Mainland Brazil · Volume 44, Fire, Mate and the Colônia Table

Galeto al primo canto

Name: Galeto al primo canto
Total time: 3 h 45 min
Yield: Serves 2 as a main
Cuisine: The Gaúcho South
Ingredients: 1 poussin or very small chicken; 100ml white wine; a small handful a small handful of sage leaves; to taste salt

Serra Gaúcha, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Galeto al primo canto, spit roast young chicken: a small whole spatchcocked chicken, its skin deeply golden and blistered from the fire, a few charred sage leaves visible tucked beneath one wing.

Illustration

Time: 3 hours 45

Researched: Researched from 103 sources in the brief

by Serra Gaúcha, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Each wave kept its own kitchen rather than merging into a single colonial cuisine, and this chapter has tried to correct two assumptions that did not survive checking: marreco recheado, stuffed duck with red cabbage, is German, the Brazilian descendant of Ente mit Rotkohl, concentrated in the Vale do Itajaí towns of Blumenau, Joinville, Pomerode and especially Brusque, not an Italian dish of the Serra Gaúcha colônia belt; and chimia, the thick fruit preserve, is likewise German in origin, its name a Brazilianisation of the German Schmier, meaning to spread. Galeto al primo canto and polenta, by contrast, are genuinely Italian, developed on the roughly 25 hectare plots the first Italian settlers were given, land suited to subsistence maize, wheat and grapes but with no room to raise cattle for protein, which is exactly why the young spit roast chicken and the maize porridge became the two dishes that carried Italian identity forward here rather than anything built on beef.

Read the history

As tradition built it

Galeto al primo canto

Serves 2 as a main. A few hours to marinate, then about 45 minutes to roast.

Ingredients

1 poussin or very small chicken
100ml white wine
a small handful a small handful of sage leaves
to taste salt

Method

Spatchcock the bird, or leave whole if spit roasting.
Marinate several hours, or overnight if time allows, in the white wine, sage and salt.
Roast over charcoal, or on a spit, basting occasionally with the marinade, until the skin is crisp and deeply coloured and the juices run clear, around 45 minutes for a small bird.
Rest briefly before serving, traditionally alongside polenta.

Notes

Sources for this chapter describe the marinade and the fire method clearly but did not give a fixed marinating time; treat the "several hours, or overnight" given above as sensible practice rather than a documented traditional figure.

What a modern chef changes

The breast and leg brought separately to exact doneness, then finished together for colour.

Rung 2.

Method

Spatchcock and separate the crown from the legs, sous vide the breast at 63°C and the legs at 75°C, both with the wine, sage and salt marinade sealed in the bag, so each part reaches its own correct doneness rather than one being sacrificed for the other.
Finish both pieces together over charcoal or under a very hot grill, briefly, purely for colour and crust, recombining them on the plate as if freshly roasted whole.

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