Faisan à l’Angoumoise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with metal blade
• •6 to 7-inch (15 to 18 cm) fine-mesh sieve or tamis
• •1½-quart (1.5 litre) saucepan
• •13 by 9-inch (33 by 23 cm) roasting pan with rack
• •Instant-read or probe thermometer
• •Kitchen twine and 2 small skewers
• •Long warm platter and saucière

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the chestnuts

   Bring the consommé to a bare simmer in a small saucepan. Add raw chestnuts and cook gently for 12 to 15 minutes, until a fine skewer enters without resistance but the nuts still hold their shape; plain vacuum-packed chestnuts need only 5 minutes to take up the consommé. Drain them, reserving ¼ cup (60 ml / 60 g) of the consommé for the sauce, and cool the chestnuts completely. Leave small ones whole and halve any that would prevent the cavity from closing.

2. 2

   Sieve the pork fat

   Chill the processor bowl and blade for 10 minutes. Pulse the cold pork back fat just until it becomes a fine, cohesive paste, then press it firmly through a fine-mesh sieve with a flexible scraper. The processor replaces the brigade’s long pounding, but the sieve remains because it removes every resistant thread. If the fat turns shiny, oily, or translucent, it is melting. Stop and chill it for 15 minutes, then continue. Ça se rattrape.

   Use raw pork back fat, not rendered lard. Rendered fat cannot hold the truffle and chestnuts in the same smooth, sliceable stuffing.
3. 3

   Build the cold stuffing

   Fold the completely cooled chestnuts and raw quartered truffles into the sieved pork fat. Season according to the ordinary-truffling reference, Truffled Pullet (No. 1956), using the measured salt and pepper. Fold only until the truffle and chestnuts are evenly held; beating warms the fat and makes it greasy. Cover and chill for 45 to 60 minutes, until firm and cold throughout. This chilling is not brigade ceremony. Warm stuffing melts before it can baste the pheasant.

4. 4

   Stuff and truss

   Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C), with a rack in the centre. Pat the pheasant dry inside and out. Spoon the cold stuffing into the cavity without compressing it, leaving enough room to close the opening without strain. Secure the cavity with two small skewers and kitchen twine, then truss the legs close to the body. If a small bird will not accept every spoonful, put the remainder in a covered ramekin and roast it beside the bird until its centre reaches 165°F (74°C); forcing the cavity open only loses the filling later.

5. 5

   Bard the pheasant

   Lay the bacon slices over the breast, thighs, and upper legs with their edges slightly overlapping. Tie them in place with two loops of kitchen twine, snug enough to hold but not tight enough to cut the skin. Set the pheasant breast-side up on a rack in a compact roasting pan. Barding, wrapping lean meat in fat, protects the pheasant during the gentle part of the roast; it is armour, not garnish.

6. 6

   Roast and uncover

   Roast gently for 38 minutes, then begin checking the centre of the stuffing and the thickest part of the inner thigh without touching bone. When the stuffing reaches about 154°F (68°C) and the thigh about 156°F (69°C), the bird is ready for its final eight minutes. Remove the bacon and twine carefully, raise the oven to 425°F (220°C), and roast uncovered for exactly 8 minutes, until the skin is a deep Maillard bronze and both the stuffing and thigh register 165°F (74°C). If the temperature is still low, cover the browned breast loosely with foil and continue in 3-minute intervals. If the bird is cooked but pale, give it 30 to 60 seconds beneath a fully heated broiler, watching without turning away; that is the home salamander, and it is a rescue, not a reason to dry the meat.

   The thermometer decides when the final eight minutes begin. Bird size varies, but removing the bacon too early exposes the breast before the stuffing is nearly cooked.
7. 7

   Rest and warm sauce

   Transfer the pheasant to a warm long platter and rest it for 12 to 15 minutes, uncovered or very loosely tented so the coloured skin stays crisp. Meanwhile, warm the Périgueux sauce over gentle heat without boiling. If it has tightened in the cold, loosen it a spoonful at a time with the reserved consommé until it coats the back of a spoon and falls in a glossy ribbon. If fat beads appear, take the pan off the heat and whisk in a teaspoon of cool consommé.

8. 8

   Carve and serve

   Remove the skewers and remaining twine. Carve off the legs at their joints, then slice the breasts across the grain. Spoon the truffle and chestnut stuffing onto the centre of the platter and arrange the pheasant around it, keeping the browned skin uppermost. Send the Périgueux sauce separately in a warm saucière, exactly as the source intends, so each guest can take what the bird needs. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Fresh pork back fat is the structure of the stuffing. Ask a butcher for a clean piece from the back, then keep it close to freezing while you work. Bacon fat, leaf lard, and rendered lard behave differently.
• •The truffle must be fresh and raw when it enters the stuffing. If fresh black truffle is unavailable, cook faisan rôti aux marrons instead; jarred pieces and truffle oil cannot reproduce the perfume released inside this bird.
• •Plain vacuum-packed chestnuts are an honest answer when fresh peeled chestnuts are scarce. Simmer them briefly in the consommé anyway, because that savoury absorption belongs to the dish.
• •Choose unsmoked bacon. Smoke overwhelms pheasant and truffle, while unsmoked bacon gives protection, salt, and fat without redirecting the flavour.
• •A supple red Bergerac suits the truffle-rich sauce without bullying the bird. Bring the pheasant to the table whole, then carve it there; generous food loses nothing by letting people see it first.

Advance Preparation

• •The stuffing can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and kept tightly covered in the cold. Do not put it inside the pheasant until immediately before roasting.
• •The consommé and Périgueux sauce can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Chill them separately, then reheat the sauce gently while the bird rests.
• •Leftover pheasant and stuffing should be cooled within 2 hours, covered, and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat gently with a spoonful of consommé so the lean meat does not dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)