Saturday, June 11, 2011

#298 Pulled and Devilled Turkey, Chicken or Pheasant

"One of the most delicious dishes of eighteenth-century cooking, indeed one of the best of all English dishes", says Griggers. That's quite a statement. The idea behind this receipt is that it uses up that left-over Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey "with the glory it deserves". It is nowhere near either of those two holidays, but in the receipt a roast or boiled chicken or a brace of roast pheasants can be used, and I must admit it does seem like a good dish for summertime as it is serve with bread and salad rather than stodgy potatoes and vegetables. Plus I was in the mood for some nice chicken. Perfect for hot, hot Houston eating, I reckoned. I made this for some friends to try – Danny, Eric and a Neil Cooks Grigson virgin, Jahnavi.

The turkey, chicken or pheasant is both pulled and devilled because the brown meat (i.e. leg and thigh) and the white meat (i.e. breast) are treated differently, with the brown getting a spicy marinade – the devil! – and the while meat being pulled apart into thready pieces the "thickness of a large quill" and cooked in a buttery-cream sauce presumably to temper the spicy devilled meat. Though this is an old recipe, I could find no information on it, though the inclusion of the mango chutney and the Cayenne pepper suggests an early Indian influence on English cuisine.

The actual devil, if you believe in that sort of thing.
Notice the devil is two-faced - quite literally -
one face in the usual place, the other on his arse

Although there is the big #300 coming up, this recipe marks the mid-way point through the leviathan of a chapter – the meat section. I've not done half as many of the strange or tricky ones that I have intended, but expect some when I move to St Louis later this month. I won't have much of an option soon, as that's all will be left to do!
Here's what you do:
First prepare the appropriate fowl for the dish:
Roast turkey, you'll need a leg (slightly underdone, if possible) and around a pound of cooked breast meat.
For chicken, you can use a boiled or roasted one, but try and undercook it. I did roast chicken and just missed off the final twenty minutes of cooking time.
For pheasants, a brace of either stewed or roasted ones will suffice!


Take the brown meat from the leg bones, keeping the pieces quite large and make some good, deep slashes in the meat. Now make a devil sauce by mixing together a rounded tablespoon each of Dijon mustard and mango chutney, a tablespoon of Worcester sauce or half a teaspoon of anchovy essence (I went with the former), a quarter teaspoon of Cayenne pepper, a little salt and two tablespoons of corn – or some other flavourless – oil. Pour this over the brown meat, making sure you work it into the slashes you made. The easiest way is to do all of this inside one of those zip-lock freezer bags. Let the meat marinade for a few hours, though I wouldn't leave the chicken more than two as it is the most bland of the three birds here; pheasant or turkey could easily take four or five though, I reckon. Now lay the devilled meat on a baking tray and grill it under a high heat until it turns a delicious dark brown colour. Keep it warm.

Whilst the devil does its work, get on with the pulled part of the dish. Pull the breast meat apart with your fingers and set aside. For the pulled sauce, melt seven ounces of butter in a wide pan and then add half a pint of double cream. Bring to a boil and let it bubble for a couple of minutes before adding the breast meat plus any bits of jelly, then season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Lastly, stir in some chopped parsley. Spoon into the centre of a serving dish or plate and place the devilled bits around the outside.
Eat with bread and a salad.


#298 Pulled and Devilled Turkey, Chicken or Pheasant. Griggers really built this one up, and I have to say that it more than lived up to expectations. The devilled bits were deliciously spicy and salty and were perfectly complimented by the creamy and surprisingly light pulled sauce. Definitely the best recipe from the Poultry section so far, but then what can be bad about spice, butter and cream? That's the three major food groups, isn't it? I can't wait for Christmas now, I'm going to get an extra-large turkey just so this can be made the next day, and it is infinitely better than turkey a sandwich, that's for sure! 9.5/10.

8 comments:

  1. Hey Neil!!
    no comments about the poultry but I am an avid follower and love reading your 'patter'.
    Keep it up and hope to catch you next time you're over the pond.
    Love
    Sue Bennett

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  2. Sue! How are you, chuck!?

    Glad you read the blog. It's probably going to quieten down for a few weeks as I am moving north to St Louis on the 25th June!

    I'm going to try and get the 300th recipe done by then though...

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  3. I'm an Eric, so I noted yr fervor with special interest. I will undoubtedly reserve this one for a banquet with friends (you'll be present).

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  4. It's one of the must-be-cooked recipes from the book. Happy banquetting!

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  5. I am so glad I found you. Thirty years ago I found a book called Good Thing by Jane Grigson.In fact I use jgrigson as my name when I blog.I have not used the book in years but I used to make her liqueurs every Christmas. I have eaten wonderful food in England and would love to cook along with you. By the way, I live in Kansas City. I hope you like your new home.

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  6. well I am linking St Louis alot so far, but I've not had chance to explore properly yet.

    I would love it if you cooked along - not sure when the next recipe will be though... hopefully very soon!

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  7. I don't know if you still exist as the previous comments are 8 years old.
    I am French but I experienced the recipe some 40 years ago or so and loved it.
    Two little criticisms: The brown parts, in my opinion are better if the pieces are just slightly larger than the white ones.
    In my opinion, the presentation dish on your photo is too small and the colour doesn't suit the colours of the dish + green parsley would make the center part more artistic.
    Glad I found the recipe here as my Grigson book seems to have disappeared.
    THANKS
    Paul

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  8. Yes this picture was taken back in the day when i was terrible at photography. It's a good recipe though. Everything is better devilled...

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