Poulet Noir Stock and Soup

Last Saturday at the Ginger Pig stall in Borough Market, we bought a gorgeous black leg chicken or "Poulet Noir". The average supermarket chicken has a life of around 39 days whereas the Poulet Noir is reared for a minimum of 81, giving it a deeper, almost gamier flavour. 

I lost my nerve a bit when I got it back to the kitchen, so Leo had to remove the intimadating head and large talons, which I reserved for stock. I also added some woody herbs, an onion, carrot and a few black peppercorns along with the leftover bones from the roast chicken. 

I boiled it slowly for a few hours, until I had around 100ml of concentrated stock. This cooled into a rich jelly which formed the basis of my spring chicken soup.

As the stock is so rich in flavour, I wanted that to be the main focus of the soup. I sautéed an onion, carrot and a large leek until soft and then added the stock with around half a litre of water. I then stirred in some spinach right before serving.

I was really impressed with the Poulet Noir and will be reluctant to go back to headless chickens... The head and talons made the stock extra tasty and the meat was beautifully moist and gamey.