Charles Pearce’s Barbecued Cabbage, Oxidized Pear and Double Chicken Jus

Serves 4

For the Chicken Stock

Ingredients

• 1kg chicken carcass
• 1 veal or beef knee bone
• 100g chopped onion
• 100g chopped carrot
• 2 pieces of chopped celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 200g chopped tomato
• 80g dried shitake mushrooms

 Method

1. Roast the bones at 210°C until golden.
2. Add everything to a large pot and cover with 5kg of ice or 5L of cold water. Bring to a rapid boil, skim off any impurities, reduce the heat to a slow boil and simmer for around 8 hours. Alternatively, you can use a pressure cooker to reduce cooking time.
3. After 8 hours, filter using a cheesecloth and set aside.

For the Chicken Demi-Glace

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken wings
• 2.5 lt chicken stock
• sherry vinegar

 Method

1. Roast the wings at 210°C until golden.
2. Add wings to a pot with the cold chicken stock. Bring up to the boil and skim off any impurities. Reduce by half and pass the stock through cheesecloth and leave to solidify in the fridge.
3. Remove any fat, return to the pan and reduce until you achieve a rich consistency.
4. Season with salt and a touch of sherry vinegar for acidity.

For the Fermented Cabbage Powder

Ingredients

• 1 round cabbage
• salt

Method

1. Start by removing the outer layers of the cabbage until you’re left with the smaller heart.
2. Weigh the outer leaves, slice thinly and add 2% of salt. Thoroughly mix and scrunch together the leaves with the salt. Vacuum pack everything at 100% and leave in an ambient place for at least 5 days.
3. After 5 days, drain off any juices and dehydrate the cabbage at 65°C for around 6 hours and then blend into a powder.

For the Brown Butter

Ingredients

• 150g butter

Method

1. Add the butter to a pan, put on medium to high heat and keep whisking until the butter has caramelized and the nutty perfume is achieved.
2. At this point, strain the butter using kitchen paper and set it aside.

For the Cabbage Heart

Ingredients

• cabbage heart (from above)

Method

1. Slice a cabbage heart into 4 or 6 wedges (depending on size).
2. Add each wedge into a vacuum bag along with the filtered brown butter and a pinch of salt in every bag.
3. Seal bags at a 100% vacuum and cook in a water bath at 83°C for 45 minutes, then remove and chill in ice.

For the Oxidized Pear

Ingredients

• 500g pear Williams
• 80g vinegar
• 50g white wine
• 5g salt
• 25g fructose

Method

1. Wash the pears, slice them thinly and leave them in a warm place uncovered to oxidize (they must be completely brown).
2. At this point, put everything into a pot and cook on medium to high heat until soft, then blend into a smooth purée and set aside.

Plating

1. Set up a barbecue or yakitori and let it get very hot. Meanwhile, ut the double chicken jus and pear compote on a low heat on the stove to warm through.
2. Place one wedge of cabbage onto the barbecue and create a heavy sear. Once nice and charred, turn over the cabbage and brush with the brown butter leftover from the sous vide bag. Remove the cabbage from the barbecue, season with a bit of flaky salt and dust heavily with the fermented cabbage powder.
3. Put the cabbage in the centre of the plate with a quenelle of the warm pear compote to the right of the cabbage and finish with a generous serving of the chicken jus in the middle.

Recipe courtesy of Charles Pearce of Nordelaia in Piedmont