Pan-Roasted Quail | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Pan-Roasted Quail, Herbs and Fried Egg

COOK TIME: 3 Hours
PREP TIME: 4 Hours
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

Quail

4 quails
transglutaminase, for dusting

Herb brine

4kg water
400g of salt
40g of rosemary
25g of thyme
4 bay leaves
25g of garlic
8g of black peppercorns

Cep purée

250g of ceps, frozen and chopped
1 shallot, sliced finely
100g of butter
75ml of double cream

To confit the legs

8 quail legs
flour, seasoned with salt
1 eggs, beaten to make eggwash
1 handful of panko breadcrumbs

Ceps

2 ceps, cut in half
1 knob of butter

Quail eggs

4 quail eggs
1 dash of oil

To serve

mixed leaves
wood sorrel

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of Paul Welburn from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

First, make the brine. Combine the water, salt, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns in a large saucepan and heat until the mixture starts to boil. Take the pan off the heat, allow the brine to cool, then transfer to the fridge to chill.
To prepare the quails, trim off the legs, then carefully cut the breasts away from the rest of the carcass, keeping the skin that joins them intact. Although a difficult skill to master, leaving the pairs of breasts joined in this way makes them much easier to cook.
Submerge the quail breasts and legs in the chilled brine and leave to soak. Remove the breasts after 40 minutes and the legs after 1 hour. Rinse the brined meat thoroughly in cold water.
Place one pair of breasts skin-side down on a sheet of cling film and cover with a dusting of transglutaminase. Starting at one edge, neatly roll up the meat into a sausage shape and wrap tightly in cling film. Repeat with the remaining pairs of breasts, then chill in the fridge for as long as possible (3 hours minimum).
Taking the quail legs one at time, carefully cut out and discard the thigh bone. Roll the thigh meat around the joint-end of the drumstick bone, then push the bone through the skin to secure the thigh in place. French-trim the other end of the drumstick bone. You should end up with a lollipop shape.
Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 85⁰C.
Wrap the legs tightly in cling film and seal in a vacuum bag using a chamber sealer.
Place the bag in the water bath and leave to cook for 2 hours. Immediately after cooking, submerge the vacuum bag in iced water and leave to set.
When you are ready to cook the quail breasts, preheat the water bath to a temperature of 65⁰C.
Seal the rolls of breast meat in a small vacuum bag, place in the water bath and leave to cook for 20 minutes, then set aside.
For the cep purée, lightly sauté the sliced shallots in the butter. Stir in the chopped ceps and sweat over a medium heat until soft. Season to taste, then pour in the cream and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer until thickened.
Purée the cep and cream mixture in a blender, then strain through a fine sieve and set aside.
Preheat the deep fryer to a temperature of 150⁰C.
Take the quail legs out of the vacuum bag and carefully unwrap the cling film. Roll the legs in flour, then in eggwash, then in Panko breadcrumbs and place the deep-fryer. Cook until golden brown and crispy.
Unwrap the rolls of quail breast, place in a hot roasting pan with a dash of oil and cook until golden brown. Leave the meat to rest for a minutes before serving and reserve the juices from the roasting pan.
To cook the ceps, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the ceps and sauté until golden.
Crack the quail eggs into a frying pan with a little oil and cook to your liking.
To serve, carve the rolls of quail breast into slices and divide between 4 plates. Add 1 quail leg to each plate and top with a fried quail egg and a cep. Finish the plate with a few dots of cep purée, a garnish of mixed leaves and wood sorrel and a spoonful of the quail juices from the roasting pan.

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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...

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