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- Aperture Value: F2.8
- Date/Time: 11/29/2005 11:43:11 AM
- Date/Time Original: 11/28/2005 11:31:55 PM
- Exposure Time: 1/80 sec
- Flash: Flash did not fire, auto
- Focal Length: 16.0 mm
- Model: Canon EOS 20D
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Butifarra con cidra ($9) at Toro (1704 Washington Street, Boston, 617.536.4300)
You were thinking maybe a little grilled corn? Can’t blame you — those hunks of sunshine are rightly ballyhooed by all
who visit Ken Oringer’s tapas bar. But the foie-gras sausages are easily their meaty equal. Though they’re not on the menu at the time of this writing, they too are a much soughtafter staple, and chef de cuisine John Critchley promises they’ll be back shortly, perhaps even by press time. (Right, John?!) Simmered in what Critchley calls “a nicely reduced, fresh, sparkling cider,” these babies taste the way “foie gras” sounds: rather than summoning some tummy-tanking thing called “liver” (or for that matter, “sausage”), they’re as light and delicate as the French itself. Mixed in with them, the socalled melting onions are indeed borderline creamed, essentially forming a deeply sweet, sloppy relish. Critchley explains that he came up with the dish while “trying to figure out what to do with all my scrap pieces of foie gras.” A recipe for Spanish butifarra — “traditionally a white emulsified veal sausage” — caused the spark. “I decided to lighten the flavor by just using lean chicken, marinated for a day in Pedro Ximenez sherry, pork fatback, and the foie gras.” If that sounds suspiciously sensible, don’t worry: he still finishes the whole thing off “with a little butter.” Whew. @
— RUTH TOBIAS
PHOTO BY KELLY DAVIDSON