What to do with pain d'épices

We were given a lovely pack of various goodies by some French friends and have been really enjoying them BUT I’ve never known quite what to do with pain dépices.

What do you all do with it? (Looks like it’s rather a gourmet version…)

Round here it’s fashionable to lightly toast pain d’épices to eat with foie gras.

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That’s interesting, thank you @Jennifer11 - I suppose I’d been thinking about sweet things but perhaps it would go well with some savoury? LIke cheese perhaps?

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Yes Foie gras if you are into that. Personally I can’t face eating such stuff due to the non- essential reasons behind it

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Nor do I but I thought it was worth passing on in case Jane does.

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I don’t see why not, digestive biscuits are sweetish.

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Or those small round bread slices that come in brioche style

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I generally find commercial pd’e pretty dry and nasty, and the only solution I’ve ever found is this

https://www.atelierdeschefs.fr/recettes/3731/pain-d-epice-perdu-poires-caramelisees-aux-epices/

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That sounds nice, Jane.

OH had a small piece of pain d’épices with mulled wine recently, he said it went well.

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Quite apart from animal welfare concerns, why anyone would want to eat a part of an animal deliberately made ill, for a fatty liver is an illness, is beyond me.

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Exactly.

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I think probably good with blue cheese.

Though there’s a question over whether a large animal farmed intensively to produce dairy suffers more than a duck under gavage.

My other suggestion is carbonnade flamande.

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You may have been influenced by PETA who make a living from promoting such (mis)information.

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Salted butter

Cream cheese

Foie gras/faux gras

Anything salty and creamy, prob not taramasalata though :wink:

Too much if sweet on sweet

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But Dan Barber is able to source the best welfare products as his customers pay top dollar. So he can pontificate. The fact that one or a few producers can market something that is less cruel is neither here nor there in the face of the HUGE french consumption of foie gras produced with awful welfare standards. It’s not just the gavage, but that the poor birds are confined in tiny boxes so they don’t run around.

So where’s the misinformation?

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Thank you for the suggestions, everyone! Your list is particularly helpful, @vero but what is faux gras?

It’s a preparation based on various vegetable things and it’s a veggie or poss even vegan alternative to foie gras - you can get it in health-food shops, usually in a tin. Perfectly nice, I got some in for veggie and vegan visitors.

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Interesting idea - thank you!

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Here’s a recipe I bookmarked. I haven’t tried it but I’m hoping to. The list of ingredients is a bit daunting.

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I think “daunting” is a very good word…

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