May be regarded as a garnish for good Burgundies, Brunellos, or other red
wines as suggested below. (I posted it on a food Web site or two in 2003
and got requests to post it further and so I post it here in case of
possible future reference, the Usenet is good in that capability.) A
vegetarian version is included.


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This needs a little introduction. (Made it most recently for a wine-food
party couple months ago).

Some years ago I got into the habit of keeping one or two small tins of
French foie-gras with truffles in the refrigerator, "en cas d'urgence,"
which is to say, for occasions. (Specialty groceries and delicatessans can
order these for you if they don't stock them.) In this particular recipe, a
little goes a long way. It can make the most remarkable "macaroni and
cheese" you've ever tasted. (I tell gastronomes about this and they look
skeptical -- macaroni and cheese, after all -- but inevitably they become
more engaged as I continue.) It is a practical modern interpretation of the
"Lucullus" pasta dishes cited the classic French books (_Guide Culinaire_
and the 1938 and 1961 editions of the _Larousse Gastronomique_). I've done
it with fresh FG and even fresh truffles also, but I cite the tinned version
because that's easier to keep on hand.

Layer freshly cooked al-dente macaroni, or pasta of your preferred shape, in
a glass or ceramic baking dish with bits of tinned block foie gras with
truffles, shredded Gruyère, and if possible some Cremini (immature
Portabello) mushrooms sautéed briefly in duck fat. (The fat congeals in the
FG tins and can be used. Olive oil, chemically related by the way, will
substitute.) Some freshly grated nutmeg (in standard French pasta-recipe
tradition) is compatible but not essential. Drizzle (don't drown) it all
with good Madeira sauce made from fresh meat stock and not over-salted. Bake
in a hot oven for the usual 20 minutes or so, allow to cool slightly, and
just before serving, especially if you were short of truffle bits, sprinkle
with truffle-flavored oil. The aromatic harmony of FG, truffles, mushrooms,
Gruyère, and Madeira is, in my opinion, miraculous. Especially with a
truffly red Burgundy like a mature Echézeaux or Clos de la Roche or
Chambolle-Musigny if available. 1985s, 89s, 90s, 93s and some 94s and 95s do
well now. Equally fine, a good Hermitage or Brunello di Montalcino, but
maturity is even more important there.

As described, the dish is so savory you don't even need the foie-gras; I did
a vegetarian version at the same time for one guest and the other flavors
carried the day very well.

Macaroni and cheese is a sound principle any way you work it. I may have an
advantage over some US compatriots in that I did not get exposed to this
combination much as a child (from boxed mixes with fluorescent orange
coloring in the "cheese") and therefore I developed no prejudice against it.
A basic M&C, common in the US (and by the way an outstanding foil for savory
barbecue, such as beef brisket slowly braised in a chipotle or
smoked-hot-pepper puree flavored with whisky), takes well to the addition of
a little hot pepper sauce mixed in with the cheese - the result need not be
perceptibly "hot" to benefit. (Professional line cooks all seem to do
this, it's an understood trick.) French classic pasta dishes use Gruyère
and-or Parmesan and often season with fresh nutmeg and black pepper, another
good combination. Alsatian-born San Francisco chef Hubert Keller (restaurant
Fleur-de-Lis, earlier Sutter 500) puts a version with fresh lobster on his
menu; it's in his cookbook (ISBN 0898158079). And the Chez Panisse
Pasta-Pizza-Calzone Cookbook (1984, ISBN 0394530942, readily available on
the used market) has, among many other related things, a wild-mushroom pasta
"gratin" (P. 137) with simple but excellent seasonings that is one of the
finest pasta dishes I know.

To my taste, macaroni and cheese occupies a pillar in the comfort-food
pantheon (along with east-Asian noodle soups, pizzas, quesadillas, etc.
etc.). Fluorescent orange dye not required.



Max W. Hauser

(Copyright 2003, 2004)