- So my name is Jason Quinn,
chef/owner of Playground, Playground 2.0
where we're standing right now
and Dough Exchange our bakery next door.
Today we are all about foie gras.
We're going to show four different varieties
of how it can be prepared or served.
And hopefully take some foie virgins
and turn them into believers.
(accordion music)
You look at the way that foie gras is produced
in Turkey or Hungary where ducks are nailed down
through their feet and they never move
their whole lives, and they have
a tube down their throat, just fed.
It's pure evil.
Where we get our foie gras from
these are ducks that run wild.
They're not in cages.
As a restaurant owner, it is our place
to provide things that people want to eat.
My problem with the ban of it
was not that foie gras was legal.
It's that someone was telling you
what you could or couldn't eat.
And that was what I felt was the reason
to stand up against it,
is more about the fact that people should
be able to eat what they like,
and if you don't want to eat it,
no one's ever going to make do it.
So this is smoked foie gras with a little bit of radish,
watercress, bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup.
- [Tester] He said to pick it up,
I don't I'm going to pick it up.
- This is like okay.
- Mm!
- Wow!
- I have to say like I wanted to not like this.
Like I really wanted to not like it,
but it's kind of awesome.
- It's both salty and sweet.
- I don't know how to explain the foie part of it.
It's almost like a animal butter.
- Yeah, yeah it's like animal butter.
- Animal butter, yeah. - Yeah, it's creamy sort of.
- What now it's raw?
- [Jason] Just cold smoked.
- I feel like if I would have remembered that
when I ate I would have been like freaked out.
But it was so good.
- Are we ready for the next course?
- [Tester] Yeah! - [Jason] Yeah?
- [Jason] This is one is foie gras with rhubarb jam
and gingersnap cookies.
And this is called torchon.
I think when it's cold like this
you get a lot of the subtlety of the flavor,
whereas when you try it hot in a few minutes,
you're going to find it's basically just warm fat.
- It melts like butter, but it's a liver,
how is this happening?
I thought I wouldn't like it by itself
but I think it's seriously really good,
just straight up by itself.
- Do you think, is it like melts in your mouth
but not in your hands.
- [Jason] No it'll melt in your hand.
- Yeah what are doing Mike?
- [Jason] This is the pan-seared foie gras
with the Inca corn, the Sumo tangerines
and Tandoori oil.
- You know when it's cooked it's a lot less creamy.
- I think I like this better than when it's like--
- [Jason] Cold?
- Yeah, I guess better than when it's cold.
- It tastes more meaty now.
- You've made this seem very civilized.
I kinda came into this thinking,
it would be like people would be like spitting food out
and you know...
- [Jason] This is with Yuzu Ponzu.
So ponzu is just like acidulated soy sauce
with a fresh yuzu juice, which is a citrus,
and some puffed rice on there for texture.
- It's like it's got Rice Krispies on it.
(laughter)
- Snap, crackle...
foie!
(laughter)
- Dude.
- This is good. - This is rich.
- (laughs) It's pure fat, man!
- This is maybe too intense for me.
- [Jason] Really?
- Dude this is the best one by far.
- This is so good.
- But if you lied to me and told me,
"This is a piece of steak."
I would just be like,
"This is the best steak I've ever had!"
(laughter)
- I don't mind the way it's produced
because everything else we eat meat-wise
is produced in a much worse way that foie gras is.
- I think what I thought was that
what's happening, how Jason said,
in some countries was happening everywhere.
So it's a little comforting to know that
that's not the way that they're all being treated.
- You know, to eat meat, and I love meat,
you have to not think about
how it's prepared that much.
Maybe a little too rich for me,
that last dish, I was glad it was my last one of the day
because I think I need to go take a nap after that.
- What up, dude.
- You know, Mardi Foie!
- Foie-dy Gras.
- Get Foie-d!
- Ok.
You guys are out of control.
- What the foie, Macy?
(laughter)