The Many Lives of a Game Hen, Cont'd

Part II: The Bones

I roasted the bones with a mirepoix. Roasting gives more flavour, better colour, and makes a clearer stock.

All the bones of the hen went into the stock except one: the wishbone. While this particular collarbone will not have the same Delphic power as that of the Christmas turkey, it'll still be fun to break.

I deglazed the roasting pan with white wine, added parsley stems and thyme, covered with cold water, and simmered gently, barely bubbling, overnight.


The bulk of the stock went into a chicken soup with onions, carrots, celery, spinach, wild rice, and pan-fried chicken breast.



Part III: The Trim

I was left with the wings, the kidneys, miscellaneous trim from the ballotine, and some fatty scraps pulled from the carcass. I decided to make a very simple, "essence of chicken" sausage. I seasoned my chicken trim and fat with salt, pepper, sprigs of thyme, and a couple mashed garlic cloves and left the mixture overnight. In the morning I removed the thyme stems and garlic and ground the mixture twice.


After grinding, a small amount of liquid is added, and the meat is mixed. This develops a protein called myosin which helps the meat bind and gives the final sausage a good bite. The most commonly used liquids are simple ice water, wine, and vinegar, but since I was trying to focus on the flavour of the game hen, I used some of my stock. Surprisingly, I have never come across a sausage recipe that uses stock. Perhaps most stock is so mild-tasting that it doesn't stand up to the flavour of the meat and fat. Operating on that assumption, I reduced the stock by about 3/4 before chilling and adding to the meat.