Chef Juliette
Pullets and Capons for Relevés
Three roads through the Paris poultry canon, poach, poêler, or braise, with one rule beneath them all: protect the breast with bacon while the legs cook, then turn the liquor into sauce.
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Poularde Tosca
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1523, Poularde Tosca, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Poularde Tosca gathers the classical system on one platter: truffled pilaff inside a butter-poêlé bird, braised fennel around it, and reduced cooking liquor mounted to a satin finish.
Main Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
1 hr
Active Time
1 hr 40 min cook•3 hr total
Yield4 servings
Poularde Tosca (Tosca-style stuffed pullet) teaches the last inch of sauce work: a reduction is made on the heat, but its finish happens off it. The bird can be bronzed, the rice fragrant with foie gras and truffle, and the fennel tender; if you boil the liquor after mounting it with butter, the sauce splits and the whole platter loses its satin. That is the one true thing to carry to the stove.
The original assumed a saucier minding the liquor, brown veal stock never off the fire, a salamander waiting to colour the skin, and enough hands to poêler the bird while the fennel braised elsewhere. At home, one snug lidded casserole holds the poularde in butter, a strong oven supplies the final bronze, and a small saucepan handles the reduction. The entry is scaled to one 4½-pound poularde for four, with overlapping fried-bread slices replacing the brigade's single carved bread platform. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The separate sauce station and elaborate bread carving were brigade scaffolding and can go. The enriched pilaff stuffing, butter poêlage, braised fennel ring, fried bread cushion, and reduced cooking liquor are the dish, so they stay. Guard the monter au beurre, the off-heat butter finish: reduce first, stop the boil, then whisk in cold butter. If it turns oily, ça se rattrape, and the method gives you the rescue.
Poularde Tosca belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen repertoire, not to the farmhouse canon of a particular province. Its operatic, Italianate name reflects the dining-room habit of naming composed dishes for figures of the stage, while its grammar is French: pilaff stuffing, poêlage, braised bulb fennel, and reduced butter-finished liquor. The dish moved to bourgeois tables because a snug casserole could reproduce covered poêlage without a brigade, though the foie gras, truffle, and formal garnish kept it for company meals.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
poularde or plump roasting chicken
Quantity
1 bird, 4½ lb (2 kg)
giblets removed
Pilaff Rice (for the Stuffing of Fowls) (No. 2256)
Quantity
2 cups (475 ml / 450 g)
prepared according to its referenced entry and chilled
Poëlings (No. 250)
Quantity
1 home-scale quantity for one 4½ lb (2 kg) poularde, yielding about 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) strained liquor
completed as its own referenced preparation
Florence fennel bulbs
Quantity
3 medium bulbs, about 2 lb (900 g)
trimmed and each cut through the core into 6 wedges
rich unsalted chicken stock
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 240 g)
unsalted butter
Quantity
7 tablespoons (105 ml / 100 g)
divided, with 2 tablespoons kept cold
firm white bread
Quantity
4 slices, each ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick, about 6 oz (170 g) total
crusts removed
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
divided
finely ground white pepper
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
divided
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| poularde or plump roasting chickengiblets removed | 1 bird, 4½ lb (2 kg) |
| Pilaff Rice (for the Stuffing of Fowls) (No. 2256)prepared according to its referenced entry and chilled | 2 cups (475 ml / 450 g) |
| Poëlings (No. 250)completed as its own referenced preparation | 1 home-scale quantity for one 4½ lb (2 kg) poularde, yielding about 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) strained liquor |
| Florence fennel bulbstrimmed and each cut through the core into 6 wedges | 3 medium bulbs, about 2 lb (900 g) |
| rich unsalted chicken stock | 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided, with 2 tablespoons kept cold | 7 tablespoons (105 ml / 100 g) |
| firm white breadcrusts removed | 4 slices, each ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick, about 6 oz (170 g) total |
| fine sea saltdivided | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| finely ground white pepperdivided | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •5 to 6 quart (4.7 to 5.7 litre) heavy lidded oval casserole
- •12 inch (30 cm) wide sauté pan with lid
- •Large heavy skillet
- •Small heavy saucepan
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Kitchen twine
- •Warm sauceboat and oval serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Ready the pilaff
Prepare the Pilaff Rice (for the Stuffing of Fowls) (No. 2256) as its own entry directs, keeping the rice only three-quarters cooked so it can finish inside the bird. Spread it in a shallow tray and chill it promptly until no longer warm. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and arrange a rack in the lower-middle position.
The enriched pilaff contains cream, foie gras, and truffle. Cool it quickly and keep it chilled, then stuff the poularde immediately before cooking, never hours ahead. - 2
Stuff the poularde
Pat the poularde thoroughly dry. Season the cavity and skin with 1½ teaspoons of the salt and half the white pepper. Spoon the chilled Pilaff Rice (for the Stuffing of Fowls) (No. 2256) loosely into the neck and body cavities, leaving room for the grains to finish swelling. Fold the neck skin underneath, tie the legs together, and tuck the wing tips behind the back. Cook the bird at once. If a little stuffing will not fit, do not force it; heat it separately in a covered buttered dish until its centre reaches 165°F (74°C).
- 3
Poêler the bird
Following Poëlings (No. 250), settle the stuffed poularde over the prepared raw matignon in a heavy casserole only slightly larger than the bird, coat it generously with the butter called for in that preparation, and cover tightly. Cook for 70 minutes, basting twice with the aromatic butter in the casserole. Do not add stock while the bird roasts; free liquid would turn poêlage into an ordinary braise. Uncover, raise the oven to 425°F (220°C), and continue for 20 to 30 minutes, until the skin is deeply burnished, the centre of the stuffing reaches 165°F (74°C), and the thickest part of the thigh registers at least 165°F (74°C). Transfer the poularde to a board, cover loosely, and rest for 20 minutes.
If the breast darkens before the stuffing is safely cooked, cover only the breast with a loose piece of foil, lower the oven to 350°F (175°C), and continue. Colour can wait; safe stuffing cannot. - 4
Braise the fennel
While the poularde cooks, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a wide sauté pan over medium heat. Arrange the fennel in one layer, season with the remaining salt and white pepper, and colour the cut faces lightly for 3 to 4 minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the stock for the sauce rescue, then pour the remaining stock around the fennel. Cover and hold at a bare simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until a knife enters the cores without resistance. Uncover and reduce the liquid to a buttery glaze. If the pan dries before the fennel is tender, add another spoonful of stock; if the fennel softens first, lift it out, reduce the liquid alone, then return the wedges to be glazed.
- 5
Fry the bread
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread and fry until crisp and evenly golden underneath, about 3 minutes, then turn and colour the second side. If the butter darkens before the bread crisps, lower the heat immediately. Arrange the slices slightly overlapping on a warmed oval platter to form a low, stable cushion for the poularde.
- 6
Mount the liquor
Complete the short moistening, ten-minute infusion, straining, and degreasing directed in Poëlings (No. 250), collecting about 1 cup of clear cooking liquor. Boil it in a small saucepan until reduced by roughly one-third and nappant, lightly coating the back of a spoon while still running freely. Remove the pan from the heat and wait 20 seconds, then monter au beurre by whisking in the remaining 2 tablespoons of cold butter, one small piece at a time. Never boil it again. If the sauce separates into oily beads, stop: ça se rattrape. Put 1 tablespoon of the reserved cool stock in a clean saucepan and whisk the broken sauce into it gradually, still off the heat. Taste, correct the seasoning, and pour the sauce into a warmed sauceboat.
- 7
Build the platter
Remove the string from the rested poularde and set the bird squarely on its fried-bread cushion. Arrange the glazed fennel in a generous ring around it and spoon any fennel glaze over the wedges. Bring the poularde to the table whole, with the jus de poêlage in its sauceboat, then carve and serve some pilaff, fennel, bread, and sauce to each guest. À table!
Chef Tips
- •A true poularde is a young, specially fattened hen with abundant tender flesh. If your butcher cannot supply one, choose a plump air-chilled roasting chicken of the same weight. The result will be a little leaner, but careful poêlage matters more than the label.
- •The source's tuberous fennel-root is what markets now call Florence fennel. It is the swollen white bulb, not the thin root underneath. Choose heavy, tight bulbs without split outer layers, and keep part of the core attached so the braised wedges hold together.
- •The original kitchen had concentrated brown stock always ready. A rich, unsalted chicken stock is the honest home equivalent here; if yours is thin, reduce it before measuring so the poëling liquor gains body without becoming watery or over-salted.
- •Serve a full-bodied dry white Burgundy. For leftovers, remove the rice from the carcass within two hours, chill poultry and stuffing in separate shallow containers, and use them within three days.
Advance Preparation
- •The Pilaff Rice (for the Stuffing of Fowls) (No. 2256) may be prepared one day ahead. Spread it in a shallow container, chill it promptly, and keep it covered in the refrigerator; do not fill the poularde until immediately before roasting.
- •The fennel can be braised up to four hours ahead. Refrigerate it in its reduced cooking liquid, then reheat gently and finish the glaze while the poularde rests.
- •The bread can be trimmed earlier in the day, but fry it shortly before serving so the cushion remains crisp beneath the bird.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 650g)
Calories
1225 calories
Total Fat
68 g
Saturated Fat
29 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
37 g
Cholesterol
300 mg
Sodium
1850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
72 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
12 g
Protein
80 g
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