In the effort  to support the local economy I attempted to cook a recipe with ingredients sourced domestically. This is exceedingly difficult in a small island economy. The ballotine of chicken is a deboned chicken that is stuffed with some kind of substance, rolled up, and roasted. It took me a fair bit of time to put together, but with practice that time could be reduced significantly

An economics side: While chicken is produced domestically, you may be surprised to know that most of that chicken is imported. From the baby chickens, to the antibiotics, to the chicken feed, and to the chicken wire.

I decided on a mushroom duxelle stuffing, seasoned with tarragon and parsley. Essentially you chop mushrooms beyond recognition and simmer them in shallots and butter until all water has evaporated. I add an egg to keep it all together when carving.

Now the fun part – Deboning the chicken. I’m not going to describe this process, but I encourage everyone to watch the YouTube clip of Pepin deboning a chicken. It will change your life (perhaps not).

Now play taxidermist: Place the stuffing evenly on the chicken and make it look like a chicken once more, and neatly truss the stuffed bird.

Roast at 400 until the internal temperature reaches around 145 (it will continue to rise another 10 degrees. Look at that juiciness.  Damn.

Make a sauce with the pan drippings and plate. I included chopped deseeded tomatoes marinated in olive oil and tarragon, and baby asparagus as sides.

Knives sharpened in the traditional Japanese wet stone way…

This method uses a mixture of traditional searing, with Sous-vide cooking (cooking food in vacuum sealed bags in a water bath)

1.  The first and most crucial step is to get a good piece of meat. In this instance, I needed to beg the only importer of unfrozen angus beef on the island that I reside to cut a rather large slab of beef. The meat must be pre-seared before going into the water bath.  The steak should be cold so it does not cook past the surface. (You shall see later). It is best to use a very good cast-iron pan. The pan here is from Le Crueset, and is brand new that was snuck into my suit-case during my last visit to civilization

2. Place the slab of beef into a ziploc bag with thyme and butter. The snotty-nose nerdy food blogs seem not to think that the herbs and butter make a difference in the vacuum bag, but why not add more flavor?

3. Place the steak into a water bath at a constant temperature of 54.5 degrees Celsius (131 in the american measurement) for a few hours. At this thickness it should probably be in the water for around two hours. I’m using an immersion circulator that I again stuck in my suitcase at one of my previous visits to civilization. This little device essentially circulates the water and keeps it at constant temperature.

4. Remove the steak from the vacuum bag and pat dry with a paper towel and then cover with salt and pepper (Maldon salt is best!). Sear again, this final sear we baste with butter infused thyme! Also prepare your sauce bordelaise (red-wine sauce prepared previously and stored in freezer).

5. Plate with sauce and a few greens that will remind your stomach that you are no longer a meat-eating savage.  See that color. Red all the way through with an excellent crust on the outside, the crust thanks to the cast-iron skillet. Unbelievable