Boudins de Volaille à la Richelieu

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Food processor, 7-cup capacity or larger
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Wide 4-quart saucepan for poaching
• •12-inch heavy skillet
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Parchment paper
• •Small warmed saucière

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the panada

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade while you work. Bring the milk, panada butter, and a pinch of the measured salt just to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add the flour at once and beat firmly with a wooden spoon until the panada forms a smooth ball and leaves a light film on the pan, then cook it for 2 minutes over gentle heat. Spread it about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick on a cold plate, cover its surface, and refrigerate until completely cold, about 20 minutes. Warm panada would loosen the mousseline before it ever reaches the poaching liquid.

2. 2

   Bind the salpicon

   Melt the mushroom butter over medium heat. Add the diced mushrooms and a pinch of salt, then cook until their liquid has evaporated and their edges are barely golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Cool them completely. For the reduced Allemande sauce, melt its butter in a small saucepan, stir in its flour, and cook for 2 minutes without browning. Whisk in the chicken stock and simmer until very thick. Whisk the reserved egg yolk with the Allemande cream, temper it with a spoonful of the hot sauce, then stir the liaison back into the saucepan over the lowest heat. Cook just until the sauce clings heavily to the spoon, without boiling, and season with lemon juice and a pinch each of salt and white pepper. If the yolk catches, take the pan off the heat at once, press the sauce through a fine sieve, and whisk it smooth with a teaspoon of cold stock. Ça se rattrape. Combine the cooked chicken, mushrooms, 2/3 of the diced truffle, and just enough Allemande sauce to cohere the fine dice. This sauce-bound mixture is the salpicon. Spread it on a plate, cover, and chill.

3. 3

   Make the mousseline

   Put the very cold raw chicken, cold panada, egg white, 1 teaspoon of the measured salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the white pepper, and the nutmeg in the chilled processor. Pulse until the paste is smooth, tacky, and beginning to gather around the blade. With the motor running in short bursts, add the cold cream gradually, holding back 1 tablespoon, and stop to scrape the bowl between additions. The mousseline must remain below 50°F (10°C). If it begins to look greasy or grainy, stop immediately, set the bowl over ice for 10 minutes, then pulse briefly with the held-back cream until smooth. Poach a teaspoon of the paste in barely trembling water for 2 minutes, then taste it for seasoning and check that it holds a tender, even texture. Cold is structure here. Don't shape the boudins until the test piece holds.

4. 4

   Shape the boudins

   Cut eight sheets of parchment about 6 by 8 inches (15 by 20 cm) and brush them lightly with clarified butter. Weigh the mousseline into eight 3 oz (85 g) portions, preserving the source recipe's brigade ratio at a home scale. With a damp offset spatula, spread each portion into a rectangle about 4 by 3 inches (10 by 7.5 cm) and 1/3 inch (8 mm) thick. Lay one-eighth of the cold salpicon along the centre. Use the parchment to fold the mousseline around the filling, seal the long edge completely, and roll it into a plump sausage. Smooth the ends with damp fingers. If salpicon appears through a seam, patch it with a teaspoon of mousseline and chill again. Refrigerate the shaped boudins for 20 minutes so their surfaces firm.

5. 5

   Reduce Périgueux sauce

   While the boudins chill, simmer the Madeira and shallot in a small saucepan until only about 2 tablespoons remain. Add the veal or beef stock and demi-glace concentrate, whisk smooth, and reduce at a lively simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes. Strain it into a clean saucepan, add the remaining diced truffle and the truffle juice if using, and taste before adding salt. Hold it warm. Just before serving, take it off the heat and whisk in the cold butter until the Périgueux sauce gleams. Do not boil it after the butter goes in. If the sauce separates, whisk in a teaspoon of cold stock away from the heat.

6. 6

   Poach without boiling

   Combine the poaching stock and water in a wide saucepan and bring them to 180°F to 185°F (82°C to 85°C), a bare tremble with no rolling bubbles. Unwrap four chilled boudins and lower them in with a slotted spatula. Poach for 12 to 14 minutes, turning once, until they feel evenly firm and the centre of one reaches 165°F (74°C). Repeat with the remaining four. If the liquid begins to boil and roughens their surfaces, pull the pan off the heat until it settles, then continue gently. Lift the boudins onto a wire rack and let them drain and cool for 10 minutes. The original linen absorbed surface moisture; the rack does the same work without leaving fibres behind.

7. 7

   Crumb the boudins

   Put the beaten eggs and breadcrumbs in separate shallow dishes. Pat each poached boudin dry, coat it completely in egg, then roll it in the fine crumbs, pressing only enough to make them adhere. The source uses egg and crumbs without a flour dredge, and the tender mousseline surface needs nothing more. Set the crumbed boudins on the rack and chill them for 10 minutes so the coating settles.

8. 8

   Colour in butter

   Heat half the clarified butter in a wide skillet over medium-low heat until it flows freely and shows a clear shimmer. Add four boudins and roll them gently, giving every side time against the pan, until their crumbs are evenly butter-gold and the centres are hot, 5 to 7 minutes. Repeat with the remaining butter and boudins. The heat must be gentle enough to warm the salpicon while the outside colours. If the crumbs darken too quickly, move the pan off the burner for 30 seconds and lower the heat before continuing. Drain briefly on the rack so the crust stays crisp.

9. 9

   Serve sauce apart

   Arrange the boudins in a ring on a warmed oval platter. The folded napkin of the brigade presentation was service scaffolding for absorbing butter; the rack has already done that work. Pour the glossy Périgueux sauce into a warmed saucière and serve it separately, as the source directs, so each guest can spoon it beside the boudin without softening the crumb. One cook, one stove, one evening. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A whole preserved black truffle in its own juice is the classical pantry's honest answer when fresh truffle is unavailable. Drain it well, save the juice for the Périgueux sauce, and dice it finely. Truffle oil is not an equivalent; it overwhelms the mousseline and does not belong here.
• •The test quenelle is your insurance. It tells you whether the mousseline holds and whether its seasoning survives poaching before you have committed all eight boudins. If it feels soft while warm, chill the paste before changing its proportions.
• •Use fine fresh crumbs from day-old white bread, pulsed and sieved. Coarse dry crumbs make a heavy shell, while these boudins need a close, delicate coating that colours at the same pace as the centre warms.
• •Serve a supple red Burgundy or a cru Beaujolais. The wine needs enough freshness for the mousseline and enough earthiness to sit beside truffle and the Madeira-dark Périgueux sauce.
• •The Périgueux sauce stays apart for a reason. Spoon it beside each boudin at the table, not over the platter, and the butter-gold coating remains crisp under the fork.

Advance Preparation

• •The panada, reduced Allemande sauce, and salpicon may be prepared one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Press covering directly against their surfaces and keep them thoroughly cold.
• •The boudins may be shaped and poached one day ahead. Chill them promptly on the rack, cover, and refrigerate unbreaded. Rewarm them gently in 180°F (82°C) stock until their centres reach 165°F (74°C), dry them thoroughly, then apply the egg and crumbs.
• •The Madeira, stock, and demi-glace base for the Périgueux sauce may be reduced several hours ahead. Reheat it gently, then add the truffle and whisk in the cold butter immediately before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 365g)