1708—Galantine de Volaille

For galantines, fowls may be used which are a little too tough to be roasted, but old fowls should be discarded. The latter invariably yield a dry forcemeat, whatever measures one may take in the preparation.

The fowl should be cleaned but not emptied, and it should be carefully boned; the process beginning from an incision down the skin of the back, from the head to the tail.

This done, carefully remove the meat with the point of a small, sharp knife, until the carcass is quite bare. Cut off the wings and the legs, flush with the articulations of the trunk; remove all the meat that the skin may be quite clean, and spread the skin on a clean piece of linen. Trim the meat of the breast, cut it into pieces one-third inch square, and put the resulting trimmings aside.

Season these pieces and No. 168, Cooked Marinade for Venison them in a few drops of brandy; prepare other pieces of the same size and length from four oz. of truffles; six oz. of salted, fat pork; four oz. of cooked ham, and four oz. of salted and cooked ox-tongue. Then clear the meat of the legs of all tendons; add to it the trimmings cut from the breast, as much very white veal and twice as much very fat, fresh pork; season these meats with salt, pepper and nutmeg; chop them up very finely; pound them, and rub them through a sieve. Add the brandy in which the fillets were No. 168, Cooked Marinade for Venison.

Spread a layer, three in. wide, of this forcemeat along the whole of the middle of the chicken’s skin; upon this layer of forcemeat set the strips of bacon, fowl, truffle, ham, and tongue, arranging them alternately and regularly; upon them spread another layer of forcemeat, equal to the first; then another layer of the various pieces, and finally cover and envelop the whole in what remains of the forcemeat.

Draw the skin of the fowl over the whole and completely wrap the former round the latter. Carefully sew up the edges of the skin, and roll the galantine in a napkin, either end of which should be tightly strung.

With six lbs. of shin of veal, one-half lb. of fresh No. 273, Blanchings pork rind, and the fowl’s carcass, prepare a white veal stock (No. 10, White Veal Stock, and Poultry Stock). When this stock has cooked for about five hours, add the galantine to it, and gently cook the latter for about one and one-quarter hours.

At the end of this time take the galantine off the fire; drain it on a dish, and let it cool for ten minutes; remove the napkin in which it has cooked, and roll it in another one which should be similarly tied at both ends. This done, put the galantine to cool under a weight not exceeding five or six lbs.

The cooking-liquor, once it has been cleared of grease and clarified as for an aspic (No. 158, Ordinary Aspics), constitutes a jelly which accompanies the galantine. When the latter is quite cold, remove the napkin covering it, trim it neatly at either end; coat it with half-melted jelly, and dish it on a low cushion of carved rice. Finally, decorate it as fancy may dictate with pieces of jelly.