Chicquailant

[wby1]

Ahoy, egulleteers.

I've really done it now. Imagine a well-lubricated dinner party at which the conversation turns, prodded by a splendid pumpkin pie, to Thanksgiving, to its own upcoming, sure-to-be-equally-well lubricated festivities; and then-- naturally, inexorably-- to Turducken. The problems, all agree, are threefold:

1) Size. It simply feeds too many for the projected intimate gathering.

2) Novelty. Surely this is a high-concept dish in which splash trumps taste.

3) Name. It has "turd" in it for heaven's sake.

The answer?

Chicquailant. The "ant" is pheasant, of course; the rest explains itself. Right off the bat, problems 1 and 3 vanish! Chicquailant is compatatively trim! Chicquailant sounds positively elegant! (Sibilant chic, pursing the lips in a plosive kiss to expire, slow sigh, on "lant". Shee. Quay. Lo(ng). )

In the light of day, It appears that I have made a bet that I could make such a thing. But I have never cooked a pheasant, or even a quail. Chicken, sure. Duck even. Still, I am game-- But how to tame the game? And how, oh how, to address problem 2? Eureka! Consult the experts!

Oh mighty egullet, font from whence collective wisdom springs, help me! Speak to me! How can I make my chicquailant-- AND make it memorable? I invoke the masters of technique and taste: Help me to silence the scoffers. Help me to recipe.

[fifi]

First... You go here then you revise the technique to fit your birds. FYI... I think it has been established by Steingarten that Prudhomme is the originator of the turducken so I would go with his technique.

BTW... Size-wise, how does a pheasant compare to a chicken? I don't know from pheasants.

[wby1]

This "revision" is precisely what I'm asking about, since, as I already said, I do not have experience with 2 out of the 3 fowl in question.

Also, in my experience, that preparation is not thrilling taste-wise. I was wondering if anyone actually had any ideas about how one might improve, and not just adapt, this recipe.

[fifi]

Well, all of the flavor is in the stuffing, so you start there. I have had the Prudhomme recipe and some that came from specialty butcher shops in Louisiana. The Prudhomme recipe is far superior. The other thing I would do is to remove the skin from the "inside" birds. The skin just is flabby and nasty IMO.

[jrufusj]

The first thing I might do is to revise the choice of birds (though this may violate the terms of your bet).

Suggestions:

Duchy quail (nice, elegent, European nobility sounding name) = quail in chicken in duck

Gucci quail (for those rabid consumers of expensive branded products) = quail in chicken in goose

If you do the former, you will need either to get a canvasback sized duck or a relatively small chicken. I would lean toward a wonderful, young, tender chicken.

In addition to the fun wordplay, the great advantage to each of these alternatives is that it puts the bird with the most flavorful fat and skin on the outside, where it can be used to best advantage. It also eliminates the pheasant, which I just can't see using in this manner. I love pheasant, but would hate to see it lost in a jumble like this.

The other suggestion I would make is to do more than a bread, cracker, or cornbread stuffing. I would attempt to cover the areas between the outer skin of the smaller birds and the cavity walls of the larger birds with something more rewarding. For example, I might take good flavorful dried mushrooms, reconstitute them, slice them thinly, mix them with your favorite winter herbs and some chopped garlic and mustard (and any other appropriate seasoning to taste) and make a chunky poultice that would be liberally slathered over each of the smaller birds before stuffing. I probably would not do a bread stuffing at all.

Just my thoughts,

Jim

[wby1]

Many thanks, Jim. I'll have to consult on the flexibility of those holding my feet to the fire. I see the wisdom in your advice about the outer bird; I have been concerned about texture, and I think the crisp skin of duck or goose would be important.

With your "poultice" idea-- I worry slightly about empty pockets. I'm not a huge bread stuffing fan, but I would like the thing to slice elegantly.

[vengroff]

I would be a little hesitant to put quail inside another bird. To me, one of the biggest joys of quail is the high surface area to volume ratio, which results in lots of crispy skin coming along with every bite of meat.

Maybe you could turn the concept on it's head and plaster the outside of a larger bird with six or eight boneless quail, tie it all up and then roast the whole thing. A pheasant with a surface layer of quail--how could you do better than that?

[fyfas]

I love the idea of "plastering" the larger bird with a bunch of quail... I see an I LOVE LUCY episode here or something similarly entertaining. I'd have backup restaurant reservations.