Poularde Demi-Deuil: The Chicken in Half-Mourning

Ingredients

• 1 (approx. 1.8–2 kg) Bresse chicken (AOP-certified, blue-legged, free-range), whole, trussed after stuffing
• 60–80 g fresh black Périgord truffle, sliced thin, approximately 3 mm
• For the poaching stock
• 3 litres rich chicken stock, made from carcasses and aromatics
• 1 calf's foot, split; for gelatin
• For the sauce
• 200 ml double cream

Method

1. 1
   Working with dry hands and beginning at the neck cavity, slide the fingers between the skin and the breast flesh, then between the skin and each thigh, creating an unbroken pocket on each surface. Move slowly; the skin must not tear. The pocket is ready when the hand can travel the full length of the breast and reach the top of the thigh without resistance.
2. 2
   Slide the truffle slices one by one into the pockets, distributing them evenly across breast and thigh. Press gently from outside the skin to seat each slice flat against the flesh. When the task is complete, the dark rounds are visible as distinct discs through the pale skin — black on white, the mourning effect. This is where the dish lives or dies: the truffle must lie in full contact with the flesh so that its volatile aromatics migrate into the meat during the poach; a slice that is folded, bunched, or buried under another transfers nothing.
3. 3
   Truss the chicken firmly so that the legs hold the breast skin taut and the truffle slices cannot shift. Refrigerate the trussed bird for at least one hour, uncovered, to allow the aromatic compounds to begin their migration into the flesh before heat is applied.
4. 4
   Place the calf's foot and chicken stock in a pot large enough to submerge the bird completely. Bring to a full boil, then reduce to a bare simmer — the surface should tremble and occasionally break, not roll. Lower the chicken into the liquid breast-side up. The stock is at the correct temperature when a single slow bubble rises every two to three seconds.
5. 5
   Poach at this gentle simmer for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, adjusting heat as needed to prevent a rolling boil. At the thigh joint, the juices run clear and the leg moves freely in its socket when pulled. These two signs together confirm the bird is cooked through.
6. 6
   Lift the chicken from the stock and rest it for 10 minutes, loosely covered. Meanwhile, ladle the poaching liquid through a fine sieve into a clean pan and reduce at a moderate simmer until it coats a spoon lightly. Add the cream and reduce again briefly. The sauce is ready when it coats the back of a spoon and holds a clean line drawn through it with a finger.
7. 7
   Carve the chicken — breast slices and leg portions — and arrange on warmed plates so that the truffle-studded cross-section faces upward. Spoon the reduced, cream-enriched poaching liquid over and around. Nothing is discarded: the remaining stock is a separate dish.