Search the Community

Hello everyone, here is my effort to challenge myself by deboning a chicken - using the technique of the master, Mister Jacques Pepin! I could watch that video over and over again and would never bore of it. I can't say that I did it in the two meenoots that he can do it in LOL ... and I must admit that I had a piece of cling-wrap over the screen of my ipad so that I could keep pausing it at each step and rewinding regularly. ha haaa!! In addition, I couldn't decide on which sauce I wanted to make, so I made two - gravy using the carcass and bones from said chicken along with other ingredients and also a Romesco sauce made from capsicums I roasted in the Kamado too. Stuffed chicken Galantine Free-range whole chicken Spanish serrano ham Spinach - wilted Garlic - a few cloves Mushrooms - sauteed (I added these once I saw how piddly amount of stuffing I had once the big bag of spinach wilted down to a very small quantity) Young Asiago cheese Salt and pepper olive oil to rub on skin prior to roasting Basically, I used the Jacques Pepin method to de-bone the chicken and only messed up one foot because me being me, I took the whole de-boning thing too far and removed that bone but it was all good. This is what it looked like sans-carcass. With the tasty stuffing. Trussed and ready to cook (not as elegant as Jacques - but not bad for a first timer, if I must say so myself ) Romesco Sauce 4 red capsicums - fire roasted 6 sun dried tomato halves 2/3 cup almonds big bunch of parsley from the garden 4 garlic cloves 6 Tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (or sherry vinegar if you have it - I didn't so also added an extra teaspoon of red wine vinegar) 2 teaspoons pimenton/smoked paprika b Basically, I roasted and cleaned up the capsicums the day before, then cooked off the garlic and nuts in the olive oil until the garlic just started to very lightly colour (to take out the harshness) and then popped all the ingredients, including the oil into the food processor until still slightly chunky. Refrigerated overnight for the flavours to meld. Gravy carcass and bones from my de-boned chicken 1 kg chicken wings 4 x strips streaky bacon (I had forgotten to take it out of the fridge prior to taking this photo) 3 x ribs celery 2 x carrots 2 x onions 2 or 3 rosemary sticks a couple of bay leaves a couple of star anise some bunches of tarragon a few whole pepper corns 1.5 litre chicken stock flour and butter to make a roux - I just wing this so can't say the quantities sorry. I roasted all ingredients listed up to and including rosemary in the oven until well cooked and deep in colour / flavour. Transferred to a big pot and then deglazed the oven tray of all the delicious bits stuck to the bottom and then poured that into the pot, along with the bay leaves, tarragon and star anise. Simmered on low for a couple of hours and gave everything a good moosh (culinary technical term ) with the wooden spoon every now and then to extract maximum flavour. Strained and cooled in the fridge for a while. I then scooped off a lot of the chicken fat before adding to the roux to make a very flavoursome and delicious gravy. My friend and neighbours took their own money shots on their phones when I was plating. They've never had a deboned chicken before and were very impressed when i was "carving" what appeared to them to be a whole chicken.