Chicken Galantine / Ballotine - How to debone, stuff & roll a whole chicken for roasting.
Author: Whats4Chow
Recipe type: Chicken / Poultry
Cuisine: French
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
This 2 Part demonstration will show you how to debone a whole chicen, make the stuffing, roll it and tie it, and finally roast it. Chicken Galantine or Ballotine is a classic recipe, and can be stuffed with anything, but I have included a stuffing / filling that is a sure winner.
Ingredients
- 1 x 1.6kg Chicken
- 250g Streaky Bacon
- 300g English spinach
- 70g Feta Cheese
- Butter for brushing
- Butchers Twine
Instructions
Part 1
- Remove the wings at the elbow joint.
- With the chicken breast side up, pull the neck skin back and slice either side of the wishbone. Reach into the incision and pull the wishbone free.
- Roll the chicken onto its side and slice through the skin all the way down the spine.
- Move the wing up and down, feeling for the articulation. place your knife here and slice through the joint. Repeat with the other wing.
- Stand the chicken upright. Hold the carcass with one hand. With other hand grab the whole wing and pull this downward and away from the carcass until the oyster is exposed. Repeat this with other wing.
- Swivel the chicken around the chicken around, hold the carcass firmly with one hand. Place the index finger and middle finger of the other hand on either side of the breast bone or sternum and pull both breasts downward. The fillets will be left behind on either side of the sternum. We will rescue those later.
- Turn the chicken onto its breast. Using a pointed sharp knife, cut the oysters free.
- Grab one leg, move it sideways and upward, then pull it straight downward, cracking the joint open. Slice through the joint. Repeat this with the other leg.
- Grab the carcass firmly and pull this free from the chicken.
- To rescue the fillets from the carcass, simply slide your thumbnail under the fillets on either side of the sternum. Put these aside.
- To debone the leg, cut around the leg joint to loosen the flesh. Holding the joint with one hand, scrape the flesh down the bone with the edge of your blade until you reach the drumstick joint.
- Cut around the joint to free the flesh, then scrape the flesh down the bone to the end of the drumstick.
- Push the bone back into the skin. Using the back of your cleaver, break the bone at the end of the drumstick and pull the whole leg bone free. Repeat this with the other leg.
- To remove the bone from the wings, cut around the joint, scrape the flesh from the bone all the way down, then pull the bone free. Repeat this with the other wing.
- Open the chicken out flat. To level the meat out, fill the empty spots between the legs and breast with the fillets, then slice at an angle through either side of the breast and flap these forward.
Part 2
- Cut the bacon across the grain into thin strips then roughly chop the spinach.
- Heat your wok or pan over high heat and fry the bacon for 3 to 5 minutes until it takes on color and is nice and crispy.
- Add the spinach and fry this until it is well wilted..... about 3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and crumble the feta into the pan.
- Allow this to cool for about 15 minutes.
- To stuff the galantine, press some of the filling into each leg, then spread the remaining filling evenly across the chicken being careful not to get too close to the top and bottom.
- Fold one half of the chicken over across the center line, then fold the other half over this.
- Using butchers twine, tie the legs together. Using half hitch loops tie the rest of the chicken closed.
- Roll the chicken over and loop the twine through the cross twines then tie it up at the beginning.
- Place the chicken in roasting pan, brush it liberally with melted butter then roast in a preheated oven for 45 minutes plus 15 minutes extra for each pound or 450g of chicken.
- Remove the galantine from the oven, allow it to rest for 5 minutes before carving and serving.
