Chicken preparing for mourning

A nod to a bistro classic by way of Alice B Toklas

Last week’s episode began with a quote from the Alice B Toklas Cookbook, which is a fabulous read as well as being packed with wonderful recipes. Orlando Murrin chatted to me about his link to this wonderful food writer which you can hear in the snippet above. Both Alice and Orlando have inspired the choice of this week’s recipe (do check out Orlando’s version with a spicy twist (and no truffles) in Knife Skills for Beginners).

Poached chicken in a truffle scented sauce with roasted potatoes and crispy kale

Françoise Fillioux stands poised with a small kitchen knife in her hand hovered above a pallid poached fowl. The naked breast and thighs of the bird are polka-dotted with thin slices of truffle, visible beneath the translucent skin like splodges of ink on a white petticoat. Françoise’s knife seems inadequate for the task ahead. Decades of use have created a concave blade but despite its worn appearance the knife easily penetrates the soft flesh. Within minutes Françoise has removed its thighs from the bird’s carcass and carved off each breast in its entirety releasing a heady scent of truffle. The diners are in awe of her deft dismembering of the bird but for Françoise, it is merely the final stage of the recipe for volaille demi-deuil, chicken in half mourning. There are many more chickens in the kitchen awaiting a similar fate.

Françoise Fillioux’s culinary repertoire was spectacular if succinct. She had five signature dishes, of which the truffle enrobed chicken was one, stating simply that “I know how to cook them, and I will never make any others.” This dish garnered her fame as one of the fabled Mères of Lyons. Fillioux was one of the Mères Lyonnais who began cooking for bourgeois families then opened restaurants in the city in the early twentieth century. As their fame spread so did their recipes which over time were embellished or remodelled by later cooks (myself and Alice B Toklas included).

Any recipe that commences ‘Cook 4 truffles, in Madeira’ would usually be dismissed as far too extravagant to even contemplate by myself. So begins the recipe for Chicken in Half Mourning from the Alice B Toklas Cookbook (1954). Alice poaches her chicken simply enough in with herbs and vegetables but her much-reduced sauce is enriched with cream. Some of those Madeira poached truffles are stirred through the sauce, while the others are used as a garnish.

I’m assuming that, like me, you are not inclined to buy fresh truffles (or even a single truffle) to stuff inside a chicken (if you really want to have a go at replicating Mme Fillious’s dish try this recipe). But as a nod to Orlando’s choice for the potluck I wanted to devise a less costly version of this recipe using truffle scented products. The truffle salt adds a luxurious note to the suggested accompaniment below but feel free to substitute it for a vegetable side dish of your choice.

Ingredients for the chicken – serves 4-6

• 1 medium sized chicken (c. 2kg or 4¼lb), jointed into four pieces

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly squashed

• 1 onion, peeled and halved

• 1 carrot, peeled and halved

• 1 celery stick, cut in two

• 1 sprig fresh thyme

• 1 sprig fresh rosemary

• 2 blades of mace

• 2 cloves

• 8 peppercorns

Method

1. Place all of the ingredients in a large saucepan or casserole. Bring to the boil then reduce to a very gentle simmer. Poach for 50-60 minutes then strain off and reserve the liquor. Keep the chicken warm in a low oven while you prepare the sauce.

Ingredients for the sauce

• 25g/1oz unsalted butter, softened

• 25g/1oz plain flour

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 250g/9oz chestnut mushrooms, sliced

• 1 clove garlic, crushed with a little sea salt

• 1 tbsp porcini paste

• 5 tbsp madeira

• 300ml/½pt strained poaching liquor from above

• 75g/3oz strong flavoured truffle cheese, grated

• 75g/3oz double cream

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Cream the butter with the flour. Set aside until required.

2. Heat the oil in a lidded frying pan then cook the mushrooms until soft and any excess liquid has evaporated.

3. Add the garlic, porcini paste and madeira. Cook until the madeira has reduced by half, then pour in the strained poaching liquor. Drop in dollops of the butter and flour mixture, stirring until the sauce has thickened.

4. Add the truffle flavoured cheese stirring until melted then finish the sauce with the double cream, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Cover and reduce the heat to the lowest temperature possible.

5. Slice the cooked chicken meat and serve coated in the sauce.

Ingredients for the vegetables

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 750g/1lb10oz small waxy potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled

• 200g/7oz cavolo nero kale, washed and shredded

• ¼-½ tsp truffle salt (or regular sea salt if you don’t want to fork out for the posh stuff)

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• Pepper to season

Method

1. Pour the oil in a roasting tin and place in the oven while you preheat it to 200℃.

2. You can roast the potatoes whole if they are fairly small but if there are a few larger specimens cut them in half or quarters. Roast the potatoes for 20-25 minutes stirring half way through.

3. Scatter the kale around the potatoes and roast for a further 5 minutes until just starting to crisp up. Season the potatoes and kale with truffle salt (if using), lemon juice and pepper.

If you want to hear more about Alice’s infamous ‘hashish’ fudge download Episode 7 of Season 2 on the Brownie Angels.

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.