Liver of Luxury

Most home cooks will go their entire lives without cooking foie gras. Granted, among all the tragedies in this wicked world, that is a minor one. But it does raise the question of why anyone would write a cookbook dedicated solely to this most luxurious of luxury ingredients.

Plainly, Michael Ginor’s “Foie Gras, a Passion” (John Wiley, $49.95), is not intended for everyday use. But that is not to downplay its charms, which are considerable. “Foie Gras” is an exercise in monomania of the most appealing sort. Ginor, who runs one of only a handful of foie gras producers in this country, sees the world through a foie gras prism.

Although most readers will turn straight to the recipes (which come from a wide assortment of talented chefs and are beautifully photographed), it would be a mistake to overlook the first several chapters. They are dedicated to the most arcane of foie gras lore, everything from production to history to cooking tips.

One of the best parts is a history of cuisine traced through the use of foie gras. Though it contains an Egyptian carving that shows workers force-feeding geese, the use of foie gras didn’t really take off until the birth of haute cuisine in the 17th century. There are half a dozen recipes for foie gras in “Le Cuisinier Francoise,” written by La Varenne in 1651.

While that is probably half a dozen more than most of us will ever need, it is a tribute to Ginor’s passion that he makes us glad to have them.