Donovan Cooke

Surprise Paquet with Sauce Diable

Serves 12

Ingredients

4 pigs trotters, hind legs only
2 kg veal sweetbreads
100 gr dried morels
2 chicken fillets
10 onions
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
2 garlic
bay leaves
six litres veal stock
100 gr smoked bacon
500 gr butter
100 gr fresh morels
2 egg whites
250 ml cream
nutmeg.
Sauce Diable
2 bottles white wine
1 litre white wine vinegar
5 shallots
2 heads garlic
100 gr white peppercorns
4 litres veal stock

Method

Remove the bones from the pigs trotters.

Singe the hairs with a blow torch.

Roughly chop two carrots , one onion, celery, one head of garlic. in a braising pan.

Reduce the veal stock down from 6 litres to 2 litres.

Place the trotters in the pan. cover with the reduced stock, cover with lid and braise at 120o for 4 hours.

Stuffing

chop the chicken fillets in a food processor until smooth.

Add the egg whites then the cream. Blend until smooth, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Remove the membrane from the swetbreads soak the dried morels until soft, then dice.

Also dice the onion. Saute the sweetbreads in very hot oil until golden brown.

Sweat the onions and morels together. when cold mix the sweetbreads, morels and onions together with the chicken mousse.

Remove the trotters when cooked, allow to cool slightly then stuff with sweetbread mix. Roll into shapes using alcan foil.

Allow to set.

Sauce

chop 40 shallots and garlic and add white wine, vinegar, and peppercorns.

Boil rapidly for 1/2 hour then add the veal stock and cook for one hour.

Strain the sauce, take the remaining shallots, chop finely, sweat in butter until soft then add the sauce, season and add 150 g butter.

Garnish

Finely slice 8 onions and cook really slowly in 300 g butter for 2-3 hours stirring occasionally around one hour before being cooked

Then add small diced bacon.

Season.

Saute the fresh morels in butter just before serving.

To finish the trotter poach the foil package in water at 80o for 20 minutes.

To Serve

slice the trotter into three pieces, place on top of the onion confit and surround the trotter with morels and sauce.

September 14, 1995