Hurrah! It’s the start ofDecember, which can only mean one thing: Christmas is finally here!
To celebrate the countdown to the big day, FOUR will be sharing a recipe a day from now until Christmas with all of our readers! That means 24 of the finest recipes from FOUR – The World’s Best Food Magazine’s array of award-winning chefs from around the world, including Hong Kong’s very own Richard Ekkebusto Quiqui Dacosta in Spain.
While we started off the festivities yesterday with Michel Roux Jr’s chicken and porkpâté recipe, today we have a mutsu apples and reindeer tongue recipe from king of Nordic cuisine,RenéRedzepi. Enjoy!
fromRené Redzepi’s latest titleA Work in Progress
Ingredients
Reindeer glace
5kg reindeer bones
grapeseed oil
3 shallots, chopped
1⁄2 apple, chopped
500g red wine
100g chicken glace
5g lemon thyme leaves
10g juniper berriesReindeer tongues
2 reindeer tongues
15g brown butter
4 lemon thyme sprigs
grapeseed oil
butterReindeer sauce
500g reindeer bones, chopped
grapeseed oil
butter
200g apples, chopped
100g shallots, peeled
1g coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
0.5 g black peppercorns
4g lemon thyme leaves, plus extra
40g 5-year-old apple balsamic vinegar, plus extra 80g chicken glace
800g light chicken stock
apple juice
salt
20g brown butterApple powder
12g apple peel
0.3g rose hip petalsFake apple seeds
180g type 00 flour
20g malt flour
2.5g salt, plus extra
90g water
grapeseed oilApple wedges
100g water
250g butter
hay
2 Mutsu apples
saltApple rolls
4 Mutsu apples, cored
salt
Herb crumble
5g green coriander seeds
3g angelica seeds
5g parsley stems
5g lovage stems
5g lemon thyme leaves
Reindeer glace
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F). Place the bones in a roasting pan, drizzle with a little oil and roast until golden and caramelized. Sauté the shallots and apple until caramelized. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and pour the contents into a gastro. Add the chicken glace and the reindeer bones. Cover with water and add the lemon thyme and juniper berries. Cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and steam at 80°C (175°F) for 8 hours. Strain the stock. Reserve some stock for the reindeer tongues. Reduce the remain- ing stock to a glace.
Reindeer tongues
Vacuum-pack the reindeer tongues with the brown butter and lemon thyme and cook in a water bath
at 58°C (136°F) for 12–24 hours, depending on their weight. Cool in ice water. Remove the skin from
the tongues and cut off their tips. Keep the trimmed tongues with the reserved reindeer stock in a vacuum-pack.
Reindeer sauce
Sauté the reindeer bones in a little oil until golden. Add a little butter and sauté for another minute. Remove from the heat. Sauté the apples and shallots in a little oil until golden. Add the coriander seeds, bay leaf, peppercorns and lemon thyme and remove from the heat. Transfer to a gastro, then add the reindeer bones, apple balsamic vinegar, chicken glace and light chicken stock. Cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and steam at 80°C (175°F) for 8 hours. Strain, reduce by one-third and season with a
little apple juice, apple balsamic vinegar and salt.
Apple powder
Scrape off any white flesh from the apple peel. Dehydrate the peel and rose hip petals at 50°C (120°F) until crisp and dry. Blend to a fine powder, sift
and keep in an airtight container.
Fake apple seeds
Mix the flours and salt. Gradually add the water to make a dough. Knead until smooth, then roll through a pasta machine on setting number 7. Cut the dough using a small teardrop-shaped cutter. Preheat the
oil to 180°C (350°F). Deep-fry the dough tears in the oil until puffed and golden. Drain on paper towels. Season with salt.
Apple wedges
Boil the water. Emulsify the butter into the water. Burn the hay with a smoke gun or hand-held food smoker, fill the pan with smoke and cover with a
lid. Let it infuse for a few minutes until the smoke has disappeared. Repeat a few times until a smoky aroma emanates from the emulsion. Cut the apples into wedges. Cook the apples in the emulsion over
a medium heat for 15 seconds, then strain. Season the apples with salt.
Apple rolls
Juice 2 apples and strain. Peel the remaining 2 apples and spin on a Japanese vegetable slicer. Cut the slices into four 5-cm strips and compress with some of the juice for 15 minutes. Warm the strips in the oven at 120°C (250°F) for 6 minutes. Roll the strips into loose tubes, spray with a little extra apple juice and season with salt.
Herb crumble
Chop the seeds and stems, mix with the thyme leaves and keep in an airtight container.
Serving
Warm 4 flat plates. Cut the tongues in half lengthways and sauté in a little oil until caramelized. Drain the oil and add a little butter and reindeer glace. Glaze the tongues, then remove from the pan and cover with the herb crumble. Place the reindeer tongues in the centre of the plates, place the apple wedges on top and arrange the apple rolls over and around them. Sprinkle with fake apple seeds. Place a 13-cm ring cutter on each plate and dust with the apple powder to create a red circle around the reindeer tongues. Warm the reindeer sauce and split it with the brown butter. Pour over the sauce and serve immediately.
A Work in Progress, £39.95,www.phaidon.com