Saturday, July 31, 2010

Merci beaucoup, Madame! - Taste test of the fromage de tete

Here's the promised follow-up with the taste test. I was skeptical. Yes, I liked it when I tried it before we put it in the oven. I was still skeptical. I loathed it when my mom got Suelze when I grew up. Really not mine. I also really didn't like tongue growing up, and while I've had it since (thanks Jeff for trying, it's just got the wrong consistency for hot pot!) it's just not my favorite.

So, here comes the fromage de tete. It unmolds beautifully as you can see.


All the nice bits and pieces of meat, and all the parsley - yum! It smells pretty good, as well. My husband is excited, he loved it growing up (quite the advantage compared to my starting point). I decide to serve it as advised by the cook: With fresh, boiled potatoes and a vinaigrette. It was supposed to be a parsley vinaigrette, but hubby doesn't like parsley, and I forgot it at the other house anyways, so I make a thyme vinaigrette. And boil these beautiful little Russian Banana Fingerlings. And add a nice green salad, perfect for the vinaigrette as well.

Tadaaaaaa!


It is soooooo good. Not just "Yeah I can eat it" good, but really really nice and yummy. It also looks much better than any of its brethren that I've eaten in my childhood. Surprisingly, it also slices really easy. Hubby doesn't like the vinaigrette as much, he prefers it with a Dijon mustard. To each his own I guess. Cornichons would have been nice with it, or perhaps the maionese de leite with loads of capers. But it's good as it is.

Merci beaucoup, Madame, de m'avoir montre comment preparer fromage de tete!

5 comments:

  1. Silke, Is their anything to compare the taste to, besides Aspic or Suelze? Help, kind of at a loss here on either.

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  2. Dar, did you ever have head cheese? That's essentially what it is. However, because there is much less of the gelatin it doesn't have that glibbery gelatinous mouthfeel, it's much more like a country pate. Not quite as smooth. And it's got a fairly strong parsley taste, though not enough to make my husband shun it. The meats are all so well done it basically melts in your mouth. Does any of that help?

    I also had some blood sausage in my freezer, so for dinner a few days later I got that out, and served it pan-fried, along with some more of this. To guests. I also pulled out a little lamb steak just in case my American friends would be weirded out - but they loved it! Both the blood sausage and the fromage de tete....

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  3. I love the picture of the un-molded pate and the slice. Looks pretty. So the consistency is not the same as that of duck/chicken pate right? I guess it's not equal comparison as this one is still chunky.

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  4. No it's more like a mix between a chunky pate and a head cheese as I know it. Since the meat is pretty fatty it melts in your mouth, but the gelatin in the broth keeps it all in place. However, since we used so little of the broth it doesn't have the typical "chunks of mystery meat swimming in an ocean of aspic" feeling that I know and hate.

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  5. Oh, and also these were really small baby fingerling potatoes. The chunks are about the size of peas.

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