Deep Dive
Building the foundation with spatchcocked chicken
Fallow starts by roasting a spatchcocked chicken at 190°C for roughly 45 minutes total, checking at 30 minutes and then extending the roast to maximize color on the bones. The key move is reserving the rendered chicken fat — he'll use this later instead of butter in the sauce thickener, a beurre manié variant called a beur manet. The bones and connective tissue get spread back in the oven to go as dark as possible, creating an enriched stock base that beats store-bought every time. Using a whole bird instead of just breasts is the efficiency play: you get moist meat, rich jus, and flavor-building bones all at once.
Sauce strategy with Marmite and mustard
He builds the sauce by caramelizing shallots, sweating garlic, rosemary, thyme, and a bay leaf, then deglazes with white wine and reduces it hard. Once the roasted chicken stock goes in, Fallow adds cream and two flavor boosters: Dijon mustard for the classic pairing with chicken, and a curveball of Marmite for depth and richness without any yeasty funk. He thickens with his chicken-fat beurre manet rather than butter, then adds the bacon-and-mushroom garnish he'd prepped while the sauce reduced. The whole thing gets chilled before assembly so flavors set properly.
Pastry technique and the final assembly
For the puff pastry, Fallow uses a lamination technique called riging — pushing down with equal pressure, rotating 90°, and repeating to grow surface area without overworking gluten. He chills the pastry sheet, then fills and tops it with egg wash on both surfaces to help adhesion. The critical step is chilling the assembled pie before baking so the pastry rises before the filling's steam can make it soggy. He bakes at 220°C for 10 minutes to get the oven spring, then drops to 180°C for 30 minutes. Two air holes in the top let steam escape, and a hit of fleur de sel finishes the crust.