My names Bryn Williams
I'm head chef and owner of Odettes in Primrose hill. I've been the owner of
Odettes for three and a half years. I bought it October 2008
and it was the hardest thing I've ever done
I would describe our food style here or my food style here as modern
British.
We like to use the real classic British ingredients
we just modernize it a little bit, not much
cream or butter going into the food so it's quite light modern British food
Today the dish were gonna cook for you this morning mark is Roast wood pigeon
pickled cherries, Foie Gras and chocolate
so the first thing we do is the wood pigeon you could use a
squab pigeon if you want to but obviously being more of a modern British restaraunt
I like to use the British ingredients. so What were going to do first is just take the legs off
After we'll brine them for 24 hours
Just in a salt brine and we'll cook them in a water bath
just to flake off all the meat. we just need to take the breast off the wood pigeon
combined in
the ingredients to the foie gras in cherries
and the Chocolate. It's a wild animal you've got it if you've got it kind of thing
so we like that kind of way of cooking
now were gonna use actually half a bird per portion
as it's a starter were doing. we get 20 birds at a time.
the pigeon breast we do a brine instead 10% salt
to water we've got thyme in there rosemary
Bay leaf all few peppercorns there all just mixed up
as a backup
I did buy Odettes at a very difficult time
did I have to adapt why did and yes and no but I've never been a
Chef owner before so it was all new to me
I was very very hard trying to concentrate on the kitchen
before he bought it was fine and once you bought the place you
become the maintenance man painting, changing a lightbulb you do absolutely everything
that's ok so i worked 6 and half days of days the first 18-month
just to stabilize the business because business did
drop off a bit because recession now we've built it back up so now in a stronger
part last three years now into our 4th year
was stronger than ever
add little bit of nutmeg, little bit of pink salt keep the colour
put a little bit of cooking port
let it sit in the fridge couple hours once is marinadeable
cut into four roll into and submerge in salt for 24 hours
24 hours here we have the pigeon leg
in the brine for 24 hours rinse them off
Patton Drive replacing the old water bath for 85 degrees
and that will take 24 hours
nice long slow cooking the joys of having a water bath
after a service you put things in the water bath go home
come back and your ready so you're not cooking constantly the kitchens
24/7 its always rolling I always say having a water bath is like having an extra member of your
team reliable consistant
never let you down first with the pigeon leg pick one of the bone
bind it with the pigeon stock that we done
done it's a nice bounce whenever the foie gras of while she's been marinaded
rolled to much rap it in a muslin cloth submerged in salt for 24 hours
we end up with and we scrape it to get rid of the oxidized bit
life pink balancing the middle the role
and about a brief take it to the pastilla so what we do once its been rolled
chilled you have a nice little nugget of it
if the thickness of about two sheets of filo paste
a lot strong as well
the bones once they have been boiled and cleaned
to keep it all together it easy to cook the pigeon breast
62 degrees for five-minutes you deep fry the pastilla
just stick it in the fryer only takes 4-5 minutes
there no heat in there
all the fat is left in it you don't lose any fat from there so it stays
nice and pink in the middle we just roll it in
crumbs just gonna seal the pigeon
see all the plan It's controlled
temperature you just literally
on they go again
cold to touch and feel I think
when you have this dish you're always quite scared thinking out what they mean by
chocolate with it
so were just literally painting the chocolate
A little bit of salt I'm just gonna add
Pigeon pastila
attention to detail is very very important to us and that's what we want a nice pink
pigeon breast a little bit of sea salt on there
we add the foie gras to the dish and to finish off
put that in that way
that's the pigeon breast, the pastila and the foie gras thats the classic combination
to finish off we've got some nice pickled cherries which is de-stoned
from the side so we can keep the stalk on there pickled in
vinegar cherry puree and sugar and here we got chocolate
coriander works well with chocolate pick out the nice ones
and that is our dish. Pan fried wood pigeon
foie gras, cherries and chocolate