Quenelles de Volaille Morland

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •9 to 10-inch (23 to 25 cm) lidded straight-sided sauté pan
• •Blender or immersion blender
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Two large shaping spoons

Instructions

1. 1

   Clarify the butter

   If the clarified butter isn't already prepared, melt the 1 1/2 pounds (680 g) unsalted butter slowly in a narrow saucepan without stirring. Skim away the foam, let the milk solids settle, then pour the clear golden fat through a fine-mesh sieve, leaving the cloudy liquid behind. Measure 2 1/2 cups (600 ml / 545 g). Clarifying removes the milk solids and water that would brown, sputter, and turn this gentle poach into frying.

2. 2

   Make mushroom purée

   Melt the 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) butter over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook without colouring until softened, then add the mushrooms and 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g) salt. Cook until the mushrooms surrender their liquid, the liquid evaporates completely, and the pan begins to sound quiet again. Add the 1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g) cream and simmer gently until reduced by about one-third. Cool for five minutes, then blend until perfectly smooth, venting the blender lid safely. Season with white pepper and keep covered. If the purée runs, return it to the pan and reduce it; if it stands too stiffly, loosen it with a spoonful of cream.

3. 3

   Build cold mousseline

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade for fifteen minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of the cold cream. Put the cold chicken, 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 6 g) salt, and white pepper in the processor, then pulse until the meat becomes a smooth, tacky paste, scraping the bowl often. Add the cold egg white and process just until absorbed. With the motor running, pour the remaining 5/8 cup (150 ml / 150 g) cream through the feed tube in a thin, steady thread. Stop as soon as the mousseline is satin-smooth and cohesive. If it warms above 45°F (7°C), loosens suddenly, or develops oily beads around the edge, stop immediately. Nest the bowl over ice until thoroughly cold, then pulse briefly with 1 tablespoon of the reserved cream until the emulsion closes again. Ça se rattrape, but only if you stop the machine before heat finishes the damage.

   A smaller processor bowl keeps this home-scale quantity against the blade. In a very large machine, stop often and scrape the mixture down rather than running the motor long enough to warm it.
4. 4

   Test and shape

   Warm a teaspoon of the measured clarified butter in a small covered pan over low heat. Cook a teaspoon of mousseline until completely opaque, then taste it. It should be tender, springy, and fine-grained. If it feels dense, pulse in the remaining reserved cream; if the raw mixture is too soft to hold an oval, chill it for fifteen minutes rather than adding starch. Weigh four portions of exactly 3 ounces (85 g), preserving the source's portion, and mould each between two large spoons into a firm, smooth oval. Set them on parchment and chill for twenty minutes. The small amount left in the processor accounts for the test and what clings to the bowl.

   The test quenelle replaces the trained touch of the garde-manger. It is useful scaffolding because it lets you correct seasoning and texture before all four portions meet the butter.
5. 5

   Press on truffle

   Spread the finely minced truffle in a shallow tray and put the beaten eggs in a second shallow dish. Dip each cold quenelle completely in egg, let the excess fall away for a moment, then roll it in the truffle. Lay the flat side of a clean knife blade lightly against the coating, pressing all around so the truffle combines with the egg exactly as the source directs. The pressure should secure the truffle without flattening the oval. Touch any bare patch with egg, add more truffle, and press again.

6. 6

   Poach under cover

   Warm the clarified butter in the smallest lidded sauté pan that will hold all four quenelles without touching. Bring it to 175 to 180°F (79 to 82°C), with no sizzling. Lower in the quenelles; the butter should reach at least halfway up their sides. Spoon butter over the tops, cover, and poach over very low heat for sixteen to twenty minutes, basting once after eight minutes, until the quenelles feel gently springy and their centres reach 165°F (74°C). If the butter begins to sizzle or truffle starts floating away, lift the pan off the heat for a minute, lower the burner, and resume; spoon any loose truffle back over the tops while basting. Frying hardens the outside before the poultry is safely cooked through.

7. 7

   Dish in a circle

   Reheat the mushroom purée gently without boiling and warm a round serving platter. Lift the quenelles from the butter with a slotted spoon and let them drain briefly on a rack. Arrange the four ovals in a circle, then pour the warm mushroom purée into the middle, preserving the service of the original entry. Bring the platter directly to the table while the truffle coating gleams with clarified butter. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Fresh black truffle gives the clearest perfume, but a whole preserved truffle, drained and blotted thoroughly before mincing, is the classical pantry's honest answer outside the season. Truffle oil cannot supply the coating or texture the entry requires.
• •Technique first. A modest chicken breast makes a splendid mousseline if it is lean, thoroughly trimmed, and kept cold; a costly bird won't rescue an emulsion warmed by an overworked processor.
• •Use true unsalted clarified butter. Ordinary butter still contains water and milk solids, which sputter and brown during the covered poach. This dish wants clean butter fat and gentle heat.
• •Serve with a dry white Burgundy or a mature Champagne, both of which have enough body for the cream, mushrooms, and truffle without drowning the delicate chicken.

Advance Preparation

• •Clarified butter can be prepared up to five days ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Melt it gently before measuring it into the poaching pan.
• •The mushroom purée can be made one day ahead. Chill it promptly, then reheat over low heat with a spoonful of cream if it has tightened.
• •The quenelles may be shaped and coated up to four hours before cooking. Keep them covered and thoroughly chilled, then poach directly from the cold.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 235g)