Food
The pheasant did it
by Lois Daish
Renowned New York chef Daniel Boulud turned to professional cooking after a sublime encounter with a roast pheasant.
When chefs look back on what drove them to take up professional cooking, they often mention that it was the sublime taste of a particular dish. For prestigious New York chef Daniel Boulud, who grew up on his family’s farm near Lyons, France, the defining dish was a roast pheasant stuffed with foie gras and truffles. He tells the story in the fascinating Letters to a Young Chef (Basic Books, $35), a plain little book that nevertheless almost jumped off the shelf and into my hands at the Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie.
Boulud had gone off to cooking school at 14 and after three years’ training was ready to take a job at Restaurant Nandron in Lyons.
“Chef Nandron had just shot a pheasant, grown autumn plump on overripe grapes and juniper berries. He marinated it in cognac and Madeira, stuffed it with foie gras and the first black truffles of the season then roasted it in juniper butter, with salsify root and a chunk of country bacon. Even for a kid raised on the glorious food of the Rhone Valley this was a sensual revelation. I knew how to hunt and cook a pheasant country-style, but that was home cooking and this was real cuisine.”
Boulud gradually learnt that complex seductive dishes such as this were the result of the chef’s mastery of heat. Not so much the searing heat, flashing flames and flipping pans seen so often on television, but rather the subtlety and complexity involved in roasting, braising and sautéing. In these cooking processes the food is not merely heated; the flavours of the dish are also concentrated and integrated. The way he braises carrots is a simple example. He puts the carrots in the pot with a little butter or olive oil, a little chicken stock and fresh sage. The carrots are then simmered, with the pot partly covered to allow some evaporation, until they are still firm but getting tender. The lid is removed, which allows the carrots to absorb the cooking juices and then release their natural sugars. This adds a shine to each piece.
Roasting a chicken is more complicated than simply putting it in the oven. When the bird is first put in the oven, the temperature is very high and the chef must frequently baste it with butter. Halfway through the cooking time the heat is lowered and potatoes, onions and garlic are added to the pan, followed by thyme, parsley and pancetta. A few minutes later mushrooms are added.
When the chicken is perfectly cooked it is taken out of the oven to rest for 20 minutes while the vegetables continue to roast. This complex process requires intuition as much as it does precision, and it is this synthesis of sensuality and science that continues to beguile a true cook, even when the same dish is repeated 20 times a day.
Now, after nearly 40 years as a chef, Boulud says one of his favourite dishes is a loin of tuna wrapped in pancetta or paper-thin bacon, which is seared and then roasted. This dish, which he describes as simple, yet majestic, is served with braised mushrooms – he uses chanterelles – fried in the same pan in which the tuna was cooked and then moistened with vinegar, wine, stock and butter. Also on the plate is a mound of creamy mashed potato combined with blanched, sautéed and puréed parsley and spring onion – or New York’s wild onions, called ramps – to create a smooth green purée.
BACON-WRAPPED TUNA WITH MUSHROOMS
Tuna
200g very thinly sliced streaky bacon; 600g tuna loin in one piece; freshly ground pepper; 1 tbsp butter
Ahead of time, lay a piece of plastic wrap on the bench and arrange slightly overlapping vertical slices of the bacon. Season the tuna with pepper and place across the bacon slices. One by one, wrap the bacon rashers around the tuna, keeping the rows even. Secure the bacon by tying with kitchen string every 3cm. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook. Preheat the oven to 175˚C. Warm the butter in a large ovenproof frying pan. When hot, add the bacon-wrapped tuna and sear for 2 minutes on all sides. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. The tuna will now be rare on the outside and warmed inside. If you wish, bake for another 1-2 minutes for medium-rare. Lift the tuna onto a warm serving plate until ready to serve. Use the frying pan to cook the mushrooms.
Mushrooms
150g small button mushrooms; 1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion; salt and pepper; 1 tbsp sherry vinegar; 1⁄4 cup dry white wine; 1⁄4 cup chicken stock; 2 tbsp butter; 2 tbsp finely cut chives__
Pour off any excess fat from the pan in which the fish was cooked, leaving enough to cover the bottom. Put over a medium heat and add the mushrooms. Cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Add the spring onion, season with salt and pepper and cook for another minute or two. Pour in the vinegar and white wine and allow to evaporate almost completely. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half. Remove from the heat and swirl in the butter a little at a time. Sprinkle with the chives.
To Serve
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