PHEASANT SALMIS WITH RED WINE SAUCE, GLAZED PEARL ONIONS, AND MUSHROOMS

SOURCE: JACQUES PÉPIN. ESSENTIAL PÉPIN: MORE THAN 700 ALL-TIME FAVORITES FROM MY LIFE IN FOOD.

Initially appearing in documentation during the early 19h century and highly esteemed by Auguste Escoffier as the embodiment of the delicate and the perfect in old-fashioned game cookery, salmis pertains to partially roasted boneless birds, like ducks, partridges, and pheasants, reheated in its own drippings and wine or Armagnac right before serving with vegetables. Preparation of salmis can go two ways. Codes of cuisine classique require cooking the well-aged avian carcass to precede the deboning step. Conversely, the modern take of stripping the bird meat from its bones prior to brief heating buys time to improve the tenderness and flavor of the former while waiting for the aromatic stock-fortified sauce - a delaying tactic that deserves merit in the grand physiological scheme of taste.

Ingredients

1 pheasant, weighing about 3 pounds/1.4 kg, preferably wild

2 teaspoons/10 mL olive oil

1/2 cup/26 grams coarsely chopped onions

1/2 cup/64 grams coarsely chopped carrots

1/2 cup/50 grams coarsely chopped celery

1/2 teaspoon/0.5 grams herbes de Provence, Italian seasoning

1 1/4 cups/310 mL fruity dry red wine

3 1/2 cups/870 mL water

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon/15 mL light soy sauce

12 red OR white pearl onions

3 tablespoons/45 grams unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon/2 grams sugar

12-16 button mushrooms, cleaned

1 teaspoon/3 grams potato starch, arrowroot, OR cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon/15 mL red wine

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Specific Equipment

Medium-sized saucepan

Spoon

Small skillet or sauté pan

2 ovenproof bowls

Fine-mesh strainer

Large skillet or sauté pan, preferably nonstick

Small roasting pan

Sharp knife

Serves 4

Instructions

1. Cut the pheasant into 4 separate portions, namely, 2 breasts and 2 legs. Disjoint the thighs from the drumsticks and remove the skin from the thighs. Debone the breast meat from the carcass and remove the skin. Cover and set the breast meat and thighs aside on a cool place. Coarsely chop the pheasant bones, skin, and drumsticks.

2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté in the chopped pheasant remains, onions, carrots, celery, and herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning, turning frequently for 20 minutes or until the bones and vegetables are nicely browned. Spoon out the rendered fat as much as possible.

3. Pour in 1 cup/250 mL red wine and 3 cups/750 mL water and stir in 1/2 teaspoon/3 grams salt and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Cover the saucepan and reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for 1 hour.

4. Combine the pearl onions, 1 tablespoon/15 grams butter, sugar, and a pinch of salt with 1/2 cup/120 mL water in a small skillet or sauté pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, shaking the skillet or sauté pan occasionally after the first 5 minutes of boiling have elapsed. Cook for 9 to 10 minutes or until the onions have completely caramelized on all sides. Set the onions aside in an ovenproof bowl and keep warm.

5. Add the mushrooms to the same skillet or sauté pan. Season lightly with salt and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes until nicely browned. Set the mushrooms aside in the same ovenproof bowl of glazed pearl onions and keep warm.

6. Strain the stock to another ovenproof bowl through a fine-mesh strainer. Return the stock to the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Continue boiling until the volume of the liquid has reduced to 1 cup/250 mL. Stir in the dissolved potato starch, arrowroot, or cornstarch. Season with salt and pepper and adjust according to taste. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon/15 grams butter to prevent a skin from forming at the top layer of the sauce.

7. Preheat oven to 160ºF/70ºC.

8. Melt 1 tablespoon/15 grams butter in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Place the pheasant thighs; season with salt; and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the thighs over the other side and add the pheasant breasts. Season the pheasant breasts with salt; and cook for 3 minutes or until nicely browned. Turn the thighs breasts over the other side and cook for another 3 minutes or until the breasts have nicely browned. Remove the breasts from the skillet or sauté pan and transfer to the roasting pan. Continue cooking the thighs, turning them again over the other side and cook for 3 minutes or until both sides have nicely browned. The juices of both thighs and breasts should still run pink. Transfer the pheasant thighs to the roasting pan, keeping the drippings in the skillet or sauté pan.

9. Reheat the mushrooms and onions in the oven.

10. Stir in 1/4 cup/60 mL red wine with the pheasant drippings in the large skillet or sauté pan until well-blended. Pour this mixture into the red wine sauce and bring to a boil.

11. Spoon the sauce on individual serving plates. Cut each pheasant piece in half and divide each half of breast and thigh equally on individual serving plates. Garnish the plate equally with glazed onions and mushrooms. Coat the pheasant and vegetables with additional sauce, if desired.