Chicken Galantine Ballotine
Much of my childhood was spent either outside playing with sticks i.e. swords in the woods behind my house or in front of the TV watching PBS broadcasts of Julia Child. Years later, Julia & Jacques would capture my interest, introducing me to the incredible body of work of Chef Pépin.
The following is a tip of the hat to the great chef himself and his approach to deboning a whole chicken for a galantine or ballotine. This may seem like a daunting task, but believe me, if I can do it, so can you! A little patience and a sharp knife goes a long way here!
INGREDIENTS:
4-5 lbs whole chicken, deboned
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ - 2 ½ cups stuffing or filling mixture
Butchers string
Wash, and dry your chicken and let it sit out for 30 minutes at room temperature. There are four primary cuts that we need to make in order to remove the meat and skin from the main carcass. 2 in the shoulder wing section and 2 in the hip thigh section.
Start off by removing the wishbone by making incisions on either side of it. Using your fingers, firmly pull the wishbone until it releases. Cut the tip and flat from each wing at the 2nd joint. Reserve them for stock.
Make an incision down the middle on back of the chicken, from neck to tail. Wiggle one of the wings, feeling along the shoulder section for the joint. This is the where we will make our first cut. Ensure that you cut through the joint, releasing the shoulder joint from the main carcass. Repeat this process on the opposite shoulder.
Grab the whole wing section with one hand and the carcass with the other. Proceed to remove the back of the chicken from the main carcass. Pull until the meat and skin split just until the back oyster is exposed. Repeat this process on the opposite side.
Rotate to the breast side of the chicken. Place your index and middle finger on either side of the sternum and breast section and pull to release the breast meat from the cartilage. Continue to pull down the skin and meat until the whole front section is clean.
Lay the chicken down with the back facing up. Cut the oyster out, raise the knee above the hip, and dislocate the hip from the joint by hyperextending the ball out of the socket. Cut through the connective tissue so that the hip is now fully removed from the main carcass. Continue to pull the meat and skin until fully removed. Repeat this process on the other side fully removing the meat and skin. Reserve the carcass for stock.
Remove each breast filet by sliding your finger underneath the meat along the cartilage until the filet is released. Locate the tough sinew running down the middle of the filet and hold it using a paper towel. Scrape the sinew from the meat using a knife at a 90 degree angle. Repeat this process with the other filet and reserve both.
Now we can move on to deboning the wing, thigh, and leg sections. Cut around the wing ball joint until the meat is released. Grip the bone and slide the meat off the rest of the bone until you've reached the bottom. Proceed to pull out the bone from the wing section and repeat this process on the opposite side. Reserve the bones for stock.
Locate the hip joint and cut around the ball section until you can grab the ball handle. Using a 90 degree knife angle, scrape the meat from the bone until you reach the leg joint. Cut around the leg joint until it is fully exposed and released. Continue to scrape the leg meat from the bone leaving the last ½ inch attached. Grab the bottom of the drumstick joint and pull the skin firmly back over the bone. Break the bone using the back of a heavy chef's knife. Remove the bones and reserve for stock. Repeat this deboning process on the opposite side.
Now that the meat and skin are fully deboned, we can proceed to stuff the bird. Start off by placing a filet in each of the sections between the thigh meat and breast meat. If there is meat missing at the top of the neck section, simply make shallow slashes in the breast meat and fold it over to cover the skin.
Season the chicken with a liberal amount of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 1 ½ - 2 cups of stuffing in an even layer on top of the meat. I'm going with a delicious Italian Sausage & Herb stuffing with mushrooms, veggies, herbs, raisins, chicken stock and other goodies.
Continue by stuffing each of the leg cavities. Carefully bring each side of the chicken towards the center folding one flap over the other into a secure package. Carefully roll the chicken over seam side down. Tuck the stuffing and skin in so that the top and bottom are closed.
Tie the legs together using butcher's twine. Using a slip knot method, loop a section of string underneath the body, pressing the string down against the board and guiding under the bird until you've reached the bottom. Tighten and repeat with another loop spaced about an inch above the first loop. Continue this tying process ensuring that you gently, yet firmly structure everything into a semi tight form. Once you reach the top of the chicken, bring the string over any exposed portion and wrap the string over to secure it. Turn the chicken over and cut the string leaving a good 1 ½ feet of string left. Securely loop each string through each horizontal loop until you reach the bottom. Turn the chicken back over and tie off the string on the leg portion.
Pat the outside completely dry of any moisture and season the front, sides, and back generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken into a baking dish and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 450F or until you've reached an internal temperature of 165F.
