CookEat Recipe
Capon Galantine with Truffle and Pistachio
A boned capon filled with fine meat stuffing, alternating meat strips, black truffle and pistachios, poached in cloth and chilled under a light weight.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 1 professionally dressed capon, about 1.5 kg before boning and approximately 700 g after boning, with skin intact; 300 g lean veal: 200 g in strips and 100 g for the fine stuffing; 300 g lean pork: 200 g in strips and 100 g for the fine stuffing; ½ raw boneless skinless chicken breast, about 75 g; 100 g plain cured pork fatback, without rind; 80 g ready-to-eat cooked cured beef tongue; 40 g prosciutto containing fat and lean; 40 g black truffle, brushed clean; reserve clean peelings; 20 g shelled unsalted pistachios; 60 g soft fresh bread crumb; About 100 ml ready-to-use broth for soaking the bread; 1 egg; Salt and black pepper; Water to cover the wrapped bird.
Step 2
Ask a poultry butcher to bone the already eviscerated capon through the back while keeping the skin intact. If doing this yourself, use a clean dedicated board and small sharp knife with the bird kept cold. Remove the neck, wing tips and feet if present. Cut shallowly along the back, free the wing and leg bones from inside, then separate the flesh carefully from the carcass and lift out all remaining bones, including the wishbone. Remove the tail and its small bones and all tough tendons. Draw the boned leg and wing meat inward to form an open skin envelope. Do not wash raw poultry.
Step 3
Cut the 200 g portions of veal and pork, the half chicken breast, fatback, cooked cured tongue and prosciutto into slender strips slightly narrower than a finger, reserving tongue and prosciutto trimmings. Season the raw meat lightly. Cut the cleaned black truffle into hazelnut-sized pieces, reserving clean peelings. Blanch the pistachios briefly in hot water and rub away their skins. Keep the filling ingredients refrigerated as you work.
Step 4
Soak the bread crumb in the broth and squeeze out excess liquid. Mince the extra 100 g veal and 100 g pork very finely and pound with the bread, egg, clean truffle peelings and tongue and prosciutto trimmings. Season lightly with salt and pepper and press through a fine sieve to make a smooth binding paste.
Step 5
Spread out the boned capon, season lightly and cover with a little fine stuffing. Arrange alternating strips of the different meats, a few truffle pieces and pistachios, then spread with more stuffing. Continue in layers until used up, placing the chicken-breast strips toward the tail end. Draw the sides of the skin together and close securely with a clean kitchen needle and food-safe cotton kitchen string. Tie lengthwise, wrap snugly in a clean undyed boiling-safe cooking cloth and tie both ends. Cook immediately.
Step 6
Cover the wrapped capon with water and simmer gently for about 2½ hours, keeping submerged. Check the thickest capon meat reaches at least 82°C and the centre of the stuffing at least 74°C; continue if needed. Unwrap carefully and rewrap in a fresh clean cooking cloth. For quicker cooling, divide the galantine across into two shorter pieces if necessary and wrap each separately.
Step 7
Place in a shallow tray breast-side up or down. Refrigerate promptly, within 2 hours, with a small clean flat board and a light food-safe weight on top to give a slightly flattened shape. Press for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator, allowing about 3–4 hours in total or until cold throughout. Do not leave the weighted galantine cooling on the counter. Remove the cloth and every piece of string, slice across and serve cold as ten dinner portions or about twenty small cold-course portions. Keep at 4°C or colder and eat within 2–3 days of cooking.
Step 8
For the turkey alternative, replace all 300 g pork with 300 g turkey breast, using 200 g in strips and 100 g in the fine stuffing; keep the same cooking checks. If saving the poaching broth, strain it, refrigerate promptly in shallow containers within 2 hours and use within 2–3 days or freeze.
Step 9
For optional clear meat jelly, allow about 13 hours extra, including chilling, and prepare it in advance. You need 500 g boneless veal shank, 150 g professionally cleaned veal foot, professionally cleaned food-grade feet from 2 or 3 chickens, 2 professionally cleaned chicken heads with their necks, 2 litres cold water and salt. Cut the feet into pieces and simmer all these ingredients gently for 7–8 hours, skimming, to reduce the liquid to about half. Strain into shallow containers and refrigerate promptly, within 2 hours, at 4°C or colder until set; remove the solid fat. If a chilled sample will not set, boil to reduce further and retest. Mix another 70 g very finely minced lean veal with 1 egg and about 30 ml water, add the cold jelly and whisk over heat until boiling, then simmer for 20 minutes. Heat 2 pinches sugar with a few drops of water in a small saucepan to dark amber, dissolve carefully with a little hot broth and add sparingly for a pale amber colour. Strain hot through a clean damp fine cloth without squeezing, divide into small moulds and refrigerate promptly until softly set. Briefly warm the outside of each mould with a hot damp cloth to unmould. Serve small pieces alongside the cold meat. Keep at 4°C or colder and eat within 2–3 days of the first preparation. Discard sour jelly or anything left out more than 2 hours; never try to rescue it by boiling. This uses natural gelatin and the source reduction alternative, not an unspecified gelatin-sheet dose. The cooled capon poaching broth may replace the 2 litres water in this optional jelly; salt cautiously and keep all cooling and storage limits measured from the original broth preparation.
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