Vol au Vent de Ris de Veau

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Two 3-quart saucepans
• •12-inch heavy skillet
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Two rimmed baking sheets and a 4-pound (2 kg) weight
• •Kitchen twine
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak and press

   Cover the sweetbreads with cold water and refrigerate for 1 hour, changing the water twice, until it remains nearly clear. Put them in a saucepan with fresh cold water and 1 teaspoon of the salt, bring slowly to a bare simmer, and blanch for 5 minutes. Transfer them to very cold water, then peel away the outer membrane, tough tubes, and visible sinew while they are still slightly warm. Set the cleaned sweetbreads between two lined baking sheets, weight the top with about 4 pounds (2 kg), and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cut them across into broad ½-inch (1.5 cm) slices. Keep them generous, because the sweetbread must remain the dominating element.

   If a sweetbread tears while you clean it, keep the pieces large and press them together under the weight. They will firm as they chill and can still be browned handsomely.
2. 2

   Cook the crayfish

   Combine the 6 cups water, wine, onion, carrot, celery, bouquet garni, peppercorns, and 2 teaspoons salt in a wide saucepan. Simmer for 20 minutes, then strain and return the court-bouillon to the pan. Curl each crayfish tail under its body and secure it with a loop of kitchen twine, the home equivalent of the old formal trussing. Lower the crayfish into the simmering court-bouillon and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, until the shells are coral-red and the tail meat is opaque. Lift them out, cool just enough to handle, snip away the twine, and keep them covered.

3. 3

   Build the velouté

   Warm the veal stock and hold back ¼ cup (60 ml) for adjusting the finished sauce. Melt 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g) butter in a heavy saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook this roux over gentle heat for 2 minutes without letting it color. Whisk in the remaining hot stock a little at a time, making each addition smooth before the next. Bring it to a bare simmer and cook for 18 to 20 minutes, whisking often and skimming the surface, until the velouté coats the back of a spoon. Pass it through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.

4. 4

   Brown the garnish

   Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until their moisture has evaporated and their edges are well browned, then lift them out. Add another 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter. Dry the sweetbread slices carefully, season them lightly with salt and a pinch of white pepper, and brown them in batches for about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the slices to the velouté and hold them at the barest simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, until their centers reach 160°F (71°C). Add the mushrooms for the final 2 minutes, then lift both onto a warm plate with a slotted spoon.

5. 5

   Finish sauce Allemande

   Whisk the egg yolks with 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 90 g) of the cream in a heatproof bowl, reserving the remaining cream. Gradually whisk in a ladleful of hot velouté, then another, before returning the liaison to the saucepan. Stir over very gentle heat until the sauce thickens to a satin ribbon and reaches about 170°F (77°C), but never let it simmer. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice, the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) butter, and the rest of the white pepper. Adjust with the reserved veal stock if it is too tight, then fold the sweetbreads and mushrooms back into the sauce. If the liaison turns grainy, pull the pan from the heat immediately and whisk in the reserved cold cream. If necessary, pass the sauce through a fine sieve before returning the garnish. Ça se rattrape.

   Reduce the velouté before adding the liaison. Once the yolks are in, boiling is forbidden, so a thin sauce cannot be corrected by hard reduction without scrambling it.
6. 6

   Recrisp the crust

   Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Set the baked Vol-au-Vent Crust (No. 2390) and its lid separately on a dry baking sheet and warm them for 8 to 10 minutes, until the layers are crisp and butter-gold. If the rim is already deeply colored, shield it loosely with foil. Do not fill the crust early; sauce waiting inside puff pastry turns its proud layers soft.

   The hot oven replaces the salamander here. It dries and revives the pastry evenly without scorching the high rim.
7. 7

   Fill and serve

   Set the hot crust on a warmed platter and spoon in the filling, arranging the broad sweetbread slices visibly at the top rather than burying them under sauce. Decorate with the sliced truffle. Arrange the court-bouillon crayfish around the base and rest the pastry lid lightly across the crayfish at the back. Carry it to the table immediately, while the shell is crisp and the sauce still gleams. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Order the sweetbreads from a butcher several days ahead and ask for plump heart sweetbreads. They are firmer and more regular than the smaller throat lobes, which makes the broad slices easier to brown and keeps them in command of the filling.
• •Use pale, gelatin-rich veal stock. If you don't keep a stockpot going, dilute a good unsalted veal demi-glace according to its strength. Dark beef stock overwhelms the sweetbread and turns sauce Allemande muddy.
• •The mushrooms are a supporting note, not half the filling. Six ounces is enough. The source permits its minor garnish to change, but the proportion of sweetbread is the part that cannot move.
• •Whole raw crayfish may be frozen when fresh ones aren't in season. If only cooked crayfish are available, make the court-bouillon as written, let it fall below a simmer, and warm the crayfish in it for 1 minute. Longer cooking makes the tails cottony.
• •Use a small preserved whole black truffle when fresh truffle is unavailable. Slice it visibly over the filling. Truffle oil supplies perfume without the texture or quiet depth this presentation expects.
• •Pour a dry white Burgundy or another full, mineral Chardonnay. It has enough body for sweetbread and butter, while its acidity keeps the sauce Allemande lively.

Advance Preparation

• •The sweetbreads may be soaked, blanched, cleaned, and pressed up to one day ahead. Keep them covered in the refrigerator and slice them shortly before browning.
• •The velouté base may be prepared one day ahead and reheated gently. Add the yolk-and-cream liaison only near serving time, because finished sauce Allemande dislikes repeated heating.
• •The Vol-au-Vent Crust (No. 2390) may be baked up to 6 hours ahead and kept uncovered at room temperature. Recrisp it just before filling.
• •Do not store the assembled vol-au-vent. Hold the crust, filling, truffle, and crayfish separately, then bring them together at the final moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 445g)