it’s time to turn off the heat).
In a saucepan, reduce 60 ml of Sauternes to about half.
When the foie has been cooked, put it in a blender and add the reduced Sauternes.
If you have a strong blender like a Vitamix…
…you can blend it until it is completely smooth. Otherwise, push the mixture through a fine sieve before continuing.
Add the crème anglaise to the blender…
…and blend briefly until the color is homogeneous. Chill this mixture completely in the refrigerator.
When the mixture has been chilled, churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Serve at once, or put in a plastic container and freeze. Remove from the freezer about half an hour before serving and put in the refrigerator to allow the ice cream to warm up to about -10C/14F.
Wine pairing
This is outstanding with Sauternes.
Flashback
Porcini-crusted venison steak is a simple preparation that is special enough for a dinner party as the porcini crust is a nice touch and most of us don’t eat venison on a regular basis.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
I don’t know! I really don’t know if I could eat this! And foie gras is one of my favorite things to eat! I shouldn’t have an opinion until I taste it, but I think i would prefer the savory preparations of foie gras. What did you think?!!
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It was delicious!
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Thank you Stefan, this sounds absolutely delicious. Did you serve it as an aperitif or first course? Did you serve anything with it, toast, pain d’epices or something else?
I will make this as soon as I receive my Thermomix😄
Have a good weekend,
Leif
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Hi Leif, I served it as a dessert. It was more an experiment than part of a dinner party, so I didn’t serve anything with it. Toasted brioche would be nice though. It would even work with blue cheese or dark chocolate shavings.
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Thank you for your reply, I would have guessed this was for the beginning of the meal, but I will re-think this.
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I would never attempt making anything like this, but I would love to try it – sounds very adventurous.
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If you have the equipment (sous-vide, blender, and ice cream maker) it is actually quite easy 🙂 Thanks for sharing this on Twitter, I liked reading all the reactions.
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Yep, the reactions were interesting 🙂
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* huge grin* As you would ‘hate, loathe and despise’ [fully aware of the tautology!!] any comment I would make I”ll just wish you and Kees a very relaxed and happy weekend . . .
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How very intriguing ! You know, there was a time when sweet and savoury dishes were eaten at the same time so who is to say whether this couldn’t be served as a starter (with fresh figs and blue cheese?) or with a little amaretto biscuit on the side for crunch? Oh it’s such fun to experiment in the kitchen ! OI! Isn’t it your birthday soon? (I remember because it was close to my son’s) … Happy happy BIrthday if it is to be and Happy belated BIrthday if it has already been ! mwah!
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Thanks Jo. It was my birthday on the day I posted the foie gras ice cream recipe, so you remembered it very well. I intended this as a dessert and thus included quite a bit of sugar, but it would be great with fresh figs (unfortunately we can’t get any good ones here) and blue cheese.
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I so enjoy visiting your kitchen, Stefan. I really do. You’re game to try anything and I can trust your critiques. Just in the past 30 minutes, I’ve seen you prepare oyster sauce, risotto with beets, and now foie gras ice cream. This may be a bridge too far for my tastes but the fact that you attempted it is sure to bring me back to see what else you’ve got up your sleeve. 😀
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Pure io vado matta per il fois gras, al gelato non avrei mai pensato. Penso alle oche …
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Stefan, interesting recipe and others: inspiring comments. I may serve this as a starter with some grilled radicchio Treviso between 2 pieces of toasted bread, and let the guests find out for themselves that they are eating an adult version of their childhoof favorite, an ice cream waffle.
BTW Stefan I noticed a, rare, missed opportunity for you to use your s-v: put ingredients for creme anglaise in a zip-lock bag, whisk and cook for 30min at 82 degrees. It frees up time and leftovers can be stored for more than a week.
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Hi Jeroen,
I intended this as a dessert and chose the amount of sugar accordingly, but your idea of serving at as an appetizer sounds great.
I have considered making creme anglaise in the sous-vide, but the recipes I’ve seen mentioned that you should ‘massage’ the bag during the cooking, and thus it didn’t seem like a way to save time for me. I guess I should give it a try; thanks for the suggestion.
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The royal route in those recipes is, before bagging, to blend or whisk. I found out that you can also whisk in the bag itself, no massaging needed. Another advantage: by extending the time, not recommended for stovetop technique, added herbs or spices will give more flavour. With the zip-lock bag you can measure this easily along the way.
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I had foie gras ice cream in a restaurant in Bergerac once and I have to say it was delicious!
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