Imagine the greatest joys in your lives. Think of getting married, having a baby, your first kiss — whatever it is, imagine that bliss as taste, flavor, mouthfeel, satiety. That is the best way to describe this dinner: It’s one of the best things I’ve ever made.

The recipe was inspired by Careme’s 1836 work. In short, I deboned the guinea fowl, removed the breast, divided it in two, then cut it almost alway through 12 times each and placed slices of foie gras between. I placed them back into the bird, removed the leg meat and ground them into a very fancy, highly enriched forcemeat and piped it back into the bird to form new legs.

The bones became stock for the rice and sauce.

I filled the cavity with a wild and brown rice stuffing made from shallots and truffles.

I took the remained stock, enriched with gelatin from . . . . , well, maybe you don’t want to know that, but I reduced those 8 cups into 1/2 cup of demi-glace sauce enriched at the end with creme fraiche. Once the sauce was poured, there was no going back. A couple of snaps and everything had to be plated. What you see is unfinished.

I served with mushrooms, green asparagus, white asparagus soup, salad in a filo cylinder, roasted root vegetables and apple pie my way.

🙂