MobyP

There are a couple of recipes for these sorts of things in Anna Del Conte's Gastronomy of Italy. I made a massive Batali-inspired tortellini Pasticcio once - it tasted great, but the bastard took me three days to put together.

Here's an appalingly tanslated English Version of the Blanc recipe with Foie Gras.

Lucy - I thought you might be interested in the Ducasse Method, while we're looking. What i find interesting about the recipe is the respect given to the bird - the rotating, the basting, the resting afterwards. I started following this as a basic method, and especially with delicately flavoured birds, I found the results vastly improved. Also, I recently had a meal at L'Ambroisie where they brought two PdB 'avec l'herbes' to the next table. I tried to reproduce it at home (with a similar style bird), and had fantastic results. Having made a mixture off thyme, tarragon, parsley, and a touch of rosemary, salt and pepper, and mixed it with about 150g of butter, I cooled the mixture, then put it under the breast skin, and (here was something new) left the birds like this in the fridge for a couple of hours. After they'd been roasted and rested, the perrfume of the herbs came through beautifully. I think, as with all things, if it's the delicateness of the flesh that you want to enjoy, you don't want to smother it with too many other powerfully flavoured ingredients. Strong Theory of Chickens! Is that like a theory of Weakly Interacting Masssive Particles, only tastier?

Waitasaecond - Is there a reward for ratting people out?

Jack - that looks great. How long do you cook the onions for before baking?

Yeah Suze - where's the pic?? Che - Grant is Grant Achatz of Trio fame; formerly right hand man to Thomas Keller (French Laundry).

This calls for Obi Wan Gary-san...

Corpaga - welcome to eGullet. Thanks for posting your review. What did you think of the sardines on toast ice cream? And the sweetbreads in hay?

As Monsieur Day mentioned above, let us edge back from the joyous chasm that is IT technology, and back to the dainty morsals of our lives. Thanks.

Lucy - you're an inspiration. Thanks for sharing all of this with us. (And your pasta looks fantastic!)

Lucy - that's great. I've never seen whole grain durum semolina - do you have a specialist shop near you? What kind of pastas have you made - and did you take any pictures???

Everything about it sounds awful, I agree. But by god it worked.

at a creole place once, I had the most incredible and bizarre dish. An avocado split in two, the seed removed, the cavity scooped out a little, and the pulp mixed with big shrimp and bound with a little mayo, then put back into the cavity, the avocado sealed shut, egged, breaded, and the whole thing deep fried. Served I think with a remoulade - it was insanely good.

Thanks Patrick. Brothers - The Roux, the Aikens, the Thompsons, and who are those French twins at the Michelin 3 star place - it is quite rare, no, having two brothers in this profession? Have you ever thought of setting up a place together, or is it best when there's a little distance between you (like Tom Aikens and his twin)?

Those Label Anglais birds are certainly exceptional. The flesh is very delicate in flavour. (I mixed some butter with some thyme, rosemary, taragon and parsley, and pushed it under the skin, and let them sit in the fridge for a couple fo hours. It perfumed the meat wonderfully.) I'm not sure how much better they are than the organic birds I get from my local - but they were almost half the price, which boggles the mind. I look forward to trying the PdB...

The website. The a la carte menu looks very nice indeed. Starters Poitrine de porc rôtie au cidre et jus de pomme, crevettes et foie gras aux feuilles de mangue Slow roasted belly pork, seared Tiger prawns and foie gras, cider and apple jus. £22-00 Coquilles St Jacques, purée de choux-fleur et lard fumé, cappuccino de laitance Seared scallops, cauliflower puree and smoked bacon, cappuccino of scallop roe. £23-00 Pavé de barbue et sa mousse cuit à la vapeur, duxelle de champignons, queues de langoustines, sauce Nantua Steamed pavé of brill with its own mousse, langoustine tails, mushroom duxelle and sauce Nantua. £22-00 Aile de raie grilleé, endives caramelisées. Boudin noir. Tomate rôtie. Jus de poule Pan fried skate wing, caramelised chicory and black pudding. Slow roasted tomatoes. Chicken jus. £20-50 Ravioli de jaune d'oeuf coulant sur ris de veau poêlés aux truffes fraîches, bouillon de poule au Madère Ravioli of poached egg yolk on pan-fried veal sweetbreads with fresh truffle, Madeira and chicken stock reduction £24-00 Fish and Shellfish - First or middle course / Main course Thon légerement fumé, riz sauvage aromatisé aux herbes, jeune fenouil glaçé, sauce Vierge Lightly smoked tuna loin, aromatic wild rice, glazed baby fennel, sauce vierge. £32-00 Loup de mer poelé, cannelloni de cèpes et de coquilles St Jacques sauce aux moules et palourdes safranées Pan fried fillet of Sea bass, cannelloni of cèpes and scallop with mussel, clam & saffron sauce. £32-00 Bouillabaisse moderne, croquant de légumes aux herbes de Provence Bouillabaisse modern, spaghetti of Provençale vegetables, fish and shellfish sauce £32-00 Queue de lotte rôtie au jambon de Parme choux parfumé au Madras Roasted monkfish tail in Parma ham, Savoy cabbage scented with Madras curry £22-00 / £32-00 Meat, Poultry, Game and Offal Cannon d'agneau de Cornwall enrobé d'une mousse de volaille au celery branche, boudin et jus d'agneau Poached cannon of Cornish lamb in a lovage mousse, boudin of lambs kidney and sweetbreads, lamb jus £31-00 Filet de lièvre Royale sur mini rösti, poêlée de foie gras caramélisé Fillet of hare "Royal" on mini rösti, caramelised pan-fried foie gras. £32-00 Mignons de veau aux trois mignardises d'oignons, de foie de veau et de rognons Pan-fried mignons of veal, calves liver and kidney with onions cooked three ways. £33-00 Selle de chevreuil rôtie, galette de légumes, sauce Grand veneur Roast saddle of venison, galette of root vegetables Savoy cabbage with cumin, Grand veneur sauce. £33-00 * * * * * * * * * Small green side salad £3-50 Individual pan of Rösti £3-75

Sounds like a fantastic meal. I love the idea of a suet pudding to accompany the lamb neck. I know nothing about this chef, or restaurant. Patrick, how many times have you been? How long has it been open?

I bought two label Anglais - I saw the PdB at Ginger Pig, but they looked a bit knackered, to be honest. The LA were surprisingly cheap - about 7 quid each. How can that be?? I was expecting to pay over a tenner per bird, considering the blurb.

Apologies for lack of recent update. Please bang the side of television, shake fists at heaven cursing the unfairness of it all.... and service should resume shortly.

Maybe we should all go in on a box of a hundred, and glut ourselves. [Edit to add] I've just printed up a few pages from the Label Anglais website which I'm going to take to my butchers. I'll see if I can get him to add the order. I reckon my house goes through 4-6 chickens a month - especially during spring and summer. Let's see if I have any luck.

I had no idea they could grow so quickly. It seems slightly grotesque, no?

Isn't Chicago a big meat town? Seen any good looking slabs of beef recently?

I forgot we had the Einstein of chickens around! Thanks Adam. Come to thhat - if most of the industrial rubbish sold comes from those same two lines, why do you think they went in that direction? To please the uk market - the same, but better? Why not be more adventurous - smaller birds, more substantial taste? I still haven't come close to tasting a bird with as much flavour as that French market one. It was almost shocking.

I'll go to Borough this Saturday, buy one of each, and do a taste test for the mother in law. Thanks all. At a recent l'Ambroisie meal, they were serving Bresse chicken with herbs stuffed under the skin. What I thought was remarkable was the depth of the herbs - almost 8-10 mm consistently along the whole length of breast. If they made a paste with butter and herbs, I can't believe the skin didn't split before the end of the roast.

Thanks Steven.