Poularde Bouillie à l’Anglaise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •7 to 8 quart heavy pot with lid
• •Kitchen twine
• •Parchment cartouche and small heatproof plate
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •2 quart saucepan
• •Warm oval serving platter and two sauceboats

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare bird and bacon

   Do not rinse the poularde. Pat it dry, tuck the wing tips underneath, and tie the legs together without cinching the breast. Test the bacon’s cure by frying a small trimming. If it tastes fiercely salty, place the whole slab in the poaching pot, cover it with cold water, simmer for five minutes, then drain and rinse the pot. This removes excess modern curing salt without taking away the bacon the dish requires.

   A snug pot matters. It keeps the bird covered with a reasonable quantity of stock and replaces the deep stockpot a professional kitchen kept ready.
2. 2

   Begin the cold poach

   Stud the onion with the cloves. Set the poularde breast-side up in a 7 to 8 quart heavy pot with the bacon, onion, celery, and bouquet garni. Add enough cold fond blanc to cover the bird by about 1 inch, holding back as much as 1 cup for temperature control. If the bird floats, lay a parchment cartouche and a small heatproof plate over it. Bring the stock up slowly over medium heat, uncovered, skimming away the grey foam as it gathers. Do not salt yet; the bacon must speak first.

3. 3

   Hold a bare tremble

   When the liquor reaches 180 to 185°F (82 to 85°C), reduce the heat until the surface shows only a gentle current and an occasional small bubble. Partially cover the pot and hold it there for 25 minutes. Never let it roll. If boiling begins, lift the pot completely from the heat and pour a little reserved cold stock down the side until the agitation stops, then return it over lower heat. Ça se rattrape: one brief boil need not ruin the bird, but letting it continue will toughen the meat and cloud the liquor.

4. 4

   Add pot-au-feu vegetables

   Add the carrots and turnips, nudging them beneath the liquor without piercing the poularde. Continue at the same bare tremble for 15 minutes, then add the tied leeks. Cook for another 20 to 35 minutes. Begin checking the bird after 60 minutes of total poaching time: an instant-read thermometer inserted into the deepest breast and inner thigh, without touching bone, must register at least 165°F (74°C). The vegetables should be tender but still hold their shape.

5. 5

   Rest and strain

   Lift the poularde onto a warmed platter and cover it loosely. Remove the bacon and vegetables, keeping them warm. If the bird is ready before a vegetable, leave that vegetable in the liquor until tender. Strain the cooking liquor through a fine sieve, skim away only the excess surface fat, and taste before adding salt. Reserve ½ cup for the parsley sauce and keep about 1½ cups hot for its own sauceboat. Let the poularde rest for 15 minutes while you make the sauce.

6. 6

   Blanch the parsley

   Drop the parsley leaves into a small pan of salted boiling water for 15 seconds, then transfer them immediately to cold water. Squeeze them thoroughly dry and chop them very finely. This brief blanching softens the raw edge and fixes the herb-green colour; leaving water in the parsley would thin the finished sauce.

7. 7

   Build the parsley sauce

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 2 quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook this white roux for two minutes without letting it colour. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the milk by thirds, smoothing each addition before the next, then whisk in the reserved ½ cup cooking liquor. Return the pan to gentle heat and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until it reaches nappé, a coating consistency that leaves a clean line when you draw a finger across the back of the spoon. If lumps form, take the pan off the heat, whisk firmly, and pass the sauce through a sieve. Stir in the parsley, white pepper, and enough salt to bring it alive, then whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter off the heat. If that finishing butter separates, whisk in a tablespoon of cold milk away from the heat. Ça se rattrape.

8. 8

   Dish and serve

   Remove the string from the poularde and set the bird breast-side up on the warm platter. Slice the bacon across the grain into pieces about ¼ inch thick and arrange them around the bird exactly as the preparation intends. Group the carrots, turnips, and leeks alongside without disguising them under sauce. Bring the parsley sauce and clear cooking liquor to the table in separate warmed sauceboats; neither is poured over the bird in advance. Carve at the table, passing both sauces freely. À table!

   If carving at the table is more ceremony than the evening needs, joint the poularde in the kitchen and arrange the pieces close together on the platter. The service changes, not the cooking.

Chef Tips

• •A true poularde is a specially fattened young hen, tender and generously fleshed. If your butcher cannot supply one, choose a plump 4 to 4½ pound chicken with an ample breast. Technique first: a modest bird held at the proper tremble will eat better than an expensive one boiled without attention.
• •Use unsmoked slab bacon rather than thin breakfast slices. The source calls for a breast of bacon, a substantial piece that seasons the stock as it cooks and can still be sliced neatly for service. Heavy smoke or sugar would take over the pale liquor.
• •The stock must be pale and lightly seasoned. A dark roasted stock belongs to another dish; here it would stain the flesh and smother the quiet flavour of the poularde. Purchased stock is perfectly honest when it is unsalted, clean-tasting, and not built on caramel colouring.
• •The leftover cooking liquor is a fine foundation for soup, rice, or a light velouté. Chill it promptly, lift away the set fat if desired, and keep it refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to three months.
• •Pour a restrained dry white, such as a white Burgundy or a dry Chenin Blanc. The wine should respect the parsley sauce and clear broth, not shout over them.

Advance Preparation

• •The vegetables can be peeled and cut up to one day ahead. Refrigerate them separately in covered containers; keep the washed leeks wrapped so their aroma does not wander through the refrigerator.
• •For full make-ahead service, poach the poularde up to one day ahead, then joint it while still warm and place the pieces in a shallow container with enough strained liquor to keep them moist. Chill within two hours, cover once cold, and reheat gently in the liquor to 165°F (74°C). Never boil during reheating; the texture will be slightly firmer than same-day service.
• •The parsley sauce base can be made one day ahead without the parsley or final butter. Press buttered parchment directly against its surface, refrigerate, then reheat over low heat with a spoonful of cooking liquor before adding the blanched parsley and cold butter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 780g)