Suprêmes de Volaille Ambassadrice

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) ovenproof sauté pan with a tight lid
• •2-quart heavy saucepan
• •Small saucepan or sauté pan for the sweetbreads
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Parchment paper
• •Two small trays and a 2-pound (900 g) weight
• •Fine kitchen twine
• •Warm oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Blanch and press

   Submerge the lamb sweetbreads in a bowl of very cold water for 2 hours, changing the water twice, until they look clean and pale. Transfer them to a small saucepan, cover with fresh cold water, season lightly with the measured salt, and bring up slowly to the barest simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, then lift them into ice water. Peel away the outer membrane, fat, and obvious tubes while the lobes remain pliable, taking care not to tear them. Set the cleaned sweetbreads between two small trays, place a 2-pound (900 g) weight on top, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Blanching firms them enough to trim; pressing gives the neat, even pieces this garniture requires.

   If a lobe begins to crumble while you peel it, stop trimming that spot. Pressing will bring a slightly ragged piece back into shape, but overzealous peeling cannot be undone.
2. 2

   Shape the garniture

   Divide the pressed sweetbreads into 8 compact pieces. Make two narrow slits in each piece and insert a truffle baton into each slit, leaving a little black visible at the surface. Bring a narrow saucepan of salted water to a lively boil and blanch the asparagus tips for 2 to 3 minutes, just until tender when pierced but still upright. Cool them briefly in ice water, drain, and dry thoroughly. Group the tips into 8 faggots, small bundles of three, aligning their heads neatly; tie each loosely with fine kitchen twine so it holds during reheating.

3. 3

   Build sauce suprême

   Melt 2 tablespoons (28 g) of the butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook this roux blanc (white roux) for 2 minutes, stirring constantly; it should smell softly of butter and warm flour without taking even a tan edge. Gradually whisk in 2 cups (480 ml) of the chicken stock, smoothing each addition before adding the next. Simmer very gently for 15 to 20 minutes, skimming as needed, then whisk in ⅝ cup (150 ml) of the cream and simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon in an even ivory film. Strain it into a clean saucepan and cover its surface with parchment. If the stock goes in too quickly and the sauce lumps, lift it from the heat, whisk firmly, and strain it. Ça se rattrape.

   A roasted or strongly coloured stock makes a beige sauce before you have begun. Use the palest chicken stock you can find; clarity of flavour matters, but so does the visual grammar of this dish.
4. 4

   Cook sweetbreads pale

   Melt 1 tablespoon (14 g) of the butter with ¼ cup (60 ml) of the chicken stock in a small sauté pan. Add the truffle-studded sweetbreads in one layer, cover them with a parchment round and a lid, and cook over very low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, turning once, until tender and 160°F (71°C) at the centre. The liquid should barely tremble. If it evaporates and the butter begins to sizzle, add a tablespoon of the reserved stock and lower the heat immediately; ça se rattrape before colour takes hold. Keep the cooked sweetbreads covered in their pale cooking liquor.

5. 5

   Pocher à sec

   Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Pat the chicken suprêmes completely dry, season them evenly with salt and white pepper, and fold any thin tail underneath so each piece has an even thickness. Spread 2 tablespoons (28 g) of the butter over the base of a 12-inch ovenproof sauté pan, arrange the chicken presentation-side up, and rub the surface with some of the butter. Cover directly with a buttered parchment round, add the tight lid, and cook in the oven without added liquid for 22 to 30 minutes. This is pocher à sec: the chicken cooks in its own enclosed moisture while the butter protects the surface. Remove it when the thickest part reaches 160°F (71°C), then rest it covered for 5 minutes so carryover heat brings it to 165°F (74°C). The breasts should feel springy and remain uniformly pale.

   Do not raise the oven to hurry this step. A golden edge cannot be returned to white; gentle heat and the tight parchment cover are what preserve both tenderness and colour.
6. 6

   Finish every element

   Pour the clear chicken juices from the poaching pan into the sauce suprême and bring it only to a bare simmer. If it seems thin, reduce it before adding the final butter; if it is too tight, loosen it with the remaining stock. Take the sauce off the heat and whisk in 2 tablespoons (28 g) of cold butter a little at a time. If the butter floats in greasy beads, whisk in the reserved 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of cold cream until the sauce comes together again. Warm the asparagus bundles in the remaining 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter and 2 tablespoons (30 ml) stock over low heat, turning them gently without frying. Rewarm the sweetbreads in their covered pan if necessary, then remove every piece of twine from the asparagus.

7. 7

   Dress the platter

   Arrange the four suprêmes down the centre of a warm oval platter. Spoon the sauce suprême over them until every surface is coated in a smooth ivory layer, allowing a modest pool around the base. Surround the chicken with the 8 truffle-studded sweetbread pieces, alternating each one with an asparagus faggot. Do not add parsley, pastry, or an ornamental border; the black truffle, green tips, and pale sauce are the full design. Bring the remaining sauce separately and serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Order lamb sweetbreads from a butcher well ahead. Calf sweetbreads are larger and more readily found, but they change the scale and texture of the garnish; this entry specifically asks for lamb, and the distinction is not invisible.
• •Fresh black truffle is splendid when the season provides it, but a good whole preserved truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer. Drain it well and cut actual batons for studding. Truffle oil cannot perform that work.
• •Use pale, clean-tasting chicken stock, never a roasted brown stock. Sauce suprême should taste deeply of chicken and cream while remaining ivory; a dark fond breaks the intended plate before the garnish reaches it.
• •This dish needs firm asparagus tips. If the market offers only woody or tired stalks, do not disguise them in Ambassadrice. Choose Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignons for that dinner and return to this dish when asparagus is worth serving.
• •A full-bodied white Burgundy has enough breadth for the cream and sweetbreads while keeping its footing beside asparagus. Serve it cool rather than icy, and let the sauce remain the richest thing at the table.
• •Do not hold the assembled platter. Sauce suprême skins over, asparagus softens, and breast meat waits badly. Have the platter warm and the guests seated before the final butter enters the sauce.

Advance Preparation

• •The sweetbreads may be soaked, blanched, trimmed, and pressed one day ahead. Keep them covered and refrigerated under a light weight, then stud them with truffle shortly before cooking.
• •The roux-and-stock base for the sauce suprême may be prepared one day ahead, cooled promptly, and refrigerated. Reheat it gently, then add the cream, reduce, strain, and finish with butter shortly before serving.
• •The asparagus tips may be blanched up to 4 hours ahead. Dry them carefully, refrigerate them covered, and form the bundles before their final gentle reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)