Pularda stuffed. Christmas recipe

How to prepare a stuffed pularda .

This meat recipe is perfect to celebrate this Christmas season. The result is impressive and the soft meat of the pularda is exquisite.

Its texture and flavor, which in my opinion makes it richer than stuffed turkey , so fashionable these days for a few years.

The pularda  is a typical bird in our dishes at Christmas parties that directly rivals the Villalba capon .

It is a hen that does not lay eggs and thus its meat is more tender and juicy. Since it has fat infiltrated in the fleshy parts and not under the skin as in common chickens.

The result is first class if you follow all the steps that you will find below. And if there is no budget this Christmas remember that roasted chicken  or free-range chicken or pitu caleya are also good options.

The pularda is perfect to prepare stuffed in the oven. Much more traditional in French and Catalan cuisine, for a few years we have had it available in markets across the country and in Galicia, where several almost disappeared species such as the Gallo de Mos are being recovered .

“… Ludovico el Moro, Leonardo’s friend, ate deer sesadas with honey, and the Bearnese ordered to fill the Pyrenean deer with pulardas from Bayona”
Journey through the mountains and chimneys of Galicia: Galician hunting and cuisine · José María Castroviejo, Álvaro Cunqueiro.

Another quote from friend Cunqueiro, in which he names the pularda as a bird that is part of the filling more than to fill. Without detracting from the Bayonne pulardas, in Allariz we find the best in Galicia. 

You can see in the photo that the friend was great, luckily the pularda comes ready, empty and clean. On the other hand, you have to try to remove the abdominal fat well, it will serve to cover the filling and cook it with its own fat.

Before cooking the stuffed pularda

1. Once we have the clean pularda, it is ready for the funniest step of the whole process. We choose the liquor that you like the most to cook. You can use other types of spirits: cognac, brandy, port, rum, brandy … I leave it to your choice.
2. You need to buy some syringes that have a fine needle, they are easy to get at any pharmacy.
3. I usually buy a few and I have them in the medicine cabinet because sometimes they come in handy for cooking. We fill a glass with the liquor and load the syringe.
4. We inject the pularda as if it didn’t cost. Always clicking a little more on the breasts, as they are the ones that tend to get drier.
5. I assure you that the meat will be perfect and the action of the oven will help caramelize the liquor within the same animal, the result is impressive.
6. Once we have the pularda totally alcoholized. We have to pepper it on the outside and inside. It is very important that you do it with enough salt, not a pinch, otherwise it will be bland.
7. Peel the apples and cut into more or less equal squares. We want them to be approximately one centimeter pieces, small so that they come together in the filling, giving flavor and aroma. We reserve.

Preparation of the filling of the pularda

1. We prepare the filling in a frying pan, where we will poach the onion, the apple pieces and the leek. We have previously cut the leek into large pieces. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
2. We cut the mushrooms into quarters, we want them to be seen when they are eaten. If you have the opportunity to use your favorite mushrooms much better. We add them to the pan and combine with the finely chopped pork shoulder or ham.
3. We remove everything very well integrating all the ingredients. When salpimentar the filling remember that the lacón already has salt. So you have to control the point. Go testing to see if you need to add a little more or not.
4. Now we only have to introduce the sultana grapes, the plums in small cubes and the dehydrated forest fruits, the pine nuts and a good glass of Pedro Ximenez.
5. We let it reduce the filling for about 10 minutes, it will be done inside the pularda.
6. This is a filling idea but you can improvise another one with your favorite ingredients: chestnuts, foie … imagination to power depending on the budget we have.
7. Here we can optionally use those vegetables that we like the most. Pumpkin, tomatoes, carrots, red and green peppers all add juiciness to the filling.
8. The filling that we use will give it aromas and the meat will absorb part of the flavor of it, come on, a luxury. We remove everything very well gathering the ingredients and with a spoon we fill the pularda under pressure, until we have a hole the size of a lemon.

Pularda filling

1. To close it you have three options: either cover with a whole lemon, or sew it with kitchen thread or cover with the fat that we have previously reserved.
2. With a needle and kitchen thread we sew the opening of the capon through which we have introduced the filling and try to keep it as closed as possible. It is important to try not to break the skin in this process.
3. We divide the Pedro Ximenez in two with which we plan to bathe the pularda, half will go to the oven tray and the other half in a bowl to bathe the bird. The leftover liquid from the animal’s baking will be put in a sauce boat so that everyone can pour whatever they want, I assure you that this sauce is glorious.
4. We preheat the oven to 150º C for about 15 minutes. As you can see in the photos, the oven tray will go to the bottom. It has a finger and a half of wine to which we add some bay leaves and extra virgin olive oil.
5. In this way the oven will have enough humidity so that the pularda does not remain as a stone. The oven rack is placed on the next level to the tray, below the middle position of the oven.
6. We put the pularda smeared with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, on the rack.

Baking and final presentation

1. We bake at 150º for 45 minutes for each kilo plus 30-40 final minutes of browning in function of air and soft grill, controlling that we do not burn.
2. This took me 3 hours in the oven at 160º C (the first two hours with aluminum foil on top).
3. We have to wash it with the wine that we have reserved every 30 minutes. Thus we avoid that the animal stays dry and that the skin burns us.
4. The process is not difficult but it is laborious, but it is worth it.
5. It is 2-3 hours, in which we can be watching TV, reading a book, or getting lost online. Set the kitchen clock or timer to notify you every 30 minutes.
6. For the garnish, I opted for a simple endive salad with a light dressing. I assure you that there will be plenty of filling and we can distribute a tablespoon among the guests.
7. Once we have everything prepared, animal and garnish. We leave the pularda in the oven already off. We remove the broth from the bottom tray, strain and pour it into a saucepan.
8. We let it reduce to strong temperature for about ten minutes until we have a thick and very aromatic sauce.
9. To plaster we put a piece of pularda, some of the filling that we have prepared too much and a good endive salad.
10. We put the sauce in a separate sauce boat so that everyone can add what they want, it is glorious.
11. If you like roasted potatoes, they will not even be painted. Also a garnish of peas and mushrooms with sauce of the pularda.

Simply great, an eleven-point recipe that will impress your guests.

Of course, do not think of putting previous dishes, it must be a single dish. With a good dessert, coffee or tea and well watered with the wine that you like the most!