Mademoiselle Debeauvais's pillow

Inspired by the pillow of the beautiful aurora, this pâté en croûte recipe was created by chef Paul Iacono as a wedding gift for his then-wife Delphine Debeauvais.

This recipe from Paul Iacono, chef at Le Violon d'Ingres in Strasbourg, comes from the special issue of Gault&Millau magazine, in which you can discover 109 chefs' recipes. These chefs have opened their own establishments over the past 18 months and shared their favorite recipes with us. Discover the ingredients and preparation steps to make it easy.

Serves 8 to 10

Preparation time: 2 h

Cookingtime: 1 h 30

Marinade: 48 h

Resting time: 14 h

Ingredients for Paul Iacono 's pillow

For the dough

1.5 kg T60 flour

260 g lard

25 cl warm water

3 eggs

20 g salt

For the stuffing

500 g boneless pork loin

500 g chicken breast

300 g bacon

200 g chicken livers

15 g chopped truffles

200 g morels

200 g braised shallots

2 eggs

Veal juice

For the stuffing marinade

10 cl cognac

30 cl port wine

50 cl sylvaner

22 g salt

For the aiguillettes

1 duck breast

1 veal filet mignon

2 chicken fillets

1 lobe of goose foie gras

1 palm of sweetbread

For themarinade

25 cl port wine

25 cl pinot blanc

25 cl riesling

Mixed spices (bay leaf, thyme, juniper, coriander , pink pepper, black pepper powder )

Sal t

For the jelly

Marinades

Braising juices

Gelati n

Steps for Paul Iacono 's pillow

Stuffing marinade: 3 days beforehand, marinate the stuffing meats in a mixture of alcohol and salt for 48 h.

Piece marinade: 2 days beforehand , marinate the duck breast in port, the filet mignon in pinot blanc and the chicken in riesling for 24 h. Season each marinade with salt (15 g/kg) and mixed spices (4 g/kg).

Dough: Mix all ingredients the day before, reserving 1 whole egg and 1 yolk for gilding. Form into a ball and leave to rest.

Stuffing: Glaze the morels in the veal jus with half the braised shallots. Keep the braising juices . Once marinated, chop all the well-drained meat and shallots with the morels. Finish the stuffing with 2 eggs, the truffles and the morels. Mix thoroughly.

Sweetbreads: Blanch the sweetbreads and remove any unwanted skin once cooled . Brown in a beurre noisette, then braise with veal jus reduced to demi-glace with the remaining shallots. Leave to cool in the braising juices before assembling the pillow.

Jelly: Combine all the marinades and bring to the boil to clarify. Add the braising juices from the morels and sweetbreads reduced to ice, then gel with gelatine at a rate of 4g dry to 10cl juice.

Foie gras: Denervate the foie gras, then reconstitute it before slicing lengthwise into 2 . Season with salt (as late as possible to avoid excessive melting during cooking).

Assembly: Prepare a gilding with the whole egg and yolk, salt and a little water. Roll out 1/3 of the dough for the base and 2/3 for the hood. Set the hood aside in a cool place. Take 1/3 of the stuffing for the base, then place the aiguillettes from left to right in this order: chicken, foie gras, magret, sweetbreads, veal mignon. Cover with the rest of the stuffing.

- Brown the edges of the first layer. Weld the hood. Chisel off the excess pastry to make 3 chimneys. Bake the entire pillow twice , leaving at least 10 min in the freezer between the 2 bakes.

Baking: Bake at 210°C for 1 h. Remove the pillow and leave to rest for 1 h. Pour off some of the jelly 1 h 30 after baking, returning to it as often as necessary until it reaches ﬂeur of the top of the 3 chimneys. Leave to rest for at least 12 h. Slice and serve with a green salad.

Chef's tip: Poor-quality foies gras won't be of any use in this recipe, as they won't stand up to cooking, and will be absorbed by the stuffing, leaving a hole in the middle of the slice when cut.

Has this recipe inspired you to discover Paul Iacono's cuisine ? Read the Gault&Millau review of Le Violon d'Ingres.