Chef Juliette
Abatis aux Navets
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.
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Mousselines de Volaille à l’Indienne
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1672, Mousselines de Volaille à l’Indienne, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Four silken chicken mousselines, gently poached and ringed beneath Sauce Indienne, teach the discipline of a cold forcemeat and quiet water, with a separate timbale of buttered rice.
Main Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Comfort Food
35 min
Active Time
55 min cook•1 hr 30 min total
Yield4 servings
Mousselines de Volaille à l’Indienne (delicate poached chicken molds with curry sauce) teaches the canon’s quietest discipline: the poaching water must barely tremble. Let it boil and the fine forcemeat tightens, pushes out its cream, and loses the tenderness that justifies all the sieving. Gentle heat is not ceremony here. It is the dish.
The brigade entry assumed a saucier on staff, white stock never off the fire, ranks of metal molds, and a salamander ready for browned finishes, although this pale dish never goes beneath it. At home, a food processor replaces the mortar, one fine sieve replaces repeated passing, a roasting tin becomes the poaching bath, and an ordinary bowl shapes the separate timbale of rice. The station work and repeated pounding are scaffolding and can go. The cold forcemeat, real cream and butter, circular arrangement, Sauce Indienne, rice served apart, and quiet poach must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The reward is four pale, silken Mousselines under an ochre sauce whose curry warms rather than bullies the chicken, with loose buttered rice waiting on its own dish. Keep the mixture cold while you work, then watch the water, not the clock. The bare tremble is the one step that decides the plate.
Mousselines de volaille belong to Parisian grand cuisine, where poultry forcemeat was pounded, sieved, enriched with cream, and poached in individual molds for precise service. The label à l’Indienne is French classical shorthand for curry seasoning, not a claim to reproduce an Indian dish; serving plain rice apart shows how imported spice entered the French sauce system while the method remained entirely French. The small mold was practical as well as graceful, giving each diner a tender portion that could be coated without breaking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
boneless, skinless chicken breast
Quantity
About 2¾ cups (660 ml / 450 g / 1 lb)
trimmed of all sinew and cut into 2.5 cm pieces
fine sea salt for the Mousselines
Quantity
1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g)
ground white pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g)
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.1 g)
large egg whites
Quantity
2 large (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 g)
very cold heavy cream for the Mousselines
Quantity
1 to 1¼ cups (240 to 300 ml / 240 to 300 g)
softened unsalted butter for the molds
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g)
unsalted butter for the Sauce Indienne
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
small yellow onion
Quantity
1 small, about ¾ cup sliced (180 ml / 120 g)
thinly sliced
small tart apple
Quantity
1 small, about ½ cup diced (120 ml / 75 g)
peeled, cored, and diced
fragrant medium curry powder
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 8 g)
all-purpose flour
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 16 g)
unsalted chicken stock
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / 480 g)
divided
bouquet garni
Quantity
1
1 bay leaf, 2 thyme sprigs, and 4 parsley stems
heavy cream for the Sauce Indienne
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 120 g)
divided
fresh lemon juice
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 10 g)
fine sea salt for the sauce
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g)
long-grain white rice
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 200 g)
water for cooking the rice
Quantity
6 cups (1.44 L / 1.44 kg)
fine sea salt for the rice water
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
unsalted butter for the rice and timbale mold
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
hot water for testing and the bain-marie
Quantity
8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| boneless, skinless chicken breasttrimmed of all sinew and cut into 2.5 cm pieces | About 2¾ cups (660 ml / 450 g / 1 lb) |
| fine sea salt for the Mousselines | 1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g) |
| ground white pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g) |
| freshly grated nutmeg | ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.1 g) |
| large egg whites | 2 large (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 g) |
| very cold heavy cream for the Mousselines | 1 to 1¼ cups (240 to 300 ml / 240 to 300 g) |
| softened unsalted butter for the molds | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) |
| unsalted butter for the Sauce Indienne | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) |
| small yellow onionthinly sliced | 1 small, about ¾ cup sliced (180 ml / 120 g) |
| small tart applepeeled, cored, and diced | 1 small, about ½ cup diced (120 ml / 75 g) |
| fragrant medium curry powder | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 8 g) |
| all-purpose flour | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 16 g) |
| unsalted chicken stockdivided | 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) |
| bouquet garni1 bay leaf, 2 thyme sprigs, and 4 parsley stems | 1 |
| heavy cream for the Sauce Indiennedivided | ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| fresh lemon juice | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 10 g) |
| fine sea salt for the sauce | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) |
| long-grain white rice | 1 cup (240 ml / 200 g) |
| water for cooking the rice | 6 cups (1.44 L / 1.44 kg) |
| fine sea salt for the rice water | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| unsalted butter for the rice and timbale mold | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| hot water for testing and the bain-marie | 8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg) |
Equipment Needed
- •Food processor with at least a 7-cup capacity
- •Fine-mesh sieve and flexible bowl scraper
- •Immersion blender
- •Four 6-ounce (180 ml) dariole molds or straight-sided ramekins
- •Deep roasting tin and folded kitchen towel for the bain-marie
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •2½ to 3-cup (600 to 700 ml) bowl for the rice timbale
- •Warm round serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Build Sauce Indienne
Place the food-processor bowl, blade, and a medium metal bowl in the refrigerator before starting the sauce. Melt the sauce butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, apple, and sauce salt, then cook for 7 to 8 minutes without browning, until both are completely soft. Stir in the curry powder for 30 seconds, just until fragrant, then add the flour and cook the roux, the butter-and-flour thickener, for 2 minutes. Whisk in 1¾ cups (420 ml) of the chicken stock in three additions, scraping the corners after each one. Add the bouquet garni and hold the sauce at a gentle simmer for 12 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni, blend until smooth, and press the sauce through a fine sieve. Cover and set aside. Reserve the remaining stock for adjusting the finished sauce.
- 2
Set the poach
Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Butter four 6-ounce (180 ml) dariole molds or straight-sided ramekins generously, reaching into every corner. Lay a folded kitchen towel in a deep roasting tin and stand the molds on it; the towel prevents rattling and softens the direct heat. Bring the bain-marie water close to a simmer, but do not let it boil.
- 3
Make the farce mousseline
For the farce mousseline, the cream-enriched forcemeat, put the cold chicken, salt, white pepper, and nutmeg in the chilled processor. Process until the meat forms a smooth, sticky paste that clings to the blade, stopping once to scrape down the bowl. Add the egg whites one at a time, processing only until each disappears. With the motor running, pour in 1 cup (240 ml) of the cold cream in a thin stream. Stop as soon as the mixture is glossy, thick, and able to hold a soft peak. If it turns slick or grainy, the emulsion has become warm. Stop, refrigerate it for 10 minutes, then pulse briefly until homogeneous before adding more cream. Ça se rattrape. Flour or breadcrumbs would only hide the break and change the dish.
Coldness matters more than speed. If the processor bowl no longer feels cold beneath your palm, stop and chill the mixture before continuing. - 4
Test and mold
Scrape the forcemeat through the clean fine sieve into the chilled metal bowl, pressing firmly with a flexible scraper and discarding any sinew left behind. Bring a small saucepan of water to a bare tremble and poach a teaspoon of the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes. Taste it. The sample should hold together yet yield softly under the tongue. If it feels firm or springy, fold in the remaining cold cream one tablespoon at a time and test again. If its edges fray in the water, chill the mixture for 10 minutes and pulse it briefly until tacky. Divide it among the four buttered molds, tap each mold once against a folded towel to settle hidden air pockets, and smooth the tops.
- 5
Poach in bain-marie
Cover each mold loosely with a small round of parchment. Pour the hot water into the roasting tin until it reaches halfway up the molds, forming the bain-marie, or water bath. Transfer it carefully to the oven and poach for 24 to 30 minutes. The water should barely tremble, with only an occasional small bubble at the edge. If it becomes lively or the Mousselines begin to dome, pull the pan partly from the oven, add a glass of cool water to the bath, and lower the oven to 300°F (150°C). They are ready when the centers feel gently resilient and reach 165°F (74°C). Lift the molds from the water and let them stand for 2 minutes.
- 6
Prepare rice à l’Indienne
As soon as the Mousselines enter the oven, rinse the rice until the water runs nearly clear. Bring the measured rice water and salt to a full boil, rain in the rice, and stir once. Cook uncovered at a steady but controlled boil for 11 to 14 minutes, until the grains are tender but still distinct. Drain thoroughly, return the rice to the dry saucepan, and toss it over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes so excess moisture escapes. Fold in 1½ tablespoons (21 g) of the butter without crushing the grains. Use the remaining butter to coat a 2½ to 3-cup (600 to 700 ml) bowl, pack in the rice gently, cover, and keep warm. Rice à l’Indienne stays plain and separate because the Sauce Indienne carries the spice.
- 7
Finish sauce and serve
Return the Sauce Indienne to gentle heat and whisk in 6 tablespoons (90 ml) of its cream. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until nappé, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon while still flowing freely. Remove it from the heat and add the lemon juice. If the sauce is too tight, loosen it with the reserved stock one tablespoon at a time; if thin, simmer it a little longer. If it looks grainy, take it off the heat and whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of cold cream, then strain it once more. Run a thin knife around each mold and invert the four Mousselines onto a warmed round platter, arranging them in a circle exactly as the dish requires. Coat them generously with Sauce Indienne. Invert the timbale of rice onto a separate warm dish, never into the center of the platter, and bring both to the table at once. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Chicken breast is right here. Its lean, pale flesh accepts the cream cleanly and gives the Mousselines their fine color; thigh meat makes a darker, heavier forcemeat. Buy the best chicken you comfortably can, then trim every thread of sinew before processing.
- •Use curry powder that still smells vividly of coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, and warm spice when the tin opens. The Sauce Indienne should be fragrant rather than chilli-led, and the powder must bloom briefly in butter before the flour goes in.
- •A good unsalted carton stock is the honest home equivalent of the brigade’s permanent stockpot. If yours tastes watery, reduce 3 cups (720 ml) to the 2 cups (480 ml) required before measuring it into the recipe.
- •Metal dariole molds conduct heat quickly and give the cleanest shape. Straight-sided ceramic ramekins work perfectly well, but allow another 3 to 5 minutes and trust the thermometer rather than the clock.
- •Serve an off-dry Vouvray or a rounded white Burgundy. The wine needs enough body for the cream and enough freshness to meet the curry without turning sharp.
Advance Preparation
- •The Sauce Indienne may be prepared through straining up to 24 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate it, then reheat gently and add the cream and lemon only at the finish.
- •The farce mousseline may be made, tested, and portioned into its buttered molds up to 4 hours ahead. Cover closely and refrigerate; take the molds directly from the cold to the bain-marie and allow a few extra minutes.
- •Cook the rice during the final half-hour. Long holding swells the grains and spoils the loose texture that distinguishes rice à l’Indienne.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 520g)
Calories
860 calories
Total Fat
56 g
Saturated Fat
34 g
Trans Fat
2 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
240 mg
Sodium
1290 mg
Total Carbohydrates
54 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
36 g
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