Poularde Toulousaine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6-quart heavy stockpot with lid
• •3-quart heavy saucepan or saucier
• •Wide shallow poaching pan
• •Food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Two tablespoons for shaping quenelles
• •Oval heated serving platter and sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Begin the sweetbreads

   Put the sweetbreads in a bowl, cover them generously with cold water, and refrigerate for 2 hours, changing the water twice. This draws away blood that would cloud their color and taste. Keep the cocks' combs and kidneys chilled while you work; all offal remains refrigerated until its pan is ready.

   Begin the sweetbreads first, then poach the poularde while they soak. The brigade performed these jobs at once with several cooks; you perform them in sequence without adding an hour to the evening.
2. 2

   Poach the poularde

   Set the poularde breast-side up in a snug 6-quart pot. Add the stock and enough cold water to cover the bird by about 1 inch (2.5 cm), then bring the liquid up slowly. Skim carefully as the first foam rises. Add the onion, leek, celery, bouquet garni, and kosher salt, then hold the liquid between 175°F and 185°F (80°C and 85°C), with only an occasional movement at the surface. Poach for 60 to 75 minutes, until the thickest parts of both breast and thigh register at least 165°F (74°C) without touching bone. If the liquid begins to boil, pull the pot partly off the heat and add a small glass of cold water. Ça se rattrape. Lift out the bird, cover it loosely, and strain the liquid. Reserve 3½ cups (840 ml / 840 g) of the clearest liquid for the mushroom essence and sauce.

3. 3

   Prepare the offal garnish

   Drain the soaked sweetbreads and cover them with fresh cold water in a saucepan. Bring just to a simmer, blanch for 5 minutes, then transfer them to ice water. Peel away the outer membrane and any coarse tubes without tearing the lobes. Place them between two trays with a 2-pound (900 g) weight on top for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cover the prepared cocks' combs with strained poaching liquid and simmer them very gently for 35 to 45 minutes, until tender. Add the pressed sweetbreads for the final 15 minutes and the kidneys for the final 8 minutes, cooking the kidneys to 165°F (74°C). Lift each component out as it becomes tender. Boiling toughens the sweetbreads and can split the combs, so keep the surface quiet.

4. 4

   Make the chicken mousseline

   Chill the food-processor bowl and blade, and set a mixing bowl over ice. Process the cold chicken with the fine salt and white pepper until it becomes smooth and tacky. Add the egg white and process only until absorbed. With the motor running, pour in the cold cream gradually, stopping as soon as the mixture is smooth and glossy. This mousseline is a cream-lightened fine forcemeat, and cold is what holds its emulsion together. Press it through a fine sieve into the bowl over ice. If it turns grainy or greasy, stop, chill it for 15 minutes, then pulse in 1 tablespoon of cold cream. Ça se rattrape. Poach a teaspoonful as a seasoning test and correct the salt before shaping.

5. 5

   Poach the quenelles

   Heat a wide pan of strained poaching liquid to 175°F (80°C). Dip two tablespoons in hot water and use them to mould the mousseline into 12 small oval quenelles, working with about 2 tablespoons of mixture for each. Lower them into the liquid as they are shaped. Poach without boiling for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until they feel lightly springy and reach 165°F (74°C) at the center. If the first quenelle spreads, chill the mixture for 20 minutes before continuing. Lift the cooked quenelles onto a lightly buttered tray and cover them.

6. 6

   Cook the white mushrooms

   Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a shallow saucepan without coloring it. Add the mushroom heads and sliced stems, 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, and 1 cup of reserved poaching liquid. Cover the surface with a cartouche, a round of parchment laid directly over the mushrooms, and simmer gently for 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the heads as soon as they are tender and still very white. Continue cooking the stems and liquid until reduced to about ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g), then strain. This is the essence de champignons, or mushroom essence, that gives the Allemande its depth. Do not brown the mushrooms; color here is not flavor, it is a mistake.

7. 7

   Build the Allemande

   Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a 3-quart saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook this roux blanc, or white roux, over low heat for 2 minutes without allowing it to color. Whisk in the 2½ cups of hot poaching liquid a little at a time, followed by the mushroom essence. Bring to the gentlest simmer and cook for 15 minutes, whisking at first and then stirring often, until the sauce is smooth and lightly coats a spoon. Skim any foam or fat from the surface. If lumps appear, whisk firmly and pass the sauce through a fine sieve before continuing.

8. 8

   Finish the liaison

   Whisk the egg yolks with the ½ cup of cream in a heatproof bowl. Whisk in a ladleful of the hot sauce, then a second, before returning the mixture to the saucepan. This liaison, an egg-yolk-and-cream binding, gives sauce Allemande its ivory body and gloss. Stir continuously over low heat until the sauce reaches 165°F (74°C) and naps the back of a spoon, meaning it leaves a clean trail when crossed with a finger. Never let it simmer after the liaison enters. Add the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, then season with fine salt and white pepper. If the sauce begins to speckle, remove it from the heat and strain it immediately. If it separates, whisk 1 tablespoon of cold cream in a clean warm pan, then add the broken sauce gradually, a spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape.

9. 9

   Warm the garnish

   Slice the poached sweetbreads across the lobes into pieces about ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick. Warm the sweetbread slices, cocks' combs, kidneys, mushroom heads, and quenelles separately or in careful batches in a little remaining poaching liquid held below a simmer. Drain each component thoroughly. If the poularde has cooled, lower it back into hot poaching liquid for 8 to 10 minutes, keeping the liquid between 160°F and 170°F (71°C and 77°C), then drain it very well. Warm the truffle slices only for a few seconds in a spoonful of sauce Allemande; prolonged heat steals their perfume.

10. 10

    Dish in white heaps

    Set the whole poularde on a heated oval platter and snip away any trussing string. Spoon enough sauce Allemande over the bird to coat it completely, allowing a little to pool beneath. Arrange the garnish around it in distinct, generous heaps: three quenelles per guest, slices of sweetbread, the cocks' combs and kidneys, and the white mushroom heads. Lay the truffle slices among the pale garnishes as the single dark accent. Pour the remaining sauce Allemande into a warmed sauceboat and serve it separately, exactly as the source directs. Carve the bird at the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask for a plump young hen with a broad breast, ideally sold as a poularde. Technique first, always. A modest bird poached at a quiet tremble will remain finer than an expensive one rolled through a boil.
• •Cocks' combs and kidneys are the hardest errand. Order them pre-cleaned from a specialist poultry or offal supplier. If they truly cannot be found, replace their combined 6 ounces (170 g) with equal parts additional sweetbread and mushroom heads. The dish keeps its pale abundance, but the complete Toulousaine garnish has honestly changed.
• •Mousselines is the source's glossary word for forcemeat moulded in small portions. Here the chicken mousseline is shaped into twelve quenelles, three for each guest, rather than produced in brigade quantities.
• •Use a whole preserved black truffle when fresh truffle is out of season or beyond reason. Slice it thinly and skip truffle oil, which supplies aroma without the quiet earthy texture the garnish requires.
• •Keep white pepper for the sauce and mousseline. Black flecks muddy the deliberate ivory finish, while the truffle already provides all the contrast the platter needs.
• •Pour a full-bodied dry white, such as white Burgundy or mature Loire Chenin Blanc. The wine needs enough breadth for the cream, sweetbreads, and truffle without flattening the delicacy of the poached bird.

Advance Preparation

• •The sweetbreads may be soaked, blanched, peeled, pressed, and poached one day ahead. Refrigerate them covered in a little strained poaching liquid, then slice and warm them gently before serving.
• •The quenelles may be poached earlier the same day, cooled promptly, and refrigerated on a lightly buttered tray. Reheat them below a simmer so their mousseline texture stays delicate.
• •The sauce may be prepared through the roux and poaching-liquid stage several hours ahead. Cool it promptly and refrigerate it, then reheat gently and add the egg-yolk-and-cream liaison shortly before serving.
• •If the poularde is poached more than one hour ahead, cool it promptly in strained poaching liquid and refrigerate it. Reheat it gently in the same liquid, never at a boil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)