C – Experiments are good things.
If you fear making mistakes, you will never get anywhere. Even if it ends up being a disaster, you will learn from it. So, this year let’s mess up our holiday Christmas dinner.
Just kidding. It’s didn’t start that way. Luke had this idea of honey-glazing half of our braised guinea fowl. I thought it sounded delicious. Jim thought it might be too sweet.
Luke was confident it was going to work. So, after a bit of persuading Jim, we decided to try it. If it doesn’t work, won’t post it on the blog.
After braising, it was time to honey coat the guinea fowl. Luke now started to fear it wasn’t going to work. What happened to that confidence? It was gone. Oh no, was this going to work?
My confidence was going away, too. The braising turned out so well. Now, we are second guessing the glazing part. Oh well, only one way to know if it was going to work. Try it.
Luke coated the top with honey, sprinkled granulated sugar over top and started to torch it. It didn’t look like much was happening at first. But, after awhile, it started to caramelize (brulee). Luke suggested we get a bigger, stronger blow torch for the kitchen. Get one from the hardware store. It’s what all the professional chefs use. It made sense.
After about 5 minutes and a refill of the gas, we were ready to try the dish. The glaze was crispy and nice. But, it was a bit too sweet for us. Luke seemed disappointed with my comment. It just wasn’t as balanced as we thought it was going to be.
After a few critiques, we figured we needed more salt on the meat. The braising liquid must have been under salted. I liked it, but it could have been better. We tried sprinkling some finishing salt on it. It made it perfect. The salty and sweet was a perfect balance.
| Holiday Fowl Week: Braised Guinea Fowl with Honey Glaze |
- 1 Guinea Fowl, split in half
- 2 carrots, peeled, trimmed, cut into thirds
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
- 6 cups of chicken stock
- 3 celery stalks, cut into thirds
- ½ bunch of fresh thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup honey, or more if needed to cover skin
- Granulated sugar, enough to cover skin
- Finishing salt of your choice
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Place everything into a roasting pan. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Place in oven for 30 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees and cook for about 4 hours, or until leg bone is easy to move around, but not falling off.
- Let cool overnight.
- Remove guinea fowl from the braising liquid and remove spice and vegetable bits. Pat dry..
- Heat in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until the center is warm.
- Pat dry.
- Pour over honey evenly over the skin.
- Sprinkle sugar over the top of the honey.
- Place a blowtorch 2 to 3 inches above the skin and torch until caramelized. Move quickly so it doesn’t burn. If the skin doesn’t have a crispy top, sprinkle more sugar.
- Sprinkle some finishing salt over top.
- Serve.
- Enjoy!
We figured it out and made it great. I am glad we didn’t let our fears get in the way of trying something new.
Now, I know how to brulee meat and we have a great dish to eat.