One day, a dish
MARIE HOT CHICKEN OF THE LANDES
CHICKEN:
A chicken is a young male or female poultry of the subspecies Gallus gallus domesticus, raised for its meat. Chickens are the most numerous land animals raised for consumption: in 2016, 66 billion chickens were raised and consumed by humans.
THE LANDES:
The French department of Landes, in the southwest of the country, is one of the closest to Spain, both geographically and culturally. It owes its name to the ancient sandy or marshy heathlands that once covered the department, where hundreds of thousands of sheep used to graze.
THE MARIE HOT CHICKEN OF THE LANDES:
In 1965, France created the red label (“Label Rouge”), a guarantee of the high quality of agricultural products. If the Landes is also a famous land of cattle, in the Chalosse region, of lambs and, of course, of ducks, it is the yellow Landes chicken that receives the very first “Label Rouge” in France, associated since 1998 with a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). The Landes, where the mass rearing of chickens began in the 1950s as an economic substitute for the extraction of natural pine resin, is today the second region for the production of Label Rouge poultry, with 450 farms raising 10 million birds. The chicks are raised outdoors in the largest pine forest in Europe, and fed by their own predation of insects, and gathering of herbs or seeds. They peck their way from plot to plot from a mobile coop, thus ensuring the conservation of the undergrowth. Marie Hot is the marketing brand of Landes yellow chickens for professionals in the distribution and processing of poultry.
HOW IT IS PREPARED AT ALLEGORIE:
We will not reveal all our secrets, but after separating the breasts and thighs, they are slowly cooked under vacuum at low temperature, and reserved until shortly before plating..
The garnish is composed in part of a brunoise of carrots and shallots poached and deglazed with Landes brandy. Another component is a ricotta, to which is added finely chiseled chives, salt and pepper of secret origin, complemented with caramelized shallots, and mixed with milk. There will be chestnuts in winter, braised artichokes in spring, and what our customers will discover in the seasons to come.
The first sauce is a chicken juice based on a base made with onions, garlic, and carrots “rissolées” and deglazed with red wine, yellow chicken carcasses from the Landes, water, salt, pepper, fire and patience. This stock is passed through a chinois, reduced, enriched with cream, and reduced again until a sauce of perfect consistency and smoothness is obtained.
The secrets of making the second sauce, a yellow chicken foam, will be protected by the walls of our kitchen. The third sauce is a very aromatic basil pesto.
Just before plating, the chicken pieces are finished on the grill, on the side of the skin, which will be crispy. The pieces will then be artistically carved, arranged on the hot plate, and accompanied by the vegetable garnish, soon covered by a steamed chard leaf and presenting an intense dark green. The sauces, arranged successively around the food to facilitate the dialogue between them, and an “arlette” of ricotta and potato come to finish the dish, which Marie or Gina will serve immediately to the diner, with due explanations as to the composition of the dish.
Bon appetit!