Poularde de la Reine Anne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy lidded casserole sized closely to the poularde
• •2-quart heavy saucepan
• •Wide skillet
• •Poultry shears and short boning knife
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Shallow ovenproof oval platter
• •Small warmed ramekin and sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Concentrate the stock

   Bring the unsalted chicken stock to a lively simmer in a wide saucepan and reduce it to 1½ cups (360 ml), skimming away any foam, about 20 to 25 minutes. Taste as it concentrates. If it begins to taste salty before reaching the mark, stop reducing; the roux will supply the missing body, while further reduction would only harden the salt. Transfer the stock to a measuring jug.

2. 2

   Make the Mornay

   Mornay, the cheese-enriched white sauce, must be thick enough to cling during the final glaze. Melt its butter over medium-low heat, stir in its flour, and cook for 2 minutes without coloring. Whisk in the milk gradually, keeping 2 tablespoons cold in reserve, then simmer gently for 6 to 8 minutes until the sauce falls from the whisk in a broad ribbon. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the Gruyère, Parmesan, 1 egg yolk, nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and white pepper. Do not boil after adding the cheese. If it turns oily or grainy, pull it off the heat and whisk in the reserved cold milk a spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape. Press buttered parchment directly against the surface and keep the Mornay warm.

3. 3

   Prepare the poularde

   Prepare the poularde using Poëlings (No. 250), scaled to the single 4½-to-5-pound bird. When cooked, let it rest for 20 minutes, then keep it loosely covered in a warm place while the sauces and garnishes come together. Tight foil softens the skin, and prolonged high heat dries the breast before it reaches the tartlets.

   Use the bird's time in the oven to complete the Allemande, macaroni, and tartlet garnish. This is how one cook replaces three stations without keeping dinner waiting.
4. 4

   Finish the Allemande

   Allemande, a velouté finished with egg yolk and cream, supplies both the tartlet binding and the sauceboat. Melt its butter over medium-low heat, stir in its flour, and cook the pale roux for 2 minutes without browning. Whisk in the reduced stock gradually and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often, until it coats the back of a spoon. Whisk 2 egg yolks with all but 2 tablespoons of the Allemande cream, temper them with three ladlefuls of hot sauce, then return the liaison, the yolk-and-cream finish, to the saucepan. Stir over very low heat until it reaches 160°F (71°C), but never let it boil. Add the lemon juice and truffle juice, then adjust the salt and white pepper. If the sauce begins to grain, remove it from the heat immediately, whisk in the reserved cold cream, and strain it. Hold it over barely warm water.

5. 5

   Cream the macaroni

   Begin the macaroni when the poularde is nearly done. Boil it in well-salted water until just short of tender, then drain thoroughly. In its empty saucepan, reduce the macaroni cream by about one-third, add the pasta, and toss over low heat until the cream clings between the tubes rather than pooling underneath. If it remains loose, cook it for another minute before adding the rich garnishes. Remove the pan from the heat and fold in the diced foie gras and most of the diced truffle, reserving 8 thin slices and about 1 tablespoon of truffle dice for serving. Taste for salt and white pepper. Keep it warm, never bubbling, or the foie gras will melt out.

6. 6

   Fill the tartlets

   Melt the tartlet butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the mushrooms until their liquid disappears and their edges brown. Add the chicken livers and cook until no raw center remains and they reach 165°F (74°C), then season lightly. Fold the liver and mushrooms into ½ cup (120 ml) of warm Allemande and spoon the garnish into the tartlet shells. If fully cleaned, cooked cocks' combs and poultry kidneys are available, use them in place of both liver and mushrooms, exactly as the original garnish directs.

7. 7

   Open the poularde

   Set the broiler to its highest heat before carving. Place the warm poularde breast-side up on a board and remove the two suprêmes, the breast fillets, in whole lobes, keeping them warm. With poultry shears and a short boning knife, remove the exposed breast and rib bones while leaving the back, legs, and wings connected, creating a stable cavity. Work with a folded towel because the bird will still be hot. If the shell cracks, do not dismantle it; set it at once in the shallow ovenproof platter, whose sides will brace it. Never apologize at your own table.

8. 8

   Refill and assemble

   Spoon the creamed macaroni, foie gras, and truffle into the opened carcass, packing it gently without crushing the pasta. Rewarm the Mornay over low heat, loosening it with any reserved milk if necessary, then spread a generous layer over the macaroni from edge to edge. Divide each suprême crosswise into two thick portions, giving four pieces, and set one over the Allemande garnish in each tartlet. Brush the breast portions with a little warm Allemande so they remain glossy.

9. 9

   Glaze fast and fierce

   Set the filled poularde on its ovenproof platter 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) beneath the fully heated broiler. Glaze for 45 to 90 seconds, watching without interruption, until the Mornay bubbles at the edges and takes quick bronze patches across the top. Rotate the platter if one side colors first. Slow heat merely melts the sauce down into the macaroni; this fierce finish is the step that decides the dish.

   Do not walk away from the broiler. If one patch darkens too quickly, cover only that patch with a small piece of foil and finish the paler side.
10. 10

    Build the platter

    Warm the reserved truffle slices and dice for 20 to 30 seconds in the finishing butter, just until glossy, then mound them in a small warmed ramekin behind the poularde, the honest home equivalent of the silver shell. Arrange the four suprême-topped tartlets around the bird and pour the remaining truffled Allemande into a warm sauceboat. Bring everything to the table immediately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A true poularde is a plump young hen with a broad breast and generous fat. If the name is unfamiliar to your butcher, ask for the best 4½-to-5-pound roasting chicken available. Technique first, always.
• •The original cocks' combs and poultry kidneys may be used if a specialist supplies them fully cleaned, cooked, and tender. They are not decorative curiosities; they bring delicate offal flavor and yielding texture. Chicken liver and mushroom replace those qualities honestly when the original garnish cannot be sourced.
• •Fresh black truffle gives the clearest perfume, but a good preserved whole truffle with its natural juice belongs to the classical pantry and works throughout the year. Avoid synthetic truffle oil. It shouts while the foie gras and sauces are trying to speak.
• •Mornay must be thick before it reaches the bird. If it pours like cream, simmer it longer; if it sits like paste, loosen it one spoonful at a time. Under the broiler it should blister and bronze, not run.
• •Serve a structured white Burgundy or a dry Champagne. The wine needs enough acidity to meet the foie gras, cream, and cheese without competing with the truffle.

Advance Preparation

• •Reduce the stock and make the Mornay up to one day ahead. Chill the sauce with buttered parchment pressed against its surface, then reheat it slowly with a spoonful of milk.
• •The mushrooms and chicken livers can be cooked several hours ahead and refrigerated separately. Rewarm them in the Allemande just before filling the tartlets.
• •Dice the foie gras and truffle in advance and keep them cold. Fold them into the macaroni only after the pan leaves the heat.
• •Finish the linked poêling preparation no more than 30 minutes before carving. This poularde rewards organization, but its glazed assembly belongs to the final minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 810g)