Recipe: Piedmont Chicken Confit

Today we bring a recipe to you from Loews Hotel Eleven Restaurant and Bar executive chef Olivier Gaupin. He is one of only three certified Master Chefs of France here in Georgia. The fall menu at Loews Hotel is heavily French influenced, and this recipe is no exception. The original entree served at Eleven is composed of a rabbit confit, but chef made some alterations so that home cooks could make this meal themselves. It looks like a lot of steps, but the process is fairly easy. This is a great holiday entertainment recipe to serve at your next dinner party. Begin by making the pickled chanterelles one day in advance. 

Piedmont chicken confit with pickled chanterelles, fingerling potatoes and orange tarragon sauce

Serving size: 4 portions

Pickled chanterelles

• 1 lb of fresh small chanterelle

Pickling liquid

• 2 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 quart of water
• 4 tablespoon of sea salt
• 2 Tablespoon black peppercorn
• 2 tablespoon mustard seed
• 2 tablespoon of coriander seed
• 2 tablespoon of hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoon all spice berries
• 1 tablespoon ground mace
• 2 small cinnamon stick
• 12 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger

1. Mix all ingredients together and bring it all up to a simmer.

2. Put your chanterelles or any other mushroom of your choice into mason jars and pour the hot liquid over the mushrooms.

3. Close the lid with a hermetic seal and store in your refrigerator for 24 hours prior to serving.

Chicken confit

• 1 lb of chicken thigh
• 2 quarts of duck Fat (if you don't have duck fat, use lard or ghee)

Spice mix

• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tsp. of Sea salt
• 1 Tsp. of Fresh ground pepper
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 orange peel
• 1 spring of thyme

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the garlic, slightly crushed, the bay leaves, sea salt, ground pepper, orange and lemon peel all together.

2. Remove the skin off from the chicken; add the chicken to the spice mix and let it cure for approximately 3 hours.

3. Once the chicken is cured, remove it from the spice mix and quickly wash off with cold water.

4. Submerge the chicken into the duck fat and cook together in an oven for 2 hours at 300 degrees.

5. Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and set aside.

Fingerling potato chips

• 8 fingerling potatoes skin on
• Salt and pepper for seasoning

1.In a small bowl, slice the potatoes to 1/8 of an inch with a mandolin. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.

2. Drizzle a little olive oil and cook in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Once the potatoes are roasted and crispy, pull out of the oven and set aside.

 Tarragon Orange Jus

• 2 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup of fresh squeeze orange juice
• 1 tablespoon of chopped tarragon
• ½ cup of chicken broth
• 2 ounces of cold butter

1. In a small sauce pan, incorporate the sugar, orange juice and bring it to a simmer until it caramelized.

2. Add the vinegar and reduce it to syrup-like consistency.

3. Add the chicken broth, butter and finish it with chopped tarragon.