Roast Chicken Crown with Cauliflower Cheese

STEP 1: BUTCHER AND DRY-BRINE THE BIRD (DAY BEFORE)

Remove the legs and thighs and set them aside for the confit, then remove the wings, neck and any trimmings for stock. You are left with the crown on the bone, which is how this dish is cooked. Blitz the fine sea salt, caster sugar and the leaves from three thyme sprigs together and rub the mixture all over the crown, inside and out. Sit it uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight: the brine holds moisture in the breast while the uncovered fridge time dries the skin surface, so the skin crackles without the meat being punished with heat.

STEP 2: MAKE THE STOCK AND START THE CONFIT (DAY BEFORE OR EARLY)

Roast the wings, neck and bones hard until deeply coloured, deglaze the tray with the white wine, and tip everything into a stockpot with the onion, carrot, celery and water. Simmer gently for four hours, skimming, then strain through muslin and reduce to about 3 cups (700 ml). Meanwhile salt the legs with the flaky salt, leave them 30 minutes, wipe them, and submerge them completely in the chicken fat with the garlic, thyme and bay. Hold at 175F (80C) for 3 to 4 hours until the meat gives at the bone, keeping them fully covered in fat, then cool them in the fat: confit dries out when it is cooked hot rather than long.

STEP 3: RENDER THE CHICKEN SKIN

Peel the skin from the cooled confit legs, scrape it clean, and lay it flat between two sheets of parchment on a tray. Weight it with a second tray and bake at 320F (160C) for 25 to 30 minutes until it is flat, amber and glassy. Salt it lightly and keep it somewhere dry.

STEP 4: BOULANGERE POTATOES

Cook the onions in the butter over a low heat for 35 to 40 minutes until genuinely deep gold rather than merely soft. Slice the potatoes 2 mm thick on a mandoline and layer them with the onions and thyme leaves in a lined terrine mould, seasoning as you go, then pour in enough hot chicken stock to come three-quarters of the way up. Bake covered at 325F (165C) for 75 minutes, uncover for a final 20, then press under a weight and chill. Portion cold and crisp the cut faces in chicken fat to order; the depth comes from the onions and the stock, so give both their full time.

STEP 5: CHEESE FONDUE

Warm the milk and cream with the English mustard and nutmeg. Off the heat, whisk in the grated cheddar in three additions, then the egg yolks. Blend the whole thing in a high-speed blender until it is a completely smooth, glossy emulsion and pass it through a chinois. Blending and passing gives you a sauce that coats and runs into the florets instead of sitting on top of them, so make half again as much as looks necessary.

STEP 6: CAULIFLOWER, IN ONE BATCH

Blitz the Madras curry powder with the flaky sea salt to make the curry salt. Cut the cauliflower into even, thick florets, taking more care over evenness than size. Blanch for 3 minutes in heavily salted water, refresh in iced water and drain thoroughly on a cloth; this can be done well ahead. To serve, dust with the curry salt and pan-roast in chicken fat, cut face down, for 4 to 5 minutes until caramelised but still with bite. Set a timer and roast in one batch.

STEP 7: ROAST THE CROWN

Bring the crown to room temperature for an hour. Rub the softened butter, mixed with half the grated truffle, under and over the skin, and sit the bird on the bruised garlic and the remaining thyme. Roast at 400F (200C) for 15 minutes to set the skin, then drop to 320F (160C) and continue, basting with chicken fat and butter every 10 minutes, until the thickest part of the breast reads 140F (60C) on a probe. On a 1.8-2 kg crown that is roughly 35 to 45 minutes after the drop. Pull it there and rest it for a full 20 minutes; it will carry to about 149F (65C).

STEP 8: CARROTS IN SMOKED CHICKEN FAT

Warm the smoked chicken fat with the garlic and sage leaves, add the carrots, and cook gently, barely bubbling, for 25 to 30 minutes until tender and glazed. Drain them and keep the sage leaves back to crisp for garnish. Plate the carrots where they can be seen rather than tucking them into the cauliflower.

STEP 9: PEA PUREE

Cook the peas in salted boiling water for 2 minutes, drain them reserving a little of the liquid, and blend with the butter, the lemon juice and just enough cooking water to move. Pass through a sieve and season generously. Keep it green and sharp: its whole job is to cut the chicken fat running through everything else on the plate.

STEP 10: TRUFFLE GRAVY

Deglaze the chicken roasting tray with a splash of stock, scraping, then add the reduced stock and simmer to a coating consistency. Whisk in the cold diced butter a cube at a time off the heat, then the remaining grated truffle. Add the cider vinegar a teaspoon at a time, tasting between each, until the sauce lifts and the richness reads as depth rather than weight; stop well before it reads as sour. Funnel into warm beer bottles if you want to pour it at the table.

STEP 11: FINISH THE CAULIFLOWER CHEESE

Arrange the roasted florets in a warm dish, spoon the fondue generously over and between them so it runs down into the gaps, and glaze under a hot grill for 2 minutes. Grate over the extra cheddar, shave the truffle on top, and break the crisp chicken skin over the lot.

STEP 12: CARVE AND SERVE

Wilt the pak choi in a little chicken fat. Carve the rested crown off the bone in thick slices, keeping the skin intact, and pull the confit leg meat into pieces, searing the outside briefly for colour only. Sweep the pea puree across a wide plate, set the chicken over it, and bring the cauliflower cheese, potatoes, carrots and greens to the table around it, with the gravy poured at the last moment and the pea shoots scattered over. It is a sharing plate, so serve it as one.