If you don’t like liver this dish is not for you. I however do like liver so I enjoyed the dish. It is twice cooked chicken with a thick sauce of liver, red wine and strong spices.
The original recipe in french is as follows….
Ung pignagoscé sur chapons bien cuis en bon boulon, decopez par lopins, puis suffris en beau sain de lard ; prenez les foyez de vos chapons et les broyez tres bien, puis prenez pain harlé tempré en bon vergus, tout passé parmy l’estamine, gingembre, clou, graine, deffait de vin rouge et de vinaigre ; faictez tout boullir ensamble et du persin effueillié, jettez par dessus vostre grain chaudement.
Terence Scully’s translation is…
A Pignagoscé of Capons. [The capons are] well cooked in good bouillon, cut up into chunks, then sauteed in good rendered lard. Get the livers of your capons and grind them well. then get toast, tempered in good verjuice, everything strained. ginger, cloves, grains of paradise, distempered with red wine and vinegar. Boil everything together, along with some parsley leaves. Pour it hot over your meat.
This is how I made the dish….
I gathered the ingredients I planned to use for the dish. I chose boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of whole chicken. The red wine was a sweet red, since most of the liquid in the dish is fairly acidic I wanted to have a sweet wine to counteract the others a bit. The bread was toasted by setting it in a dry pan on a fairly high heat until browned and then flipping it and browning the other side.
I put the chicken in a pot with broth and set it to boil. While it was boiling I set the toasted bread in a bowl with verjuice to soak. I pressed the livers through sieve and then did the same with the soaked toast. Then I added the ground cloves, ginger, grains of paradise, wine and vinegar.
After the chicken was finished cooking I removed it from the broth and cut it into chunks and sauteed it in lard. While the chicken was sauteeing I put the sauce in a pot to boil and added chopped parsley.
Once the chicken and sauce were done I plated the chicken and poured the sauce on the chicken.
The Verdict…
The chicken was full of flavor from being cooked in the broth and then sauteed. The sauce was thick and smooth and very flavorful. The liver was very pronounced but the spices and wine were also very present. I don’t think I would make this for a feast as many people are not fans strong liver flavor. I do like the dish and may make it again for myself.
That sounds yummy. I’m a fan of chicken livers; I make a decent chopped liver.