Happy Holidays
For the new year, we are making a wish that yours come true! May health be your friend in achieving all your projects, and your full potential.
On this page you will find:
- Recipe for duck egg and sabayon with sparkling wine and caviar from chef Alexandre Vachon
- Recipe for champagne sabayon from chef Jean-François Piège
- ITHQ clarified butter recipe
- Other duck egg recipes
- Information on the breeding farm “À la canne blanche”
- Information on caviar from Lac St-Pierre de Quintessence
- Information on Domaine Saint-Jacques Brut
Recipe for duck egg and sabayon with sparkling wine and caviar from chef Alexandre Vachon
This signature plan from chef Alexandre Vachon presents itself with elegance and is a delight for gourmets. It highlights high-end products produced sustainably by Quebecers. It particularly honours the “À la canne blanche” farm and its entrepreneurial and visually impaired owners, as well as the sparkling wine from Domaine Saint-Jacques and the highly prized caviar from Lac Saint-Pierre.
Ingredients :
- 6 duck egg yolks
- 75 ml of sparkling wine (ideally the brut from Domaine St-Jaques)
- Caviar (ideally from Lac St-Pierre)
- Bread (ideally brioche)
- Salted butter
Utensils and equipment
- A siphon for heat or a thermomix
- A bain-marie or sous vide cooker
- An egg slicer
- A pan
- Egg cups
Instructions :
Preparing the eggs:
Carefully cut the tops of the eggs, ideally using an egg cutter, to preserve the shell for serving.
Empty the eggs by separating the yolks from the egg whites. Save the yolks for the recipe and store the egg whites for future use.
Preparation of the sabayon:
If you have a Thermomix, simply put the egg yolks and the sparkling wine directly into the Thermomix. Beat until frothy and smooth.
If you have a sous-vide cooker or a bain-marie, simply add the egg yolks with the foam without beating them and heat the mixture until it reaches a temperature of 82°C.
The sabayon can be prepared in advance and stored in a bain-marie at 60°C until ready to serve. If you use a siphon, you can put the sabayon in the siphon and leave the siphon in the bain-marie at 60°C until ready to serve.
Preparing the bread:
Cut the bread into sticks approximately 5 cm long by 1.5 cm wide. In a hot pan, grill each side in butter. Place in the oven for a few minutes, until it becomes crispy on the outside, while remaining soft on the inside.
Service :
Clean the duck egg shells and place them on egg cups.
If you used a Thermomix, pour the sabayon directly into the egg shells.
If you used a bain-marie or sous vide cooker, put the mixture in a siphon and fill the egg shells.
When serving, add a spoonful of caviar to the sabayon and arrange the bread sticks.
The dish is eaten by dipping the bread in the sabayon. A pure delight!
Recipe for champagne sabayon from chef Jean-François Piège
Since chef Alexandre Vachon’s recipe requires equipment that some people will not have at their disposal, we found a recipe from chef Jean-François Piège (2 stars at the Grand Restaurant in Paris).
In the following video, chef Jean-François Piège shares his New Year’s Eve secrets with you and describes his champagne sabayon as a delicacy that will enhance oysters au gratin.
If you want to reproduce Chef Vachon’s dish, you can replace the regular egg with a duck egg and serve everything in the egg with the caviar and the bread sticks and you will have a different result, but with an exquisite taste.
Ingredients :
- A glass of champagne
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 60 grams of clarified butter (See attached recipe)
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Tabasco, salt and freshly ground pepper
Utensils and equipment
- Small saucepan
- Whip
- Mixing bowl
Instructions :
Pour a glass of champagne into a hot saucepan. Bring to the boil for a few seconds, whisking lightly. Stop the fire. Pour the champagne directly into a bowl over the egg yolks, whisking vigorously. Return everything to the pan. Add the water while continuing to beat quickly. When you see the bottom of the pan, the Sabayon is cooked. Remove the whole thing from the heat. Always add the sabayon with clarified butter (melted butter from which the whey and casein have been removed) into the pan. When the sabayon is assembled, sprinkle a few drops of Tabasco, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a turn of the pepper mill. At the last moment, sprinkle a few drops of champagne.
The sabayon can be prepared in advance and stored in a bain-marie at 60° until ready to serve.
ITHQ clarified butter recipe
Clarified butter is butter that has been heated to remove the proteins, sugar and water, leaving only the fat.
See how to make clarified butter
Why prepare clarified butter? Once our butter is heated, its smoke point is much higher than conventional butter. It is also a product that becomes lactose-free, and which can be used to make emulsified sauces such as Hollandaise. Even more: clarified butter also keeps longer! In warm regions such as the Middle East and North Africa, butter is clarified to extend its shelf life because it is stored at room temperature.
Method
- Cut the butter into small cubes and place it in a small saucepan.
- Heat the butter over low heat until it melts completely.
- Let it sit for ten minutes so that the butter fat separates from the whey, which will form two very distinct layers. The yellow fat rises, while the whey (watery and whitish) sinks to the bottom of the pan.
- Skim the proteins from the surface (the little whitish foam that floats on the fat of the butter).
- Decant the butter through a coffee filter, taking care to keep only the yellow fat, leaving the whey (whitish liquid) in the pan.
- Place your clarified butter in a clean glass jar. When completely cooled, store it in the refrigerator.
If you have time, you can also melt the butter, transfer it to a container and let it cool. Once cooled, the butter should be refrigerated. The next day, you can press on the fat from the butter (which will have frozen) to release the whey and separate them. You can also scrape off any impurities that have set on the surface.
Utensils and equipment
- Small saucepan
- Spoon for skimming
- Poach or ladle (to decant the butter if necessary)
- Fine sieve, or cheesecloth or coffee filter
- Glass container for cool storage
Tips for serving and presentation
Don’t throw away the whey! It is very useful for cooking potatoes and rice.
Easy Recipes:
These are the recipes by Chef Billy Galindo
Fried eggs
Butter a non-stick pan
Heat over medium heat
When the butter is melted, salt and pepper the pan, then gently break the eggs into the pan without piercing the yolk.
Cook for 3 or 4 minutes over low heat, spreading the white lightly with a spatula.
Slide the eggs onto the plate using the spatula
Cooked eggs
Boil a pan of water and immerse the eggs (4 min – soft-boiled, 7 min – soft-boiled, 10 min – hard-boiled)
Cool in ice water to stop soft and hard-boiled eggs from cooking
Information on the breeding farm “À la canne blanche”
À la canne blanche is the first breeding farm dedicated to the production of cane eggs in Quebec.
Animal welfare is the priority of operators who are keen to protect the environment. The ducks are fed natural grains, without antibiotics or hormones.
The story of this unique farm in Quebec began when Maryse and Daniel, both blind, found themselves alone after the children left. A need was created to find new meaning in their lives.
Faced with the impossibility of integrating into the job market because of their disability, they decided to create their own job and become entrepreneurs. But the question arose: what can two visually impaired people do? It was through a combination of circumstances that they discovered ducks, particularly the Indian runner. A breed of duck which has a particular gait, vertical, which gives the impression of running and above all which does not fly. And the duck is recognized as being a great layer, being able to produce 200 eggs in a year.
It was love at first sight. A true love was born between them and this bird. They first raised around thirty ducks to learn how to tame them. Realizing how easy it was to raise this bird, they decided to embark on the adventure of breeding on a larger scale by building a duck house that can accommodate nearly 700 ducks.
But for Daniel and Maryse the challenge of this project goes well beyond egg production. For them it is the pride of gaining autonomy and finding their place in society.
Read the article on La Tribune
Duck eggs are not only nutritionally superior, but also provide more energy than chicken eggs.
Information on caviar from Lac St-Pierre de Quintessence
The Quintessence company is the only caviar producer in Quebec and one of the few produced from wild fishing. Its green-black color and its size (between 2.4 and 2.8 millimeters) make it one of the most popular caviars in Quebec’s great restaurants.
Information on Domaine Saint-Jacques Brut
A true locomotive in Quebec wine production, the Du Temple-Quirion family surprises us again with this elegant sparkling wine. Sharing equal parts chardonnay and pinot noir, the mousse is made according to the traditional method, while a second fermentation takes place in each bottle as is customary in Champagne. The wine is then refined during aging on lees for 20 months, helping to give it a delicate brioche character, with aromas of peach, small red fruits and flowers. The finesse of its bubbles, its freshness and its roundness will perfectly complement a piece of salmon, a lobster salad or bites of tomatoes and bocconcini.
