Poularde à la Mancini

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Snug 7 to 8-quart stockpot
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Medium heavy saucepan and whisk
• •Small sharp boning knife
• •Poultry shears
• •Broiler-safe oval gratin dish or metal serving platter
• •Kitchen twine
• •Warmed sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the poularde

   Tuck the wing tips beneath the bird and tie the legs loosely so the poularde keeps its shape. Set it breast-side up in a snug 7 to 8-quart stockpot with the stock, carrot, leek, celery, onion, bouquet garni, salt, and peppercorns. Add only enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring the liquid slowly to its first tremble, skimming away any grey foam, then lower the heat and hold it between 175°F and 185°F (79°C and 85°C). Poach gently for 40 to 50 minutes, until the deepest part of the breast holds 160°F (71°C) for at least 15 seconds and the thigh reaches about 170°F (77°C). If the liquid boils hard, lower the heat and add a small ladle of cold water. Ça se rattrape. A hard boil toughens the breast and shakes apart the shape needed later.

   If the breast reaches temperature before the thigh, tip the bird upright so its legs sit deeper in the liquid for another 5 minutes. Protect the suprêmes, the breast fillets, from needless cooking.
2. 2

   Strain and hold

   Lift the poularde carefully with two broad spoons and let the cavity drain back into the pot. Set the bird on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, spoon ½ cup of poaching liquor underneath, cover loosely with foil, and hold it in a 200°F (95°C) oven for no more than 30 minutes. Strain the poaching liquor, discard the aromatics, and keep 4 cups hot for the sauce. Leave the remainder in the stockpot for cooking the macaroni.

3. 3

   Build the cream sauce

   Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over gentle heat. Add the flour and stir for 2 minutes without letting the roux color. Whisk in the 4 cups of hot poaching liquor gradually, making the first additions small so the roux opens smoothly, then simmer for 12 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Add 1½ cups of the cream and simmer gently until glossy and full-bodied, about 8 minutes. Season with white pepper and salt only after reducing. If the sauce seizes, take it off the heat and whisk in a little hot liquor at a time; if stubborn lumps remain, pass it through a fine sieve. Divide it between two saucepans. Keep about 1½ cups supple for the sauce suprême, and reduce the remainder until stiff and unctuous enough to cling to the bird without sliding.

4. 4

   Coher the macaroni

   Bring the remaining poaching liquor to a boil and cook the macaroni until tender but still holding its shape. Drain it thoroughly, return it to the warm pot, and add the remaining ½ cup cream with 1 cup of the Gruyère. Stir over low heat until the cream reduces and the cheese coheres the macaroni into a spoonable filling with no liquid pooling underneath. Remove the pot from the heat and wait 1 minute, then fold in all 3 oz of diced foie gras and the ½ oz of truffle cut julienne-fashion into fine matchsticks. If the mixture is loose, reduce it before adding the foie gras and truffle; once those are in, hard heat will melt their character away. Cover and keep warm.

5. 5

   Remove the suprêmes

   Transfer the warm poularde to a cutting board and remove the twine. Make a shallow cut through the skin along the breastbone, peel the skin aside, and use a small sharp knife to lift each suprême whole from the keel and ribs. Cover the suprêmes so they stay warm. With poultry shears, cut through the breast ribs close to the backbone and carefully lift out the breastbone and rib cage through the opening, leaving the back, wings, and legs attached. Feel inside for sharp fragments and remove them. If the skin tears, keep going calmly; the cream coating will cover the repair.

6. 6

   Fill and reconstruct

   Remove the bird from the low oven and turn the broiler to its highest setting, placing a rack 4 to 5 inches below the element. Set the bread cushion in the center of a broiler-safe oval gratin dish, then settle the hollowed carcass over it so the wings and legs retain the outline of the bird. Pack the hot macaroni filling generously into the breast cavity and mound it slightly. Slice each suprême crosswise on a shallow angle, keeping the slices in order, and reconstruct the breasts over the macaroni with one tissue-thin truffle slice between each piece. If the chicken has cooled, cover the sliced suprêmes with a few spoonfuls of hot poaching liquor for 2 minutes before arranging them. The broiler colors the dish; it cannot warm a cold center.

7. 7

   Coat and glaze

   Bring the stiff coating sauce back to a gentle bubble and spoon it over the reconstructed poularde, covering the breast, wings, and upper legs in an even ivory coat. If the sauce slips off, reduce it for another minute and try again. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup Gruyère evenly over the sauce. Slide the dish beneath the fully heated broiler and watch without looking away. Glaze for about 30 seconds, just until the cheese freckles bronze and the sauce bubbles at the edges. If one side colors first, rotate the dish and continue in 10-second bursts. This flash of fierce top heat is the dish, not decorative theater.

8. 8

   Finish the sauce

   Warm the reserved sauce suprême over gentle heat until it flows in a broad ribbon. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter, one piece at a time, and loosen with a spoonful of hot poaching liquor if it has tightened beyond a soft coating consistency. Do not boil it after the butter goes in. Taste once more for salt and white pepper, then pour it into a warmed sauceboat.

9. 9

   Serve at once

   Let the glazed poularde stand for 2 minutes, no longer. Carry the whole dish to the table and serve each guest a portion of suprême, macaroni, foie gras, truffle, and one of the limbs, passing the sauce suprême separately. The bread cushion will have caught the poultry juices and cream beneath the bird; divide it among anyone wise enough to ask. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A true poularde is a plump young hen raised for tenderness and generous fat. If your butcher cannot supply one, choose a small, broad-breasted roasting chicken with supple skin, never an enormous lean bird; the smaller frame poaches evenly and reconstructs neatly.
• •Use cooked foie gras terrine or bloc, well chilled, rather than mousse or raw liver. Cold firm dice remain distinct in the macaroni, while mousse disappears into the cream before the bird reaches the table.
• •Fresh black truffle is magnificent when the season gives it. At other times, the classical pantry has the honest answer: a fragrant whole preserved truffle. Truffle oil cannot supply the julienne or the dark slices between the suprêmes, so it cannot do this particular job.
• •Test the gratin dish beneath your broiler before the evening begins, and never use ordinary glass. The glaze wants the strongest top heat you own and about thirty seconds of complete attention.
• •Serve a full-bodied white Burgundy or a dry Champagne. Both have enough structure for foie gras, cream, and truffle without trampling the delicacy of the poached poultry.
• •The butter and cream are structural here, not ornaments. Fat substitutes weaken the roux, dull the glaze, and break the sauce's texture. We don't apologize for butter.

Advance Preparation

• •The Gruyère can be grated, the foie gras diced, and the truffle divided into julienne and thin slices up to 4 hours ahead. Keep each tightly covered and cold so the foie gras stays firm and the truffle keeps its perfume.
• •The roux-built sauce can be prepared through the cream reduction up to 1 day ahead and chilled promptly. Reheat it gently with a little reserved stock, then divide and adjust the two consistencies before assembly.
• •Poach and reconstruct the poularde close to serving. The thirty-second glaze cannot reheat a bird assembled from refrigerator-cold parts, and prolonged reheating dries the suprêmes.
• •Leftovers should be refrigerated within 2 hours and eaten within 2 days. Reheat them covered and gently, keeping the extra sauce separate so it can be loosened without overcooking the chicken.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 680g)