7 tablespoons chicken or duck fat 1 kg chicken wings, roughly chopped 2 onions, finely diced 3 fresh bay leaves ½ bunch thyme 80 ml dry white wine 50 ml madeira wine or sherry 1 litre Chicken stock (see opposite page) 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 60 ml cream
Put 4 tablespoons of the chicken or duck fat in a medium saucepan over high heat and fry off the chicken wings in small batches until they develop a golden brown colour. Remove the chicken wings from the pan, but retain the fat in the pan. Reduce the heat to low, add the onion and cook until caramelised. Add the bay leaves and thyme and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the wine and madeira and deglaze the saucepan. Simmer for 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the chicken stock, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 1½ hours, skimming the fat off as required to create a clear stock. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a saucepan and return to medium-low heat. Reduce the stock until you have about 450 ml of sauce. Transfer the stock to a bottle and chill in the refrigerator. Once the fat has set at the top, remove and discard it. Just before serving, reheat the jus, then whisk in 20 ml of the cream and 1 tablespoon of chicken or duck fat, per 150 ml of the jus gras. Season to taste. Note: When deglazing the jus gras, make sure to scrape away any delicious caramelised bits off the bottom of the pan - these are flavour gold for jus gras!
