Poularde à la Saint-Cyr

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Deep 11-inch (28 cm) square serving dish
• •3-cup (750 ml) oval bowl or mold
• •Food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Wire rack set over a rimmed tray
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Shallow metal tray large enough to hold the serving dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pullet

   Remove the thoroughly cooled pullet from its cooking liquor after completing Poëlings (No. 250) with white wine. Strain and reserve 1 cup (240 ml) of the liquor. Lift both breast fillets cleanly from the bird, remove the skin, and cut the meat across the grain into regular slices about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick. Lay them flat, cover, and return them to the cold. Reserve the legs and remaining chicken for another meal.

2. 2

   Make the chicken jelly

   Pour ¾ cup (180 ml) of the cold chicken stock into a bowl and scatter the gelatin evenly over it. Leave it until fully swollen, about 10 minutes. Bring the remaining stock just to a simmer, remove it from the heat, and whisk in the bloomed gelatin until perfectly dissolved. Season lightly with some of the salt, white pepper, and lemon juice, remembering that cold dulls seasoning. Strain through a fine sieve. Reserve three separate ½-cup (120 ml) portions for the mousse and two sauces; keep the remainder fluid but cool for surrounding the finished dish.

   Chill a spoonful for five minutes before proceeding. It should set firmly enough to cut yet melt cleanly on the tongue. If it slumps, remelt the jelly and add a little more bloomed gelatin. Ça se rattrape.
3. 3

   Sauté the quail

   Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a wide sauté pan over medium heat. Add the prepared Mirepoix (No. 228) and cook until fragrant and lightly colored, then nestle in the quail. Sauté them, cooking briskly in the butter and turning often, until evenly bronzed and cooked through, about 12 minutes; the thickest part should reach 165°F (74°C). Lift out the birds and cool them promptly. Strain and reserve the buttery cooking juices, pressing gently on the Mirepoix, but leave the preparation itself whole in its own referenced method.

4. 4

   Divide the game

   Remove both breast fillets from 2 quail, keeping the 4 small fillets whole and regular for the central decoration. Pick every scrap of meat from the remaining 4 quail, taking particular care with the fine rib and leg bones. You should have about 1 packed cup (220 to 250 g) of cooked game meat. Chill the reserved breast fillets while preparing the mousse.

5. 5

   Build the mousse

   Process the picked quail meat with the chilled foie gras until finely puréed. With the machine running, add ½ cup (120 ml) of the melted chicken jelly, then ½ cup (120 ml) of the cold cream in a thin stream. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, season with salt and white pepper, and taste a spoonful after chilling it briefly. If the mousse turns oily because the foie gras became warm, scrape it into a bowl set over ice and fold in 1 tablespoon of the remaining cold cream. Ça se rattrape. It should be smooth, rich, and firm enough to mound.

6. 6

   Shape the body

   Line a 3-cup (750 ml) oval bowl with food-safe film, smoothing out the largest creases. Pack in the mousse, pressing firmly enough to remove air pockets, and round the exposed surface into a shallow dome. Cover and chill until completely set, 60 to 90 minutes. This oval mold replaces reconstruction upon the bird's carcass: the silhouette stays, while fragile bones and difficult carving leave the table.

7. 7

   Cook white chaud-froid

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan, whisk in 3 tablespoons of the flour, and cook the blond roux gently for 2 minutes without coloring it. Gradually whisk in the reserved pullet cooking liquor and simmer for 5 minutes, until smooth and lightly thickened. Add ⅓ cup (80 ml) of the cream, simmer for another minute, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk in ½ cup (120 ml) of melted chicken jelly. Season with lemon juice, salt, and white pepper, then strain. Cool over a bowl of ice, stirring, until the sauce coats a spoon in an even ivory layer.

8. 8

   Mask the chicken

   Arrange the cold chicken slices on a wire rack over a tray. Spoon the barely fluid white chaud-froid over each slice so it coats the top and sides without a thick ridge, then chill until set. Apply a second thin coat only where the chicken shows through. If the sauce runs bare, collect it from the tray and cool it further; if it drags, warm the bowl briefly over tepid water. Never force a sauce at the wrong temperature.

9. 9

   Cook brown chaud-froid

   Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan and whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Cook until the roux takes a clear hazelnut color. Gradually add the brown stock and the strained quail cooking juices, then simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Remove it from the heat, whisk in the remaining ½ cup (120 ml) melted chicken jelly, season, and strain. Stir over ice until barely fluid and glossy.

10. 10

    Coat the game

    Unmold the set mousse onto a wire rack and remove the film. Mask the entire dome with brown chaud-froid, working from the top so the sauce falls evenly over the sides. Coat the 4 reserved quail breast fillets separately. Cut the hard-boiled egg whites into small diamonds and set a few into the tacky brown coating on each fillet. Chill everything until firm. If the coating lifts when touched, smooth a spoonful of rewarmed sauce over the bare place and chill again.

11. 11

    Reconstruct the pullet

    Transfer the brown-coated mousse dome to the center of a chilled, deep square serving dish. Arrange the white chaud-froid chicken slices in overlapping rows along both sides, following the curve of the dome. Lay the brown quail fillets down the middle so they overlap slightly from end to end. Keep the arrangement generous and readable: ivory chicken, brown game, clear jelly.

12. 12

    Set the jelly

    Cool the remaining chicken jelly until syrupy but still pourable. Pour a shallow layer around the reconstructed pullet without washing it over the coated pieces, then chill until set. Add a second layer until the jelly rises about ¼ inch (6 mm) around the arrangement. If the jelly begins softening a coating, stop immediately and chill both dish and jelly for 10 minutes before continuing.

13. 13

    Serve over ice

    Fill a shallow metal tray with the crushed ice and nestle the serving dish securely into it. Bring the Poularde à la Saint-Cyr to the table thoroughly cold, with a broad serving knife and spoon. The ice block was service scaffolding; this steady chilled bed does the same work without turning dinner into masonry. Keep the dish cold and return leftovers to the refrigerator within 2 hours. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The source dish calls for larks, but wild larks are neither legal nor responsibly obtainable in many home markets. Farmed quail is the honest equivalent: small, dark-flavored, and delicate enough to supply both neat fillets and the game mousse. The substitution changes the species, not the architecture or purpose of the dish.
• •Test the chicken jelly before committing the dish to it. A teaspoon chilled on a cold saucer should set promptly and hold a clean edge; this tiny test prevents an expensive puddle later.
• •Cooked foie gras terrine or bloc is preferable here to raw foie gras. It folds smoothly into the already cooked game, brings the source recipe's richness, and removes a separate cooking task that a brigade could assign to another pair of hands.
• •Serve with toasted brioche and a dry Champagne or a full white Burgundy. Avoid a sweet accompaniment, which obscures the distinction between the pale chicken, dark game, and savory jelly.
• •Butter, not margarine. The roux, the sauté, and the final texture depend upon it, and we don't apologize for butter.

Advance Preparation

• •The pullet prepared through Poëlings (No. 250), its strained cooking liquor, and the Mirepoix (No. 228) can be ready the day before. Cool the pullet promptly in its liquor, then refrigerate it covered.
• •The chicken jelly and quail mousse can be made a day ahead. Keep the jelly covered and chilled, then remelt it gently without boiling when the sauces and final surround are needed.
• •The entire dish may be assembled up to 8 hours before dinner. Cover without letting the wrapping touch the coatings, refrigerate, and place it over crushed ice only when it goes to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 680g)