Poularde à la Gastronome

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5 to 6-quart heavy lidded cocotte
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Kitchen twine
• •Two small saucepans
• •Wide sauté pan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Oval serving platter and sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the components

   Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) with a rack just below the centre. Have the home-scale Poëlings (No. 250) fully prepared before beginning; it is a separate canonical preparation, so this recipe reaches for it whole rather than rebuilding it here. Bring the pullet out of the cold for 30 minutes, wipe the truffles, and warm an oval serving platter and sauceboat.

2. 2

   Stuff the poularde

   Cook the noodles until tender but still resilient, then drain them very thoroughly. Toss the hot noodles with 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter, ¼ teaspoon (1 ml / 0.5 g) white pepper, and a small pinch taken from the measured salt. Let them cool until merely warm. Season the pullet inside and out, spoon exactly ½ lb (225 g) noodles loosely into the cavity, and truss the legs. Don't pack the noodles tight. They need room to swell and heat through, while a compressed stuffing slows the bird's cooking.

3. 3

   Poêle the bird

   Set the stuffed pullet into the prepared Poëlings (No. 250) and cook it according to that method, without adding liquid. Begin checking after 1 hour 10 minutes. The finished skin should be evenly butter-gold, while the thickest part of the thigh and the centre of the noodle stuffing both reach 165°F (74°C), usually after 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes for this size. If the meat is ready but the stuffing is cool, remove the noodles to a buttered covered dish and finish them in the oven while the bird rests. If the temperatures are correct but the skin remains pale, give it 2 to 3 minutes under the broiler, watching constantly. That is all the professional salamander would have contributed.

   A stuffed bird cooks more slowly than an empty one. Trust the thermometer at the centre of the noodles, not the colour of the juices alone.
4. 4

   Cook the truffles

   While the pullet cooks, place the four truffles in the smallest saucepan that holds them comfortably and add 1½ cups (360 ml / 360 g) Champagne. Cover with a parchment circle and hold at the barest tremble for 12 to 15 minutes if the truffles are fresh, or 4 to 5 minutes if preserved. Lift them out and keep them covered. Reduce the poaching liquor steadily to 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g); this concentrated liquor is the truffle essence required for the sauce. If it becomes too thick, loosen it with a spoonful of the remaining Champagne.

5. 5

   Glaze chestnuts and kidneys

   Put the chestnuts in a wide sauté pan with the stock, sugar, 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter, and a pinch of salt. Simmer gently until the stock has nearly disappeared, then roll the pan so the butter coats the chestnuts in a clear glaze. Stirring with a spoon breaks them; move the pan instead. If the glaze catches, add a tablespoon of stock and roll again. In a second small pan, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) butter and sauté the cock's kidneys for 3 to 4 minutes, until lightly bronzed and cooked through. Chicken oysters need 5 to 7 minutes and must reach 165°F (74°C). Season lightly and hold both garnishes covered.

6. 6

   Swill and reduce

   Transfer the cooked pullet to a board and rest it loosely covered for 20 minutes. Do not remove the butter from its cooking vessel yet. Pour the remaining ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (140 ml / 140 g) Champagne directly into the vessel, set it over medium heat, and scrape every savoury trace from the bottom. Simmer the Champagne with the cooking bed and butter for 10 minutes, then strain it and carefully skim away the fat. Return the clear liquor to a small pan and reduce it hard to about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g), sharp-smelling and nearly syrupy. If it goes too far, pull it from the heat and whisk in a tablespoon of stock. Ça se rattrape. If it remains watery, keep reducing; don't ask the demi-glace to carry dilution.

7. 7

   Finish the sauce

   Warm the veal demi-glace over gentle heat, then add the reduced swilling liquor and the 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) truffle essence. Simmer only until the sauce is nappé, meaning it coats the back of a spoon in a glossy film. Taste before adding salt, since both demi-glace and reduction concentrate seasoning. If the sauce tightens too far, loosen it with stock one spoonful at a time; if thin, reduce it briefly without the bird or garnishes. Pour it into the warm sauceboat and serve it separately, as the formula requires.

8. 8

   Build the platter

   Set the whole poularde on the warm oval platter. Make four small, generous heaps of glazed chestnuts around it and alternate the four Champagne-cooked truffles with those heaps. Place one cock's kidney, or chicken oyster, in each interval between the chestnut heaps, beside a truffle. Leave the burnished skin uncovered by sauce. Carve at the table, serving the buttered noodles from the cavity with each portion and passing the Champagne demi-glace separately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose a pullet if a poultry butcher offers one, otherwise buy a compact roasting chicken with a plump breast and unbroken skin. Technique first, always. A modest bird carefully poêlé will serve you better than a grand bird allowed to dry.
• •Fresh black winter truffles are magnificent in season. Whole preserved black truffles packed in their own juice are the classical pantry's honest answer outside it; add the packing liquor to the Champagne poaching pan. Artificial truffle oil has no place here.
• •Cock's kidney is old kitchen language for rooster testicle. Ask a specialist poultry butcher well ahead. If none can be sourced, use trimmed chicken oysters, which share the mild flavour, tender bite, and small oval scale. Don't substitute actual chicken kidneys; they are darker, stronger, and not the intended garnish.
• •Use a real refrigerated or frozen veal demi-glace, not powdered gravy or a jar thickened mostly with starch. The sauce depends on gelatin, roasted veal flavour, and reduction rather than flour.
• •Choose a dry brut Champagne, not a sweet bottle. The recipe uses about 500 ml, leaving enough from a standard bottle to taste beside the finished bird, which is sensible kitchen arithmetic.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the veal demi-glace and the home-scale Poëlings (No. 250) in advance, then keep them chilled separately. Bring the poëling preparation close to room temperature before the bird goes into it.
• •The truffles may be cooked and their poaching liquor reduced up to 4 hours ahead. Cover the truffles tightly and rewarm them gently in a spoonful of Champagne.
• •Glaze the chestnuts up to 2 hours ahead and rewarm them with a tablespoon of stock. Cook the cock's kidneys or chicken oysters close to serving so they remain tender.
• •Do not stuff the pullet ahead. Cooked noodles held inside raw poultry warm too slowly and create needless risk; fill and truss the bird immediately before it enters the oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 470g)