Yield: Approximately 125 Truffles

Tamarind ice:
• ½ sheet gelatin
• 3 ½ ounces water
• 1 teaspoon tamarind fruit paste
  
  Foie gras mousse:
• 4 ½ quarts water
• 1 ½ quarts whole milk
• 7 ounces salt
• 2 pounds grade “A” foie gras lobes
• 2 cups heavy cream
• Salt to season
  
  Brioche bread crumbs:
• 1 brioche bread
  
  Chocolate coating:
• 30 ounces bittersweet chocolate with 72% cocoa

• Rubber mold tray with half-spherical molds measuring 1 1/4 inches in diameter
• Rubber gloves

Bring 3 ½ ounces water to a boil in a saucepan and add tamarind paste. Remove pan from heat, cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Using a whisk, blend tamarind with the water. Once the tamarind is completely melted into the water, strain mixture through a china cap to remove the tamarind seeds.

Reheat 1 cup of the tamarind paste to 80°F and add the bloomed gelatin to melt. Whisk this back into the remaining tamarind paste. Pour the tamarind into a flat container so the depth measures approximately ? inch. Cover and place in a freezer.

For foie gras mousse:
Prepare a soaking solution for the foie gras with the water, milk, and measured salt. Submerge the foie gras in the mixture and cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent oxygen from coming in contact with the foie gras. Refrigerate in soaking solution for 24 hours.

Remove the veins from the foie gras and roughly cut into 1-inch cubes. Cover foie gras with plastic and allow cubes to temper to 70° F.

Heat heavy cream to a boil in a saucepan.

Place half of the foie gras in a blender and pour half of the boiling heavy cream over the foie gras. Cover the blender and carefully pulse until the foie gras and cream come together to form an emulsion. (Note: Over-blending will break the emulsion.) Repeat this process with the remaining foie gras and cream.

Strain mousse through a chinois and season with salt. Transfer to a covered container and immediately refrigerate.

For brioche bread crumbs:
Preheat oven to 300°F. Slice the brioche into ?-inch-thick slices. Toast in oven until golden brown in color and completely dried.

Pulverize the brioche bread to make fine bread crumbs. Sift the crumbs through a china cap.

To assemble:
Fill a pastry bag with the chilled foie gras mousse. Pipe the mousse into 125 sphere molds to ¼ inch under the rim of the mold (about 6 grams in each mold).

Cut the frozen tamarind ice into 125 ?-inch cubes and push one frozen cube half- way into each mold of mousse. Cover molds and place them in a freezer until they are frozen solid. Remove the frozen foie gras with tamarind from the molds and keep them frozen.

Fill another 125 molds with only mousse. Place the frozen foie gras with tamarind half over the soft mousse to form a complete sphere. Cover the molds and place them in a freezer until they are frozen solid.

Remove the foie gras balls from the molds and keep them frozen.

Temper the chocolate in a double boiler. Place brioche crumbs in a cup.

Put on rubber gloves and cover the palms of your hands with chocolate. Roll each foie gras ball in your palms to completely cover with a thin coating of chocolate.

Immediately place the chocolate-covered foie gras ball into the brioche crumbs and gently shake the cup to coat the entire ball. (Chocolate must still be soft when the balls are dropped into the brioche crumbs). This final step is best accomplished by 2 people and it may be necessary to heat the chocolate periodically throughout the coating process. Set truffles on a sheet pan lined with parchment. The chocolate covered balls may be stored frozen.

Wine pairing:
A semi-dry Port (i.e. less sweet than is usual) such as the Quinta do Infantado Late Bottle Vintage Port 1998