Shopping for foie gras and black truffles in Chicago

Watertown, Wi History wrote:The city was famous for it geese, and a Watertown goose came to be synonymous for the best in such fowl. Noodling, or forced feeding of geese with cooked noodles made of wheat, corn, and barley, for a month or so before marketing them, resulted in geese of great size and greatly enlarged livers. It was for these enlarged livers that Watertown geese were prized, the livers being made into pate de foie gras. As much as 50,000 pounds of Watertown geese had been shipped to New York markets in a single season. The last noodling was in the 1970s.

STUFFED GEESE BACK IN THE NEWS wrote:As most of our longtime readers know, Watertown was once the capital of the stuffed geese industry. At one time hundreds upon hundreds of geese were stuffed here in Watertown and most then found their way to New York City where the liver was considered a delicacy.

The process was a time consuming one. Geese were force fed noodles several times a day, including a night feeding. This constant feeding of course fattened the birds and livers became enlarged. These enlarged livers were the basis for pate de foie gras which was served in such fine restaurants as Luchow's which was located in the heart of New York City until it was destroyed in a fire in 1995.

As the years went by, fewer and fewer farmers in Watertown continued with the old German tradition, primarily because of the extreme amount of time it took to noodle geese. The industry also slipped away because of ever stricter rules regarding transportation of fresh foods across state lines.

If we recall correctly, one of the last farmers to be noodling geese was the Fred Rummlers on North Church Street. If we remember correctly they continued the practice as late as about 1978 or 1980 before they too decided it was getting to be too much for them.

Although that industry died in Watertown about a quarter of a century ago, it has not completely ended. It's still being practiced in fashionable California where these livers are still considered a delicacy.

One of our readers alerted us to a short article in Time magazine this fall which recounted some mischief created by a band of environmental activists who are deeply opposed to the practice because it's inhumane. The article was written by Terry McCarthy.

Under the cover of darkness these activists raided a foie gras farm near Stockton, Calif., and "rescued" four ducks whose livers were headed for posh restaurants.


However, it appears the clandestine operation was not a total success because one duck died during the raid.

The raid, which was the fourth on the foie gras business in California since July, is an escalation of a campaign by animal rights groups to have the practice stopped. The article said the delicacy is now only produced in California and in New York's Hudson Valley.

The article explained "The technique is to force-feed ducks with cornmeal through a tube put down their throats several times a day, causing their livers to enlarge. Guillermo Gonzalez, owner of the Stockton foie gras farm, says the procedure doesn't harm the birds, whose livers are enlarged naturally in the wild before they migrate. Counters Sarah Jane Blum, a spokeswoman for GourmetCruelty.com: 'If this were being done to dogs or cats, the producers would without a doubt be in prison for animal cruelty!'"

We'll leave it up to our readers as to whether this is cruelty to animals but we're thinking Watertown's place in foie gras lore can't be all wrong.

We also found a Web site which talked extensively about this delicacy. This site said, "Foie gras is made from the livers of fattened geese or ducks.

"The Egyptians are thought to have been the first people to eat foie gras. Geese would gorge themselves by the banks of the Nile during the winter to store up enough energy to fly back north. When the Egyptians caught these geese they found that their livers had become enlarged and that they were delicious.

"There are Egyptian tomb paintings dating back to fourth and fifth dynasties of men feeding geese large balls of grain. The Romans also enjoyed the gustatory pleasures of foie gras. It is documented that they fed the geese figs so the livers would attain extra sweetness.

"The Jews of Central Europe used foie gras extensively in their cooking because of its high fat content and they were not permitted by Hebrew law to use pork fat. Foie gras was rarely found during the Middle Ages except in Strasbourg and Perigord, France, where the art of preparing the liver was perfected."

Several companies in France were selling foie gras in 5 ounce packets at prices of $35 to $40.

Seems to us that at a price of $8 an ounce there would be a few people willing to bring this tradition back to Watertown. Maybe this is just what we need to revitalize Watertown's ailing business community.

Right now about the only thing remaining from that once flourishing industry is the Watertown High School mascot, the "Gosling." That name did come from the goose noodling industry here.

We thought this story was an appropriate one, given that there's been a pretty big focus on food this week with the Thanksgiving festivities.