Italian Rooster, French Recipe
Feb 9th, 2009 | By | Category: French | Comments | 14 Comments |
A chicken recipe? On Hunter Angler Gardener Cook? Yes, it’s true. But this is no ordinary chicken. Allow me to explain…
Last week I was getting ready to make some Portuguese blood sausages (more on them in a future post) when I heard a knock on the door. It was Dominic, my Puglian neighbor, who informed me that it’s time to kill the roosters.
Hmmm…I dimly remembered Holly telling me that she’d agreed on our behalf to take a few roosters from Dominic and his wife Rosa’s flock; they had a surfeit of roosters and as we all know, too many roosters in one pen can only lead to Very Bad Things Happening.
Now duck season has just ended. Holly and I killed and plucked a shitpile (technical term) of ducks and geese this year, and, you know, I was kinda looking forward to not having to pluck anything for nine months. So much for that. I grabbed some leather work gloves and walked next door.
Ever chased down a live chicken? How about a rooster, which has — and uses — its sharp spurs? Let me suggest that you drink your morning coffee before undertaking such an exercise. And wear long sleeves. Chickens are fast, as anyone who’s seen Rocky knows, so basically Dominic and I would corner one and try to slap a ratty old fishing net over the bird before it could run away. Not as easy as it sounds.
Dominic had set up a dead end behind the coop, so we tried to herd the chickens — yes, “herd.” I have no idea what else to call it — into this dead end, where they’d be easier to catch. In theory. Problem was with the young Rhode Island reds, they’s was smaht…real smaht. Twice Dominic had them cornered. Twice they literally ran over his head and escaped. Gotta say that was hysterical to watch.
We eventually did catch the four I’d agreed to take, and off I went back to the house, a burlap sack o’ roosters over my back like a barnyard Santa Claus. I was pretty happy no one stopped to ask me what was in the bag.
Back at the ranch, so to speak, my plucking water was already hot; I’d been wise enough to get it going before I went to Dominic’s. I used the same wet-plucking technique I use when I pluck a pheasant. And let me tell you that plucking a chicken is WAAY easier than plucking a pheasant. Thank heaven! I had all four roosters done in about 30 minutes.
One rooster was old, and I’d learned from experience that a very old rooster is really not good for eating; it will, however, make a surpassing chicken stock. Another rooster was sorta middle-aged, and he would go into a coq au vin later. (Nice being able to use a real “coq” instead of a “poulet” for the dish.) Finally, the two Rhode Island reds were a perfect four months old: Old enough to be nice and chicken-y, not so old they needed eight hours to stew.
I wanted to celebrate this happy fact by cooking my favorite part, the thighs, in a special way. I’ve been on a French kick lately, so I turned to Paula Wolfert’s The Cooking of Southwest France
What I came up with is a riff off her chicken legs with verjus a la Dordogne, which is a river in Perigord. I did not feel like buying the grapes needed for her dish, so I subbed in a variety of mushrooms. Sue me.
My recipe, which you can read here, consists of butter, lots of whole peeled garlic cloves, a quart of pheasant stock (Didn’t have chicken stock. Yeah, I know. Go figger.), lots of mushrooms and 6 tablespoons of verjus to finish. What is verjus? The juice of unripe grapes: Think of it as a mild vinegar, but “grapier.” (You can buy it online here.
This dish made me miss chicken. There is something specific about chicken that tastes like nothing else — only fools say “everything tastes like chicken.” While many other meats (i.e., rabbit) have similar textures, only chicken tastes like chicken. It’s in the fat, I suspect. The dish was deep, woodsy, with just the right amount of sharpness from the verjus; this was so good Holly was drinking the sauce at the end of the meal, a practice I heartily endorse.
Since you will not be able to find a rooster easily, I’d suggest using a stewing hen or a roaster chicken; try to avoid using thighs from a fryer chicken, as they are small and not very flavorful. For hunters, pheasant will fit this dish perfectly, as would chukars or other partridges.
The time to make slow braises like this grows short; the world here in Northern California is growing warmer by the day. Soon it will be spring.
Wonderful stuff. Pretty hard to come by roosters these days! I have never tried to chase down a chicken, but it doesn’t sound easy – especially a rooster.. looks like it was worth it though!
Have you looked at Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking? my favorite rustic French cookbook I have to say.
I think people say everything tastes like chicken, because so many people haven’t tasted a REAL chicken.
As a child I was an expert chicken catcher. When chickens got loose from my father’s chicken coop, I was always called to put them back. The trick is to get behind the chicken and grab their legs and then carry them by the legs at arms length to the pen or what ever destination you have in mind. It always worked for me!
That’s right! I forgot about that, mum! We’ll need to call you over next time. You still fast? And I like, “whatever destination you have in mind.” Very diplomatic.
Thank you, honey, for exposing my neolithic table manners.
But damn, it was really good sauce.
What is Neolithic about drinking the sauce? Although a good loaf of bread is a good alternative, slurping from a saucer were perfectly good table-manners for mid-western farm folk.
Holly – I have very similar table manners as yours.
I have not seen anybody using verjus here in the US. I figured it would be YOU, Hank!
Thanks, NTSC and Sylvie. We are perpetually out of bread, and I really hate to pour anything delicious down the drain.
Would you say the roosters were wicked smaht? Sorry, I was channeling Peter Barrett for a minute.
Mmm. I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a rooster for coq au vin. I have friends working on it.
We eat our roosters too. Ours are insanely free range to the point that it looks like cartoon when we catch them when we butcher a few. hehe.
Great story!
So you know EXACTLY what I mean, Ulla! How do you cook yours?
The best way to catch roosters is to let them roost at night, then close the coop. In the morning, you just keep the door closed until you are ready for the roosters! We just processed almost 50 of the buggers. They had been free range for about 6 months and it was time for the freezer. Greek and French recipes are the best with roosters!
I have a nice pot of rooster with wine on the stove…smells delicious! I simmer mine first, debone the rooster, then add the meat to the pot of herbs, spices, wine and veggies! Serve with crusty french bread, chunks of cheese and a green salad! Great Sunday dinner!
Mine free range, but return to their coops at night. When I plan to slaughter a few, I go snatch them in the middle of the night and place them in the small coop. The next day, they are not fed (makes the cleaning easier) but are given water. The next night I steal them away again and put them into pet carriers. First thing in the morning we do the deed. Much easier this way!
Love your blog, I’m doing coq au vin today and was just browsing for other recipes for them. I think I’ll try this one next time!
I loved reading your article, it made me laugh. We have chickens and have never eaten our own, just the eggs. But we have a too many roosters and I have asked my husband to butcher them so that we can eat them. So in the process of researching recipes.
Thanks for the amusing read.