Recipe: Pigeon breast with chanterelles and pigeon schnitzel

Pigeon breast with chanterelles and pigeon schnitzel

(Magret de pigeon aux girolles, viennoise de cuisse)

Serves 6

PREPARATION TIME: 1 HOUR 

COOKING TIME: 2.5 HOURS 

RESTING TIME: 15 MINUTES

Equipment

Chinois

Ingredients

Pigeon

• 6 pigeons, weighing 1 lb. 2 oz. (500 g) each, plucked and gutted

• Neutral oil

• Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Pigeon jus

• 3½oz. (100g) carrots

• 3½oz. (100g) onions

• 1¾oz. (50g) shallots

• Pigeon bones and trimmings (see above)

• 6½ cups (1.5L) tannic red wine, such as Madiran

• 3½tbsp (50ml) neutral oil

• 3tbsp (1¾oz./50g) unsalted butter

• All-purpose flour

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 1 bay leaf

• Fine sea salt

• Mushrooms

• 1¼lb. (600g) chanterelles

• Extra-virgin olive oil

Breaded pigeon legs

• Prepared pigeon legs (see above)

• Dijon mustard

• Dried breadcrumbs

To serve

• 1¾oz. (50g) shallots

• 2 sprigs parsley

Method

1. Preparing the pigeon: Cut off the pigeon legs. Remove the thigh bones and flatten the thigh meat slightly. French trim the drumstick bones. Leave the breast fillets attached to the crowns. Reserve the bones and trimmings for the jus.

2. Preparing the pigeon jus: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/Gas Mark 6). Peel and finely chop the carrots, onions, and shallots. Roughly chop the reserved pigeon bones and trimmings. Warm the red wine in a saucepan until hot but not boiling, then flambé. Brown the carcasses in the oil and butter in an oven-safe sauté pan. Season with salt, sprinkle with a little flour, and stir to coat. Add the onions, shallots, carrots, thyme, and bay leaf, then pour in the red wine, cover, and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Strain through the chinois into a clean saucepan.

3. Preparing the mushrooms: Clean the chanterelles and sauté them in a skillet with a little olive oil until lightly golden but still firm. Set aside in the skillet.

4. Pan-roasting the pigeon breasts: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C/Gas Mark 6). Season the pigeon crowns with salt and pepper and brown them on both sides in a little neutral oil in an oven-safe sauté pan. Transfer to the oven and roast for 7 minutes, basting, until the skin is golden and crisp. Cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes.

5. Cooking the breaded pigeon legs: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/Gas Mark 4). Roast the pigeon legs for 5 minutes, then remove them, brush them with Dijon mustard, and coat them with breadcrumbs. Just before serving, brown them under the broiler.

6. To serve: Reheat the pigeon jus. Peel and finely chop the shallots. Thinly slice the parsley. Reheat the chanterelles in the skillet, add the shallots and parsley, and toss to combine. Debone the pigeon breasts and slice the breast fillets. Arrange the pigeon breasts and legs on serving plates, add the chanterelles, and serve with the jus on the side.

Extracted from The Complete French Cooking Course: Master Recipes and Techniques from the FERRANDI Paris School of Culinary Arts by FERRANDI Paris (Flammarion, 2026); Photography: Éric Fénot.