Volaille de Bresse en Vessie

Ingredients

• 1 (approx. 1.8–2 kg) Bresse chicken, AOC, corn-fed, free-range minimum 4 months, finished in épinette
• 60 g fresh Périgord truffle, sliced thinly for under-skin; remaining pieces reserved for cavity
• 100 g foie gras, for the cavity stuffing
• For the mirepoix
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 1 leek, white part only, finely diced
• 1 celery stalk, finely diced
• 30 g unsalted butter, for sautéing the mirepoix
• 1 splash Madeira, for the cavity
• 1 (largest available) pig's bladder, soaked in cold salted water for 48 hours, water changed 3 times, thoroughly cleaned
• For the poaching stock
• 3 litres rich chicken stock, fortified with aromatics
• 2 carrots, whole, peeled
• 2 leeks, trimmed
• 2 celery stalks, whole
• 1 bouquet garni, bay, thyme, parsley stems
• For the sauce
• 200 ml crème fraîche, for finishing the reduced bladder juices

Method

1. 1
   24 hours before cooking, slide thin slices of fresh Périgord truffle under the skin of the breast and thighs, working carefully so the skin does not tear. Sauté the diced carrot, leek, and celery in butter until softened. Stuff the cavity with the remaining truffle pieces, the foie gras, the sautéed mirepoix, and a splash of Madeira. Truss the bird. Refrigerate uncovered for 24 hours. The truffle aroma has penetrated every fibre when the raw flesh at the breastbone smells distinctly of truffle.
2. 2
   Bring the rich chicken stock to a bare simmer in the largest pot available. Add the whole carrots, leeks, celery stalks, and bouquet garni. Hold the stock at 82–85 °C, verified with an instant-read thermometer clamped to the pot. This temperature must not rise: above it the bladder bursts and the dish is lost.
3. 3
   Slide the truffled, trussed chicken into the soaked and drained pig's bladder. Tie the neck of the bladder tightly with butcher's string, leaving a small pocket of air inside. The seal must be absolute — no gap, no looseness. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: an insecure tie means the bladder will not inflate, the juices will be lost to the stock, and the sealed-environment cooking that defines the dish will not occur.
4. 4
   Lower the bladder gently into the stock held at 82–85 °C. Poach for 1 hour 45 minutes, monitoring the temperature obsessively throughout. As internal steam builds, the bladder inflates dramatically to the size of a football. It should ride the surface of the stock, taut and fully distended, by the 20-minute mark. If it does not inflate, the seal has failed.
5. 5
   Lift the bladder from the stock. Carry it to the table intact. Cut it open with scissors tableside, releasing a cloud of truffle-perfumed steam. The breast meat, when probed, yields without resistance and runs clear at the thigh joint.
6. 6
   Collect all juices that have accumulated inside the bladder. Pour them into a saucepan and reduce over medium heat until slightly syrupy. Stir in the crème fraîche and reduce again until the sauce coats a spoon. Season. The sauce is done when it holds a clean line drawn across the back of the spoon.