Foies de Volaille et Rognons Sautés au Vin Rouge

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) stainless-steel sauté pan
• •Small heavy saucepan for concentrating the meat glaze
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Wooden spoon or flat-edged spatula
• •Whisk
• •Warm shallow serving dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Set the method

   Use Rognons Sautés au Champagne (No. 1333) as the governing procedural template, replacing its Champagne with the measured red wine while preserving the quick sauté, near-dry reduction, meat glaze, and butter finish. Gratins (No. 268) remains the source entry's related preparation, but it is not applied here. This dish is a sauté, not a gratin.

   Set every measured ingredient beside the stove before heating the skillet. Once the offal begins cooking, there is no useful pause.
2. 2

   Prepare the glaze

   If the meat glaze is already concentrated, warm it just until fluid and measure 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 35 g). If beginning with gelatin-rich unsalted stock, boil ½ cup until only 2 tablespoons remain and the liquid coats a cold spoon with a sticky gloss. This is the honest home equivalent of the stockpot that never went cold. Avoid salty, flour-thickened gravy concentrates, which become harsh when reduced.

3. 3

   Trim and dry

   Remove any green-stained patches, tough veins, and loose connective tissue from the chicken livers, then slice them evenly. Trim the fine outer membrane and attached tissue from the cocks' kidneys, halving any large ones so the two kinds of offal cook at the same pace. Pat everything very dry and keep it cold until the skillet is ready. Wet offal releases liquid, and liquid prevents the hard, bronzed sauté this dish requires.

4. 4

   Sauté in batches

   Warm a serving dish. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a wide stainless-steel skillet over medium-high heat until the foam subsides and the butter turns hazelnut-gold. Season half the offal immediately before it enters the pan, then lay it in one uncrowded layer. Sauté without disturbing until the first side is deeply bronzed, turn, and cook the second side until the thickest pieces reach 165°F (74°C). Transfer them to the warm dish and repeat with the remaining offal and 2 more tablespoons butter. If the butter blackens, stop and wipe out the bitter solids before continuing with fresh butter. Ça se rattrape. Do not scrape away a brown, unburnt fond, because that is the sauce's foundation.

   A 12-inch skillet is the minimum useful size. If the pieces touch tightly, cook three batches rather than forcing two.
5. 5

   Déglacer with wine

   Pour off any excess fat while leaving the brown fond in the skillet. Add the red wine and déglacer, dissolving every caramelized trace with a wooden spoon. Boil briskly until the wine is reduced almost entirely and only about 2 tablespoons of dark, syrupy liquid glaze the pan. The sharp alcoholic smell should be gone. If the reduction remains thin, keep boiling. If it goes dry but has not scorched, add 1 tablespoon cold water and dissolve it again. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Add the meat glaze

   Lower the heat and stir in the melted meat glaze. Simmer for 30 to 60 seconds, just until the sauce looks wine-dark, concentrated, and able to coat the back of a spoon. Taste before adding more salt, because meat glaze concentrates seasoning fiercely. If the sauce becomes too tight, loosen it with cold water a teaspoon at a time. It should cling, not sit like paste.

7. 7

   Monter au beurre

   Remove the skillet completely from the heat. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter into small pieces and whisk them in one at a time until the sauce becomes smooth and glossy. This is monter au beurre, and the pan must stay away from the flame or the emulsion will split. If beads of butter appear, whisk 1 teaspoon cold water in a clean bowl, then add the broken sauce gradually. Ça se rattrape.

8. 8

   Coat and serve

   Return the sautéed livers and cocks' kidneys to the skillet off the heat and turn them through the sauce only until evenly coated. Do not simmer them again, or the liver becomes chalky and the kidneys firm. Transfer everything to the warmed dish, spoon over every streak of sauce, and serve at once with mashed potatoes or bread ready to catch it. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask a poultry farmer or specialist butcher for rognons de coq, the small oval rooster glands traditionally called cocks' kidneys. Chicken hearts are muscular and chewy, so they are not an invisible substitute. If the rognons cannot be found, double the liver and call the result Foies de Volaille Sautés au Vin Rouge honestly.
• •Choose a dry red wine with lively acidity and modest tannin. Heavy oak and dense tannin turn bitter when reduced nearly to dryness. The wine need not be costly, but it must taste good before it reaches the pan.
• •Use stainless steel or seasoned cast iron, not nonstick. The browned film on the pan floor is the fond, and without it the sauce has color but little depth.
• •Serve with purée de pommes de terre, plain buttered noodles, or a crusty baguette. The sauce is concentrated, so the accompaniment should be quiet and generous.
• •This sauté is best eaten immediately. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and use them within two days, reheating gently just until they reach 165°F (74°C); the flavor remains good, though the liver will be firmer.

Advance Preparation

• •The meat glaze can be prepared up to three days ahead and refrigerated, or frozen in tablespoon portions for up to three months.
• •Trim the livers and cocks' kidneys up to four hours ahead, cover them closely, and keep them refrigerated. Slice and dry them shortly before cooking so their surfaces do not oxidize or become wet.
• •Measure the wine, glaze, seasonings, and finishing butter before heating the skillet. Do not sauté the offal in advance; reheating is exactly what turns delicate liver dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 165g)