Chef Juliette
Giblet Pie
Pâté d’abatis turns modest poultry giblets into a generous supper: browned in butter, bound with a light consommé sauce, cooled completely, then sealed beneath puff pastry that rises crisp and gilded.
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Abatis aux Navets
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1652, Abatis aux Navets, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Glazed turnips, pearl onions, and tender poultry giblets settle into a pale, glossy sauce, with crisp-edged salt pork lending depth: a thrifty braise whose whole success rests on cooking the flour first.
Main Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Make Ahead
45 min
Active Time
1 hr 20 min cook•2 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
Abatis aux Navets (poultry giblets braised with turnips) teaches the difference between flour used merely to thicken and flour properly cooked into a sauce. Singer (dusting browned pieces with flour) is the hinge: the flour must spend seven or eight minutes on the hot giblets before the stock arrives, or the sauce tastes raw and sits pasty around the spoon. Learn that, and every fricassée built this way becomes calmer. C'est la même grammaire.
The original formula assumed a saucier to strain the sauce, white stock never off the fire, and enough hands to glaze two dozen turnips while the abatis cooked. Your honest equivalent is one Dutch oven, one skillet, and good unsalted chicken stock warmed in a measuring jug. The second finishing saucepan was brigade scaffolding, so the strained sauce returns to the same wiped pot. The oven stays because its even heat cooks the flour around every piece without burning the pan floor.
Perfect olive-shaped turnips were presentation work for many hands. Even oblong wedges preserve the intent because they glaze and cook at the same rate. What cannot change is the singer. Give it its full seven or eight minutes before a drop of stock enters the pot.
Abatis aux navets belongs to the Parisian cuisine bourgeoise, where poultry trimmings became a composed braise with glazed roots and a carefully strained sauce before passing into the grand-kitchen repertoire. In French kitchen vocabulary, abatis means the edible offal and small trimmings of poultry, commonly hearts, gizzards, livers, necks, and sometimes wing tips, not liver alone. The glossy turnips and onions show the journey from household thrift to formal service, but the dish's economy never disappeared.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
mixed poultry abatis, preferably hearts, gizzards, neck pieces, and livers
Quantity
1½ lb (680 g)
cleaned and cut into serving pieces, livers kept separate
unsmoked salt pork
Quantity
4 oz (115 g), prepared by Blanchings (No. 273)
cooled, dried, and cut into ½-inch (1.25 cm) dice
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g)
divided
all-purpose flour
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 35 g)
unsalted white chicken stock
Quantity
3½ cups (830 ml / 830 g), plus a little more if needed
warmed
small pearl onions
Quantity
12 (about 6 oz / 170 g)
peeled
small turnips
Quantity
½ lb (225 g)
peeled and trimmed into even oblong pieces
water
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g)
for glazing
granulated sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 4 g)
bouquet garni of parsley stems, thyme, and bay leaf
Quantity
1
garlic
Quantity
1 small clove
lightly crushed
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 6 g), plus more to taste
divided
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mixed poultry abatis, preferably hearts, gizzards, neck pieces, and liverscleaned and cut into serving pieces, livers kept separate | 1½ lb (680 g) |
| unsmoked salt porkcooled, dried, and cut into ½-inch (1.25 cm) dice | 4 oz (115 g), prepared by Blanchings (No. 273) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g) |
| all-purpose flour | ¼ cup (60 ml / 35 g) |
| unsalted white chicken stockwarmed | 3½ cups (830 ml / 830 g), plus a little more if needed |
| small pearl onionspeeled | 12 (about 6 oz / 170 g) |
| small turnipspeeled and trimmed into even oblong pieces | ½ lb (225 g) |
| waterfor glazing | ¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g) |
| granulated sugar | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 4 g) |
| bouquet garni of parsley stems, thyme, and bay leaf | 1 |
| garliclightly crushed | 1 small clove |
| fine saltdivided | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 6 g), plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •5-quart heavy Dutch oven with lid
- •10-inch wide skillet with lid
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Slotted spoon
- •Sharp paring knife
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the abatis
Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Trim away any green-stained patches, clotted blood, or tough membranes from the abatis. Halve the hearts, quarter large gizzards, and cut necks into short pieces if your butcher has not done so. Keep every liver aside because it joins the braise only for the final fifteen minutes. Pat the remaining pieces thoroughly dry and season them with the pepper and one-quarter of the salt.
A packet from one chicken will not supply enough abatis. Ask a poultry butcher for hearts, gizzards, livers, and necks by weight, and specify that you want the livers packed separately. - 2
Render the salt pork
Take the cooled salt pork prepared by Blanchings (No. 273) and dry it well. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a heavy Dutch oven over medium heat, add the diced pork, and fry until its edges are lightly golden and some fat has rendered. Lift it out with a slotted spoon and let it drain on a plate, leaving the cooking fat in the pot.
- 3
Brown the giblets
Add another tablespoon of butter if the pot looks dry. Fry the hearts, gizzards, neck pieces, and any other firm abatis in two batches, turning until they carry an even golden-brown film. Give them room. Crowding releases liquid and robs the sauce of its fond. Return all the browned pieces to the pot, but keep the livers aside.
- 4
Singer and braise
Sprinkle the flour evenly over the hot abatis and toss until every piece wears a thin coating. Put the uncovered pot in the oven for seven to eight minutes, stirring once halfway through; the flour should smell lightly toasted and lose every trace of raw chalkiness without taking dark colour. Set the pot over medium heat and pour in the warm stock by small additions, stirring constantly and scraping up the fond. Bring to a boil while stirring, then add the bouquet garni and garlic. Cover, lower the oven to 350°F (180°C), and braise for thirty-five minutes at a gentle bubble. If the sauce forms lumps, whisk the liquid around the pieces before it thickens fully; it will also be strained later. If it still tastes floury after braising, simmer the strained sauce alone for another eight to ten minutes before reassembling. Ça se rattrape.
Do not shorten the oven cooking of the flour. That interval is the dish, not professional-kitchen ceremony, and stock cannot repair flour that went into the sauce raw. - 5
Glaze the vegetables
While the abatis braises, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the pearl onions and roll them through the butter until lightly golden, then lift them out. Add the remaining butter, the turnips, water, sugar, and half the remaining salt. Cover loosely and simmer until the turnips are nearly tender, then uncover and roll them gently as the liquid reduces to a clear, buttery glaze. Stop when a knife enters with slight resistance because they will finish in the sauce. If the glaze catches before the turnips soften, add two tablespoons of water and lower the heat.
- 6
Strain and combine
After thirty-five minutes, test a gizzard with the point of a knife. It should be nearly tender; if it still resists sharply, give the abatis another ten to twenty minutes before adding the vegetables. Lift the cooked pieces into a bowl and discard the bouquet garni. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a jug, pressing gently on the garlic and aromatics, then wipe the Dutch oven and return the sauce to it. This replaces the original transfer to a second finishing saucepan while preserving the smooth sauce. Add the abatis, rendered salt pork, glazed turnips, and pearl onions.
- 7
Finish with liver
Bring everything to the barest simmer and add the reserved livers. Cook gently for fifteen minutes, turning the pieces once, until the gizzards are tender, the livers are cooked through, and the largest liver piece reaches 165°F (74°C). The sauce should nap the back of a spoon and fall from it in a glossy sheet. If it is too tight, loosen it with warm stock by the tablespoon; if it is thin, lift out the solids and reduce the sauce before returning them. Taste for salt, discard any loose herb stems, and spoon the abatis into a warm, deep serving bowl with the turnips and onions visible on top. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Technique first, always. Chicken abatis are milder and cook quickly; duck abatis taste deeper but may need the extra braising time allowed in the method. Use one kind if possible so the pieces become tender together.
- •Choose a pale, unsalted chicken stock. A dark roasted stock buries the turnips and turns this delicate flour-bound sauce into another braise entirely. Frozen homemade stock is splendid, but a good carton is an honest home equivalent to the stockpot the original kitchen kept going.
- •Small turnips should feel heavy and tight-skinned. If only large turnips are available, peel them generously because bitterness sits near the skin, then cut the flesh into equal oblong pieces. Cooking well is not cooking fancy.
- •Serve with boiled potatoes or thick country bread, something plain enough to collect the sauce. A brisk dry white such as Bourgogne Aligoté has the acidity for the pork and the earthiness for the turnips.
Advance Preparation
- •Prepare the salt pork through Blanchings (No. 273) up to one day ahead, then cool, cover, and refrigerate it. Dry and dice it just before frying.
- •For the best make-ahead result, braise and strain the firm abatis a day ahead, then chill the meat and sauce separately within two hours. Glaze the onions and turnips separately. Reheat everything gently and add the raw livers for their final fifteen-minute cooking only when you intend to serve.
- •A fully finished dish keeps for up to two days in the refrigerator. Reheat it below a boil, adding a spoonful of stock if the sauce has tightened; the liver will be firmer than when freshly cooked, but the sauce becomes rounder overnight.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 480g)
Calories
585 calories
Total Fat
44 g
Saturated Fat
18 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
25 g
Cholesterol
370 mg
Sodium
1250 mg
Total Carbohydrates
17 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
32 g
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