Sous Vide Wood Pigeon | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Wood Pigeon with Salsa Verde and Black Pudding Beignets

COOK TIME: 1 hour
PREP TIME: 1 hour
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

4 pigeon breasts
flaky sea salt
braised lentils – see recipe
salsa verde – see recipe
black pudding beignets – see recipe
chargrilled radicchio – see recipe
frisée lettuce – to plate

Braised lentils

100g of puy lentils
sherry vinegar, to taste
salt, to taste

Salsa verde

35g of capers
40g of Dijon mustard
25g of silver skin anchovy fillets
175g of olive oil
30g of mint leaves
30g of basil leaves
35g of flat-leaf parsley

Chargrilled radicchio

1 radicchio
olive oil

Black pudding beignets

100g of black pudding, cut into 2cm dice
1 egg, beaten
plain flour
panko breadcrumbs

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Liquidiser
Chargrill Pan / BBQ
Sous Vide Water Bath
Bar Sealer
Vacuum Sealer Bag
Deep-fryer

Method

Recipe courtesy of Will Holland from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

First, make the braised lentils. Place the lentils in a bowl and cover them completely with cold water. Soak overnight.
After overnight soaking, transfer the lentils to a saucepan. Fill the pan with fresh cold water, ensuring that the lentils are fully submerged, and place over a medium heat. When the water starts to boil, reduce the heat and cook for 20-25 minutes, simmering gently.
Tip away the cooking water and mix the cooked lentils with the salt and sherry vinegar. Store in a warm place until needed.
For the salsa verde, use a liquidiser to make a smooth purée out of the capers, Dijon mustard, silver skin anchovy fillets, olive oil, mint, basil and flat-leaf parsley. Place in the fridge and chill until ready to serve.
To make the chargrilled radicchio, quarter the radicchio without removing the core. Coat the quarters with a thin layer of olive oil and place in a hot chargrill pan or on a hot barbecue. Cook for 1 2 minutes, then turn over and cook for the same amount of time on the other side. Keep turning the radicchio until it is evenly charred all over, then store in a warm place until required.
For the beignets, roll the black pudding dice in plain flour, then dip them in beaten egg and finally coat them in Panko breadcrumbs. Leave on a tray until needed.
To cook the pigeon breasts, preheat the water bath to a temperature of 55⁰C.
Using a bar sealer, seal the breasts inside a vacuum bag. Place the bag in the water bath and leave to cook for 15 minutes.
Preheat the deep-fryer to a temperature of 175⁰C.
Cook the beignets in the deep-fryer until crispy and golden. This should take 2 3 minutes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the cooked beignets to season.
Unseal the vacuum bag containing the pigeon meat and remove the cooked breasts. Preheat a large frying pan over a high heat. When the pan is really hot, add the pigeon breasts. Fry for 10 seconds on one side, then turn over and fry for 10 seconds on the other. Remove from the pan and cut lengthways into thin slices. Add flaky sea salt to taste.
To serve, smear some salsa verde over the base of each plate, then arrange a charred radicchio quarter, several spoonfuls of lentils and 3 beignets on top. Add an equal amount of sliced pigeon breast to each plate and finish with a garnish of frisée lettuce.

Back to Recipes

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

...