Just as most of my recipes have a humorous story attached to them, this one in particular is pretty funny. This recipe came about years ago when I was working gourmet and we were kind of experimenting with house cured charcuterie. Luckily it was not during Houston Restaurant Week so I was pretty well rested and ready to go. As with most of the restaurants I had worked in, I arrived at 7:30 a.m. to get started on my prep for the dinner rush. It was well into the morning and most of the cooks were already there and prepping their own stations. Everyone worked meticulously, a hush swept through the kitchen with only the sounds of clinging pans and the periodic spray from the dish pit as the dishwasher cleaned item after item as we cooked and wrapped each small item that enhanced various dishes that graced the menu. I was standing in my station, minding my own business as I sliced and diced, sautéed and baked off, as was everyone else, when one of the other cooks approached me with the robocoup ( a restaurant grade food processor). He set it at the far end of one of my prep tables and said, were gonna make something. I raised my brow. “What?” I asked curiously. “Chicken liver mousse. ” he replied. I swiftly agreed as he brought a stainless steel bowl of raw chicken parts. ” Put all of this in the robocoup and grind it down to a paste.” I gazed into the deep bowl, practically overflowing with whole uncooked poultry. ” Don’t I need to cut this up?” I pointed out. ” I dont thnk…” He quickly interrupted me as he walked back to his station. ” No, it’ll be fine.” My eyes panned back in his direction, in complete disagreement with his suggestion, but I simply shrugged my shoulders and exhaled a long winded “Ooookkk.” I did as I was told and dumped it all in the robocoup and walked back to my prep. I still had to get my own station ready. After a couple of minutes, I noticed a strange sound emerging from the food processor along with a foul odor. I looked over and the motor of the robocoup was half melted. A loud gasp left my mouth as I rushed over and shut it off. I called the other cook over to show him this awesome site. ” I told you.” I grumbled. ” We’re gonna be in so much trouble.” During this time, robocoups were just about $2000.00. ” No we won’t. ” He moved fast, quickly scraping the half pureed concoction into the bowl of the second robocoup. ” Finish grinding this up and I’ll put this one back in dry storage.” I just knew we were in trouble, but again, I did what he said, after all, he was the one that was in charge of this experimental charcuterie trial and error. A day or two had passed and not a word was said about the melted robocoup. Then, one afternoon, we were once again working quietly, prepping our stations when the executive chef came out of dry storage and stomped into the center of the kitchen. ” Who melted the robocoup!?” His voice echoed, bouncing off the walls around us. The room fell silent as everyone simply stared at him, no one even hinting as to what had happened. After about a minute of pure silence, he says, “Its a good thing we have another. ” The other cook and I glanced over at one another as Chef disappeared into his office. I exhaled along but silent breath and continued to work. Needless to say, the mousse came out amazing and I hate to say it, well worth it. Here it is, an amazing mousse that took the life of a $2000.00 robocoup. Enjoy this bad boy.
4 Oz raw chicken skin, diced
10 Oz raw chicken meat, diced
17 Oz chicken livers drained, cleaned, vein removed
1½-2 c milk
1 c brandy
½ tbs fresh thyme leaves
1 med shallot peeled and minced
¾ tbs Morton kosher salt
3 sticks unsalted sweet cream butter, divided
Place your chicken meat, skin and livers in 3 seperate containers and soak livers in milk over night. Chill meat and skin as well. Everything needs to be very cold while working this recipe. The next day, start by combining the brandy, shallots and thyme in a small sauce pot. Simmer til reduced to a slightly syrup consistency. Chill in fridge for about half an hour. Meanwhile, remove all of protein from the fridge. Rnse and drain liver thoroughly. Pat everything dry, very dry. Chill about 15 minutes. Then, add the skin to a 16 cup food processor. Puré until smooth. Add the meat and do the same, stopping when needed to push any build up down the sides. Add the cold and dry livers and puré. It should look like a pink paste. Move the processor bowl to the fridge to Chill for another 30 minutes. This will prevent the fats from prematurely breaking down. During this time, you can melt 2 sticks of butter in a double boiler until clarified completely. Allow to cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature. Once the protein has cooled back down, add the reduction and salt. Continue to puré as you add the eggs. Allow to mix for a few seconds. As it is processing, add the cream, then the clarified butter. Allow to mix until everything is completely combined. Place bowl in fridge and set your oven temp. So, if youre using a convection oven, set to 250° with the fan on. If using a regular oven, set to 275°. Allow to preheat. Once the mousse has chilled again, place a fine mesh seive over a deep bowl. In batches, pour some of the mousse mixture into the seive. Press through the mesh, working it back and forth and in circles until you’re left with stringy unprocessed pieces. Discard those left overs and add more until you have strained the entire batch. Make sure you are scraping the underside of the seive as you go. Once this is done,get your water bath ready. If you are using ramekins, pull out a sheet of parchment and cut a round out for each. You can flip one over and cut around the edge to get a matching size. If you are lucky enough to have restaurant grade plastic wrap, line the inside of your mold with the plastic, leaving enough of an over hang to cover the mousse nice and tight. This is what we use in restaurants quite a bit. Fill a deep roasting pan with boiling water, only about ½ up the sides. The best way to ensure you have enough water is put your ramekins in the dish and bring the waterline about half way up the sides of your ramekins. This recipe will give you roughly 6 cups of mousse after everything is said and done. You can either use 6 eight ounce remekins or and 8 c terrine. With ramekins in the hot water, fill each with a cup of the mousse. Cover each mold with 1 round of parchment, sliding your finger around the top to create a seal. Place on middle rack in oven and allow to cook for about 1 hour. Remove from oven and temp the center mold,trying to get the very center temp. It should register at 160° and stick for about half a minute. If it is below temp, return to oven and cook additional time. Keep in mind that it takes about 10 minutes for an oven, especially convection, to reach the set temp after having been open so make sure to work that into your equation when timing. Once your mousse reaches 160° remove from the water bath and place in a cool dry area to cool down, like your counter under the ac vent. During this time, melt the third stick of butter in the double boiler until clarified. Allow to cool to room temp, but not to the point that it stats to solidify again. When the mousse is cooled, pour equal amounts of the clarified butter over the top of each mold to seal it and prevent oxidation. You can serve this on crostini, crackers, or toast points along with anything from smashed blackberries, preserved figs, white truffle oil, Mortadella, my awesome balsamic onion marmalade as you see in the picture, or just some simple herbs. Enjoy!
Girl-Chef Tastes 