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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Pilaw de Volaille à la Turque
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1682, Pilaw de Volaille à la Turque, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Chicken warmed in butter, saffron and cayenne folded through tomatéd pilaff, then molded and turned out beneath a fine ring of tomato sauce: classical thrift made handsome for the home table.
Main Dishes
French
Weeknight
One Pot
Dinner Party
20 min
Active Time
40 min cook•1 hr total
Yield4 servings
Pilaw de Volaille à la Turque (Turkish-style chicken pilaf) teaches one true thing: once the stock reaches the rice, cover the pan and leave it alone. Stirring makes a creamy rice dish, which has its pleasures, but not here. Pilaff depends on grains that remain themselves, carrying saffron, cayenne, butter, and tomato while still settling into a cleanly turned timbale.
The old entry could say simply to proceed as for the Parisienne pilaff because its kitchen already held cooked fowl, hot stock, smooth tomato sauce, and a proper timbale mold. I have chosen the cooked-fowl variation preserved in the entry itself and scaled it to four: leftover roast or poached chicken warmed in butter, dependable chicken stock, canned tomato purée, one lidded saucepan, and an ordinary metal mixing bowl for the mold. The separate sauce station and brigade-sized timbale are scaffolding, so they go. The saffron, cayenne, tomatéd rice, butter-warmed chicken, sealed pilaff cooking, and fine thread of tomato sauce are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
When it is right, the pilaw turns out saffron-gold beneath its tomato-red surface, the chicken stays moist at the center, and the sauce gleams in a narrow ring rather than drowning the rice. The decisive step is the sealed cook: once the stock goes in, cover the pan and trust it.
Pilaw de Volaille à la Turque belongs to the Parisian classical repertoire, where cooks absorbed the eastern Mediterranean method of cooking rice in seasoned broth and organized it into composed garnishes and molded entrées. The title à la Turque is French menu language, not a claim that this chicken timbale is an Ottoman household dish; here it identifies Parisienne pilaff marked with saffron and cayenne, while the source also preserves a tomatéd form made with cooked fowl. At bourgeois tables, that molded variation turned yesterday's chicken into a generous main dish without disguising its thrift.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cooked chicken
Quantity
3 cups (710 ml / 450 g)
skin and bones removed and meat cut into thin slices
unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g)
divided
small onion
Quantity
1 small (about ½ cup / 120 ml / 80 g)
finely chopped
long-grain white rice
Quantity
1½ cups (355 ml / 300 g)
smooth canned tomato purée
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 125 g)
hot chicken stock
Quantity
2¼ cups (530 ml / 530 g)
divided
saffron threads
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.15 g)
cayenne pepper
Quantity
⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.25 g)
plain smooth tomato sauce
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 120 g)
fine salt
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g), plus more as needed
ground white pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cooked chickenskin and bones removed and meat cut into thin slices | 3 cups (710 ml / 450 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g) |
| small onionfinely chopped | 1 small (about ½ cup / 120 ml / 80 g) |
| long-grain white rice | 1½ cups (355 ml / 300 g) |
| smooth canned tomato purée | ½ cup (120 ml / 125 g) |
| hot chicken stockdivided | 2¼ cups (530 ml / 530 g) |
| saffron threads | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.15 g) |
| cayenne pepper | ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.25 g) |
| plain smooth tomato sauce | ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| fine salt | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g), plus more as needed |
| ground white pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.6 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 3-quart lidded saucepan
- •5- to 6-cup metal mixing bowl or timbale mold
- •Warm oval serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Infuse the saffron
Butter a 5- to 6-cup metal bowl or timbale mold with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Pour ¼ cup of the hot stock over the saffron and leave it for 10 minutes, until the liquid turns deep gold and smells distinctly floral. Stir in the cayenne. Keep the remaining stock hot; cold liquid would halt the rice just as its cooking begins.
Saffron needs warm liquid and a little time to give its colour evenly. Scattering dry threads into the pan leaves pale rice freckled with bitter red strands. - 2
Warm the chicken
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a heavy lidded saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced chicken with 2 tablespoons of the stock, cover, and warm gently for 3 to 4 minutes. The meat should become hot and supple without frying at the edges. If it begins to tighten or look dry, lower the heat and add another spoonful of stock. Ça se rattrape. Lift the chicken onto a warm plate and cover it.
- 3
Nacrer the rice
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same saucepan. Add the onion and cook gently for about 5 minutes, until translucent but not browned. Add the rice and nacrer it, meaning coat and heat the grains until they look pearly at their edges, for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another 2 minutes, until every grain is tomatéd, visibly rust-red and distinctly tomato-scented rather than merely stained.
- 4
Cook it sealed
Add the saffron infusion and enough hot stock to give 2 cups of liquid in total. Stir in the salt and white pepper, bring everything to a full simmer, and stir once so the rice lies evenly. Cover tightly, turn the heat to its lowest setting, and leave it undisturbed for 17 minutes. Do not lift the lid and do not stir; sealed, quiet cooking is what keeps a pilaff separate rather than pasty. Check one grain. If it is firm and the pan is dry, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of hot stock, cover, and cook 4 minutes longer. If the grain is tender but liquid remains, uncover and cook gently for 1 to 2 minutes. Both failures can be rescued.
- 5
Rest and finish
Remove the covered pan from the heat and let the rice rest for 10 minutes. Fold in 1 tablespoon of butter with a fork, lifting rather than beating so the grains stay intact. Taste and correct the seasoning. The rice should be separate yet moist enough to hold when pressed; if it seems brittle and dry, fold in a spoonful of hot stock.
- 6
Build the timbale
Pack about two-thirds of the rice across the bottom and up the sides of the buttered mold, making an even shell about ¾ inch thick. Arrange the warm chicken in the hollow, keeping it away from the outer edge, then cover it completely with the remaining rice. Press with the back of a spoon just firmly enough to close any gaps. This molding is the source's cooked-fowl variation: rice outside, butter-warmed chicken within, nothing rearranged for show.
- 7
Sauce and unmold
Let the filled mold stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, warm the tomato sauce in the emptied saucepan until it coats a spoon, then take it off the heat and swirl in the final tablespoon of butter. If it is too thick to pour in a fine line, loosen it with a teaspoon of stock; if watery, simmer it briefly before adding the butter. Invert a warmed oval platter over the mold, turn both together, and lift the mold straight up. If the pilaw clings, wrap the mold in a hot damp towel for 20 seconds and try again. If a piece breaks, press it gently back into place and carry on. Never apologize at your own table. Surround the timbale with a fine thread of tomato sauce and serve the rest separately. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The cooked-fowl route is not a concession; the source expressly allows it. Roast or gently poached chicken both work, and dark meat remains especially succulent, but breast meat is perfectly sound if you warm it gently in butter rather than frying it.
- •Use ordinary long-grain white rice. Risotto rice releases too much starch for a clean pilaff, while strongly perfumed rice changes the restrained saffron-and-tomato character set by the source.
- •Tomatéd is precise vocabulary. The tomato must give the rice a perceptible red shade and a clear flavor, but the grains must not swim in it. Smooth canned purée is the honest pantry answer and more reliable than pale fresh tomatoes.
- •A metal mixing bowl makes a better home timbale than a deep ceramic bowl because it releases heat quickly and unmolds cleanly. Butter every crease, especially the bottom edge.
- •Cool any leftover pilaw promptly in a shallow container and refrigerate it within two hours. Reheat it once, covered, with a spoonful of stock so the rice softens without becoming wet.
Advance Preparation
- •The chicken may be cooked, skinned, sliced, and refrigerated in a covered container up to two days ahead. Warm it in butter only when the rice is being prepared.
- •The smooth tomato sauce may be prepared up to three days ahead and chilled. Reheat it gently, then finish it with butter immediately before serving.
- •The timbale may be assembled up to 20 minutes before serving and held covered in a warm place. Unmold at the table only after the rice has rested long enough to hold its shape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 365g)
Calories
680 calories
Total Fat
27 g
Saturated Fat
13 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
145 mg
Sodium
980 mg
Total Carbohydrates
67 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
40 g
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