Chicken Bresse with Textures of Turnip

Makes 4 portions

Prep time 2 hours + 24 hour marination

Cook time 1 hour 30 minutes 

  • 1.6kg Bresse chicken
  • 300g water
  • 240g sake lees
  • 30g salt
  • 100g butter
  • 2g dry verbena

1. Butcher the chicken into four parts. Debone the legs and set aside the trimmings.

2. Blend the water, 200g sake lees and salt together to form a marinade. Marinade the four chicken pieces for 24 hours.

3. Cut the trimmings into smaller parts. Place on a tray and cover liberally with oil. Roast in a 160°C oven until well browned. Skim the fat, and deglaze the tray with water. Transfer the contents of the tray into a pot, and cover with water.

4. Cook the stock for 5 hours before straining with a cheese cloth. Cool the stock down until the fat congeals at the top. Remove the fat layer.

5. Reduce until the stock reaches the consistency of jus.

Verbena butter

  • 3g fresh lemon verbena
  • 100g butter
  • 1g salt

1. Finely chop the lemon verbena and mix well with semi-soft butter and salt. Leave to infuse for 8 hours.

Yellow turnips

  • 500g yellow turnip
  • 30g butter
  • 10g lemon juice.

1. Peel the turnips. Starting from the centre of the turnips, cut into thin slices. Using a 6cm ring cutter, cut out circles. Blanch these circles in boiling water for 5 seconds.

2. Finely chop the rest of the trim. Place them in a pot filled with cold water, and bring to a boil. Once cooked and tender, blend the turnips with butter and lemon juice.

3. Pipe the puree onto each thin slice of turnip. Fold the edges up to form a dumpling-like shape.

Meyer lemon jam

  • 10 meyer lemons
  • coarse salt
  • 30g salt
  • 160g sugar
  • 600ml water
  • lemon juice

1. Cover the lemons in coarse salt for 12 hours.

2. Heat up the salt, sugar and water to make a simple syrup. Rinse the salted lemons and cook in the syrup for 8 hours.

3. Strain to remove the seeds. Blend everything else to make the jam. Season to taste with lemon juice.

  • verbena butter
  • 2 white turnips
  • 10g honey
  • 20g sake

1. Brush the skin of the chicken pieces with verbena butter. Roast in a 160°C oven for 30 minutes, and rest for 15 minutes.

2. Peel the turnips. Cook them in a pot with the verbena butter until slightly browned. Add the honey and deglaze with sake. Once tender, remove from pot and quarter

3. Serve each piece of chicken with some lemon meyer jam on top. Garnish with the quartered turnips and the yellow turnip dumpling.

 
 

Chef Masterclass