Faisan à la Gunzbourg

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy lidded cocotte or Dutch oven, 5 to 6 quarts (4.7 to 5.7 litres)
• •Small saucepan
• •Small frying pan
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Kitchen twine

Instructions

1. 1

   Organize the snipes

   Keep every part of the snipes cold as you work. Weigh the boned meat, then weigh out cream and softened butter equal to half that weight each; the listed amounts assume about 4 ounces (115 g) of meat from two fine birds. Chop the carcasses into several pieces for the fumet. Use the intestines only if a qualified game processor has removed the gallbladders, emptied and cleaned the intestinal tracts, and confirmed them fit to eat. Any puncture, contamination, uncertain cold chain, or off odour ends the matter. Discard them rather than gambling at your table.

2. 2

   Draw the fumet

   Put the chopped snipe carcasses and cold water in a small saucepan. Bring them slowly to the barest simmer, skim away the grey froth, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing lightly, then reduce the liquid until only ¼ cup (60 ml) remains. It should taste clear, concentrated, and unmistakably of game. If it reduces too far, add hot water by the teaspoon until the measure is restored. Ça se rattrape. Set the fumet aside for the last moment.

3. 3

   Fry the intestines

   Melt the tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the cleaned snipe intestines and fry them thoroughly, turning often, until browned, firm, free of raw pink, and cooked to at least 165°F (74°C). Transfer them to a plate and crush them into a smooth, dark paste with a fork while they are warm, then cool completely. If the butter darkens too quickly, pull the pan from the heat and lower the flame; scorched butter would bury the very flavour you are trying to preserve.

4. 4

   Build the cold farce

   Chop the cold snipe meat very finely with a sharp knife, or pulse it briefly in a chilled food processor without turning it to liquid. Work in the measured cream a spoonful at a time, followed by the cool softened butter, half the salt, and half the pepper. Mix only until the farce becomes cohesive and lightly tacky. Fold in the crushed intestines and the large truffle dice. If the mixture looks loose or butter begins to shine on the bowl, stop and chill it for 10 minutes before continuing. Ça se rattrape. Cover and keep the finished farce cold.

5. 5

   Stuff the pheasant

   Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Dry the pheasant thoroughly, then season the cavity and skin with the remaining salt and pepper. Spoon the cold farce loosely into the cavity, leaving room for heat to circulate, and tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Do not compress an overfilled bird. If a little farce remains, put it in a buttered ramekin and cook it beside the pheasant until its centre reaches 165°F (74°C).

6. 6

   Roast en cocotte

   Set the stuffed pheasant breast-side up in a heavy lidded cocotte just large enough to hold it. Pour over the melted butter and follow the covered roasting principle of Poëlings (No. 250): cover the cocotte and roast for 35 minutes, basting twice with the butter from the pot. Add no fumet or other liquid now. That dry, butter-rich cooking is the dish; early moisture would turn it into a braise.

7. 7

   Colour and test

   Uncover the cocotte, baste again, and roast for another 20 to 35 minutes, until the skin is deeply burnished and both the thickest part of the thigh and the centre of the stuffing register at least 165°F (74°C). If the breast colours before the stuffing is safe, cover only the breast with a piece of buttered parchment and continue cooking. The bird stays in the oven; the parchment protects the lean meat while the centre catches up.

8. 8

   Finish with fumet

   Lift the pheasant onto a warm plate and rest it loosely covered for 15 minutes. Spoon excess butter from the cocotte, leaving about 1 tablespoon with the browned fond, then pour in the reserved snipe fumet. Set the cocotte over medium heat and scrape until the fond dissolves and the fumet reduces to a glossy spoonful or two. If it looks greasy, remove it from the heat and skim again rather than trying to thicken it. Return the pheasant to the cocotte and spoon the concentrated fumet over the breast at the last moment.

9. 9

   Carve at table

   Bring the cocotte to the table, then remove the twine and carve the pheasant into legs and breast portions. Spoon some of the truffle-studded snipe farce beside each serving and finish with the fumet from the bottom of the cocotte. The sauce should gleam around the meat, not drown it. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Snipe are regulated wild game in many places, and the rules governing hunting, possession, and transfer differ. Verify the law where you live and accept birds only from a responsible hunter or game dealer with an unbroken cold chain.
• •The intestines are the defining flavour, but only when their handling is beyond question. If a qualified processor cannot confirm that they are clean and edible, do not use them. Liver and heart make a safer offal farce, but they soften the dark character of Faisan à la Gunzbourg and are not an invisible substitution.
• •Use fresh black truffles when the season offers them. Outside it, well-preserved whole black truffles, drained and weighed, are the classical pantry's honest answer. Truffle oil has no place here; the large dice and their texture are part of the dish.
• •Pheasant breast is lean and has little patience. The covered cocotte and repeated butter basting protect it, while the thermometer tells you when the stuffing is safe. Guesswork is pomp when a small instrument will tell the truth.
• •Serve with a restrained potato purée or buttered celery root and a mature red Burgundy. The pheasant, farce, and fumet already carry the conversation.

Advance Preparation

• •The snipes may be boned and their carcass fumet prepared one day ahead. Chill the meat, cleaned intestines, and strained fumet separately in covered containers at 40°F (4°C) or colder.
• •The truffles can be diced and the dry pheasant seasoned several hours ahead, but prepare the farce no more than four hours before cooking and keep it thoroughly cold.
• •Stuff the pheasant only when the oven is ready. A raw stuffed bird should not wait, because its dense centre warms too slowly and gives bacteria an unnecessary invitation.
• •Faisan à la Gunzbourg is best roasted and served the same evening. Reheating dries pheasant breast, so complete the advance work and save the actual poëling for your guests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 235g)