Poularde Devonshire

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small flexible poultry boning knife
• •Trussing needle and thin kitchen string
• •Food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •8 to 10-quart narrow stockpot
• •Large square of unbleached muslin or cheesecloth
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •2-quart heavy saucepan
• •Long slicing knife and wide spatula
• •Large warmed oval serving platter
• •Warmed sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Open the breast

   Ask the butcher to remove the breast cage through the body cavity, leaving the breast meat and skin attached to the bird along with the spine, legs, and wings. If doing it yourself, free the wishbone first, then work a small boning knife against the ribs and keel with its edge always turned toward bone; disarticulate and lift out the breast cage without cutting through the outer skin. Season the newly opened interior with ½ teaspoon of the salt and ¼ teaspoon of the white pepper. If you find a small nick in the skin, close it now with two loose stitches. It will disappear beneath the barding.

2. 2

   Make the forcemeat

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade. Pulse the cold chicken with the egg white, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon white pepper until smooth and tacky, then add the cold cream gradually while pulsing, holding back 1 tablespoon for a possible rescue. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. The finished chicken forcemeat weighs about 14 oz (405 g); fold in the 7 oz (200 g) of very fine sausage meat, exactly half its weight. Poach a teaspoonful in the heating stock and taste it before adjusting the seasoning. If the forcemeat looks oily or grainy, it has warmed too far. Stop, set it over ice for 10 minutes, then pulse briefly with the reserved cold cream until it comes together. Keep it cold.

3. 3

   Fill and stitch

   Lay half the forcemeat inside the opened breast. Trim the calf's tongue into a neat central piece that fits the bird, reserving the lean rose-red trimmings for the sauce, then place it lengthwise in the middle with its thin end pointing toward the tail. Pack the remaining forcemeat around and over it without driving out every bit of give. Bring the belly skin together and sew it with loose stitches spaced about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart; you must be able to slide a fingertip beneath the string. If the seam is taut, remove a spoonful of forcemeat rather than forcing it closed. Truss the legs and wings. Bardez la poularde, meaning cover the breast with the bacon slices, and secure them lightly with string. Wrap the bird in a loose square of muslin or cheesecloth to support it during the poach.

4. 4

   Poach at a tremble

   Heat the chicken stock in a narrow stockpot to 180°F (82°C). Lower in the poularde using the cloth as a sling, then add only enough measured water to submerge it. Hold the liquid between 175°F and 185°F (79°C and 85°C), with only an occasional movement at the surface, for 75 to 95 minutes. Never let it boil: violent movement makes the forcemeat coarse and drives it against the seam. The poularde is ready when the center of the forcemeat reaches 165°F (74°C) in two places. If the seam starts to open, lower the heat immediately and secure the outer cloth with another loop of string without tightening the skin itself; a little escaped forcemeat can simply be strained from the liquor. Lift the bird onto a rack and let it drain and settle for 20 minutes.

5. 5

   Build the sauce base

   Strain and skim the poaching liquor, bring it to a full boil for 2 minutes, then measure 3 cups (720 ml / 720 g). Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook the roux gently for 2 minutes without letting it color. Whisk in the hot liquor a little at a time, scraping into every corner, then simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes until the sauce is smooth, ivory-colored, and lightly coats a spoon. If it is thin, reduce it now; once the yolks enter, boiling is forbidden. If the roux has formed lumps, strain the sauce and continue. Nothing is lost.

6. 6

   Finish sauce Allemande

   Reserve 1 tablespoon of the sauce cream. Whisk the yolks with the remaining cream, then temper this liaison, the yolk-and-cream finish, with two ladlefuls of the warm sauce. Return everything to the saucepan over very low heat and stir until the sauce thickens to a soft ribbon, never allowing it to boil. Add the lemon juice, the final tablespoon of butter, and the reserved diced tongue; taste before using the remaining salt and white pepper because the stock and tongue already carry salt. If the sauce curdles, take it off the heat at once and whisk the reserved cold cream in a clean bowl, followed by the broken sauce a spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape. Strain only if necessary, then return the tongue dice to the smooth sauce.

7. 7

   Warm the garnish

   Warm the artichoke bottoms for 5 minutes in a shallow pan with a little strained poaching liquor, then drain them very well and keep them covered. Hold the prepared Moulded Pease Purée for Garnish (No. 2196) warm in their molds according to that preparation's directions. Do not unmold them yet; the artichoke bottoms are their bases, and moving the timbales twice only invites breakage.

8. 8

   Carve and reconstruct

   Remove the cloth, bacon, trussing string, and belly stitches. With the point of a knife, cut an incision around the breast just inside the legs and wings. Slide a long slicing knife horizontally at the level of the spine and detach the breast, forcemeat, and tongue as one block. The source asks for a single stroke; several calm, level strokes are safer at home and change nothing. Cut the block lengthwise through the center of the tongue, then slice each half crosswise into pieces about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick. Set the carcass, legs and wings still attached, directly on a warm oval platter and return the slices in their original order, overlapping them only enough to reconstruct the bird. If the block separates, rest it another 10 minutes and arrange the slices in two close rows over the carcass. The sauce will settle the joins.

9. 9

   Sauce and serve

   Spoon a light coat of sauce Allemande over the reconstructed breast, allowing the rose-red tongue dice to remain visible. Unmold one pea timbale onto each warm artichoke bottom and arrange all eight around the poularde as a border. Pour the remaining sauce into a warmed sauceboat and bring both to the table at once. This is a generous platter, not a sculpture to admire from across the room. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Give the butcher exact instructions: remove the breastbone and rib cage through the body cavity, but leave the breast meat, skin, spine, legs, and wings attached. A fully boned bird becomes a different preparation and cannot be reconstructed as the source directs.
• •A small cooked salted calf's tongue is the right center. If only cooked salted beef tongue is available, cut a neat 7-inch (18 cm) center section and reserve the red lean trimmings for the sauce. Beef tongue is larger and deeper in flavor, so the substitution isn't invisible, but it keeps the cured-tongue contrast honestly.
• •Taste the poached test spoonful before adding more salt. Sausage meat, cured tongue, and reduced poaching liquor all bring their own seasoning, and guessing from the raw mixture is a poor bargain.
• •For Moulded Pease Purée for Garnish (No. 2196), fresh sweet peas are splendid in season. At other times, frozen petits pois picked at their peak are far better than tired fresh peas; the classical pantry has always understood preservation.
• •Serve a full-bodied dry white Burgundy. It has enough freshness for the sauce Allemande and enough body for the forcemeat, while a heavy red would bully the peas and cream.

Advance Preparation

• •Order the salted calf's tongue and arrange the butcher's breast-cage boning one or two days ahead. The cooked tongue can be trimmed up to three days ahead and kept tightly wrapped in the cold.
• •The chicken forcemeat may be made up to 6 hours ahead. Press plastic wrap directly onto its surface and refrigerate it below 40°F (4°C); the poularde may be filled and stitched up to 4 hours before poaching.
• •Moulded Pease Purée for Garnish (No. 2196) may be prepared in its molds several hours ahead, covered and chilled, then rewarmed gently before unmolding. Keep the finished artichoke bottoms separate until plating.
• •The roux-thickened sauce base can be completed while the poularde rests, but add the yolk-and-cream liaison, butter, lemon, and tongue dice only shortly before serving. Once finished, sauce Allemande must stay warm without boiling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 800g)