Jane and Shane’s Master Stock Pigeon, Chilli Cucumber Samphire, Shallot Pancake

Ingredients

4 pigeons, heads removed

Rice bran oil, to confit

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2 tbs rice syrup

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

¼ tsp sea salt

Lemon cheeks and black vinegar, to serve

Shallot pancakes

250g plain flour

½ tsp salt

200ml hot water

5 shallots (spring onions), thinly sliced

Peanut oil spray

2 tbs canola oil

Master stock

2L chicken stock

3 pieces dried liquorice root

2 black cardamom pods, bruised

2 pieces cassia bark

5 star anise

5 cloves

5cm piece fresh ginger, sliced

4 shallots (spring onions), chopped

Samphire, cucumber & fermented chilli salad

250g samphire, trimmed

1 Lebanese cucumber

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp fermented chilli

Sichuan salt

1 tbs sea salt

1 tbs Sichuan peppercorns, crushed

2 tsp Chinese 5 spice

Method

1. Rub pigeons all over with salt. Refrigerate, covered, for 30 mins. Rinse under cold water.
2. Meanwhile, to make shallot pancakes, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Slowly add the hot water, stirring to form a soft dough. Knead dough on a clean work surface for 2-3 mins or until smooth. Wrap in cling film and set aside for 30 mins to rest.
3. To make master stock, bring all ingredients to a simmer in a large stock pot over low heat. Simmer for 30 mins. Remove from heat. Add pigeons. Set aside for 20 mins.
4. Preheat oven to 60C. Fill a deep roasting dish with rice bran oil. Remove pigeons from master stock and pat dry. Cut in half, removing backbone.
5. Place halved pigeons in roasting dish, ensuring they are submerged in the oil. Place in the oven for 30 mins.
6. To finish pancakes, divide dough into 8 portions. Roll each portion out on a lightly floured surface into a 2mm thick rectangle. Spray lightly with peanut oil and sprinkle with shallots (spring onion). Roll into a log. Coil the log into a snail shape. Reroll the coil into a 10cm diameter disc.
7. Heat 2 tsp of the canola oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 pancakes and cook for 2-3 mins each side or until golden and crisp. Transfer to a baking tray to keep warm. Repeat with remaining oil and pancakes.
8. To finish pigeon, heat a frying pan over medium heat. Remove pigeon halves from confit oil allowing excess to drip away. Add to frying pan, skin-side down. Cook, turning occasionally, until skin is crisp.
9. Increase oven to 250C. Combine rice syrup, Chinese five spice and salt in a bowl. Place confit pigeons on an oven tray, skin-side up, brush with rice syrup mixture. Roast for 4 mins to glaze and crisp. Cut into pieces.
10. To make salad, cook samphire in a saucepan of boiling water for 10 seconds. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Drain.
11. Halve cucumber lengthways and scrape out seeds. Thinly slice.
12. Combine olive oil and chilli in a large bowl. Add samphire and cucumber. Toss to coat.
13. To make Sichuan salt, combine all ingredients in a bowl.
14. Serve pigeon and shallot pancakes with salad, Sichuan salt, lemon cheeks and black vinegar.

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