Pheasant Broth With Candied Chestnuts and Pheasant Confit
Ingredients
For the soup
1 pheasant
Olive oil1 onion, peeled and large diced
1 carrot, peeled and large diced
1 celery stalk, large diced
½ cup white wine
12 cups chicken stock
Bouquet garni
2 star anise
1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
1 Tbsp. white peppercorns
For the confit
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup mixed herbs (chives, thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon, bay leaves, parsley)
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 shallot, peeled
Reserved breast meat and thighs
Duck fat
For the assembly
2 cups candied chestnuts*
* To make your own candied chestnuts, prepare a fryer to 350 degrees. Place 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Add 2 cups of chestnuts and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain completely, then fry. Stir often so as not to have the nuts stick together. Drain on a rack.
Preparation
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
• Remove the breast and the thigh from the pheasant, and reserve for the confit. Chop the drumsticks, wings and the rest of the carcass into small pieces.
• In a large pot, heat the olive oil until just smoking. Add the pheasant bones and brown in the pot. Do not scorch. When the bones are browned, add the onion, carrot and celery stalk. Once the vegetables begin to brown, add the white wine and scrape any bits off the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken stock.
• Secure together the bouquet garni, star anise, coriander and white peppercorns in cheesecloth. Add the sachet to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to simmer for approximately 1 hour. Skim any impurities that rise to the top. Season with salt and pepper, then strain into a new pot.
For the confit
• Place the salt, mixed herbs, garlic clove and shallot in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is bright green. Sprinkle ½ of the salt mixture in the bottom of a nonreactive pan. Lay the 2 breasts and 2 thighs in the pan, and then cover with the other half of the salt mixture. Cure the meat for 30 minutes at room temperature, then rinse the pheasant meat and dry.
• Heat the duck fat to 200 degrees in a pot large enough to hold the fat and the pheasant.
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Gently place the meat in the duck fat. Cover and place in oven. After 45 minutes, remove the breasts. Continue cooking the thighs for 30 more minutes. Let the meat cool in the duck fat.
For the assembly
• Shred the confit pheasant and place equal portions in the bottom of 8 soup bowls.
• Divide the candied chestnuts into 8 portions and add a portion to each bowl.
• Ladle hot soup into each bowl.
