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Poule au Pot
Henri IV's Sunday pot — a whole bird poached with root vegetables, served in two acts: golden broth, then meat with coarse salt and mustard
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 150 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- Whole boiling fowl or large chicken — 1 (about 2 kg)
- Water — 3.5 L
- Onion, halved, clove-studded — 1 (150 g)
- Carrots, whole then halved — 500 g
- Leeks, tied — 400 g
- Turnips, halved — 300 g
- Celery — 100 g
- Waxy potatoes — 500 g
- Garlic head, halved — 1
- Thyme — 5 sprigs; bay 2
- Black peppercorns — 4 g
- Coarse sea salt — 20 g
- Cornichons, Dijon mustard, fleur de sel — to serve
- Flat-leaf parsley — 10 g
Method
- Blanch the bird from cold water 5 min; drain and rinse (a clearer broth).
- Return to the pot with 3.5 L fresh water, onion, garlic, herbs, peppercorns and salt. Simmer at 90 °C, skimming, 1.5 h (2.5 h for a true boiling fowl).
- Add carrots, turnips and celery; simmer 25 min.
- Add leeks and potatoes; simmer 25 min more, until the leg pulls freely.
- Rest the bird in the broth 15 min off the heat.
- Strain and season the broth; serve a cup first with parsley.
- Carve the bird; plate with vegetables and a ladle of broth.