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Dindonneau à la Catalane
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1717, Dindonneau à la Catalane, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Dindonneau à la Catalane gathers browned turkey, white wine, tomato, chestnuts, glazed onions, mushrooms, and little sausages into one glossy southern braise, with every garnish cooked just enough to keep its own character.
Main Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
Holiday
40 min
Active Time
1 hr 40 min cook•2 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Dindonneau à la Catalane (young turkey in the Catalan manner) teaches one crucial order of operations: brown the bird, then reduce the white wine completely before adding the sauce. Leave the wine loose and the finished braise tastes thin and sharp; boil it down against the fond and it becomes the bright backbone beneath the tomato, chestnuts, onions, mushrooms, and sausages.
The original assumed a whole young turkey cut by a brigade, a saucier with Sauce Espagnole and brown stock always ready, and enough hands to tend three garnishes while the bird cooked. For four, I halve the garnish count, ask the butcher to cut half a young turkey into neat fricassée pieces, and use prepared Sauce Espagnole and good brown stock. Peeled cooked chestnuts are warmed in consommé instead of being peeled at the stove, and the final cooking happens in a deep ovenproof serving dish. Formal reshaping and another transfer are brigade scaffolding; the hard browning, complete wine reduction, smooth strained sauce, and separately cooked garnishes are the dish, so they stay.
What reaches the table is generous and deeply colored: bronze turkey in a glossy tomato-brown sauce, chestnuts soft but whole, little onions shining, mushrooms browned at their edges, and sausages carrying the sauce into every bite. One cook, one stove, one evening. Before you touch the pan, remember the step that decides everything: reduce the wine until only a sticky, fragrant glaze remains.
Dindonneau à la Catalane belongs to the French classical vocabulary of à la Catalane, a designation pointing toward Roussillon and French Catalonia through tomato, garlic, chestnuts, onions, and sausage. It is not a claim that every Catalan household cooked turkey by this exact formula; the composed garnish is the grand kitchen's translation of a southern border larder, with each element prepared separately before meeting in a smooth brown sauce. In the canon, Catalane names this particular garnish and tomato-garlic profile, not a vague Provençal identity.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
butcher-cut half young turkey
Quantity
1, about 4 lb (1.8 kg)
divided into 6 bone-in fricassée pieces
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
divided
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml / 1.5 g)
divided
unsalted butter
Quantity
5 tablespoons (75 ml / 70 g)
divided
dry white wine
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 240 g)
garlic
Quantity
1 pea-size piece, about ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.5 g)
crushed
tomato purée
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 245 g)
prepared Sauce Espagnole
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 250 g)
unsalted brown turkey or chicken stock
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g)
divided
button mushrooms
Quantity
4 ounces (115 g)
quartered
peeled cooked chestnuts
Quantity
10, about 5 ounces (140 g)
prepared chicken consommé
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 240 g)
pearl onions
Quantity
10, about 5 ounces (140 g)
peeled
granulated sugar
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2 g)
ripe plum tomatoes
Quantity
3 small, about 9 ounces (255 g)
quartered
small fresh pork chipolatas
Quantity
5, about 8 ounces (225 g) total
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| butcher-cut half young turkeydivided into 6 bone-in fricassée pieces | 1, about 4 lb (1.8 kg) |
| fine sea saltdivided | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| freshly ground black pepperdivided | ¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml / 1.5 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 5 tablespoons (75 ml / 70 g) |
| dry white wine | 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) |
| garliccrushed | 1 pea-size piece, about ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.5 g) |
| tomato purée | 1 cup (240 ml / 245 g) |
| prepared Sauce Espagnole | 1 cup (240 ml / 250 g) |
| unsalted brown turkey or chicken stockdivided | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g) |
| button mushroomsquartered | 4 ounces (115 g) |
| peeled cooked chestnuts | 10, about 5 ounces (140 g) |
| prepared chicken consommé | 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) |
| pearl onionspeeled | 10, about 5 ounces (140 g) |
| granulated sugar | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2 g) |
| ripe plum tomatoesquartered | 3 small, about 9 ounces (255 g) |
| small fresh pork chipolatas | 5, about 8 ounces (225 g) total |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 5-quart cocotte or Dutch oven
- •Deep 3-quart ovenproof serving dish
- •Wide sauté pan
- •Small saucepan with lid
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the bird
Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Pat the turkey pieces thoroughly dry, then season them on every side with 1½ teaspoons of the salt and ½ teaspoon of the pepper. Set out the sauce components and prepare all the garnishes before browning begins; once the wine reaches the pan, the work should move without a long pause.
Ask the butcher for clean, compact fricassée pieces with no splintered bone. Neat cutting replaces most of the formal trimming the original kitchen performed after the first cooking. - 2
Sauté the turkey
Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy cocotte over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, sauté the turkey, cooking it quickly in the hot butter in two batches so the pan never crowds. Brown every piece to a deep, even bronze, giving the skin side the longest contact with the pan, then transfer it to a tray. If the butter darkens too quickly, lower the heat slightly, but do not hurry the turkey out while it is still pale. This color cannot be added later.
- 3
Reduce the wine
Pour the white wine into the cocotte and scrape up every brown speck of fond with a wooden spoon. Add the crushed garlic and the remaining salt and pepper, then boil briskly until the wine is completely reduced, about 8 to 10 minutes. The pan should hold only a few syrupy spoonfuls, and the raw wine smell should be gone. If the fond begins catching before the wine has reduced, lower the heat and add a tablespoon of the measured stock. Ça se rattrape. If any specks have burned black and smell acrid, pour the good liquid into a clean cocotte and leave those specks behind.
- 4
Build the braise
Stir the tomato purée into the reduced wine, followed by the Sauce Espagnole and 1 cup of the brown stock, keeping the Sauce Espagnole and braising stock in equal measure as the original directs. Bring the sauce to a bare simmer, then return the turkey pieces and their collected juices. In a snug cocotte, the liquid should nearly cover the pieces; if your pan is too broad, move everything to a smaller vessel rather than diluting the sauce. Cover and cook in the oven for 40 minutes.
- 5
Prepare the garnishes
While the turkey cooks, place the chestnuts and consommé in a small saucepan and hold them at the gentlest simmer for 10 minutes, until the chestnuts are hot through and have taken in some of the consommé. Lift them out carefully and reserve the liquid. For the onions, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a small pan, add the onions, sugar, and remaining ¼ cup stock, then cover and simmer gently until nearly tender. Uncover and roll them through the reducing liquid until they are glossy and lightly colored. Melt the final tablespoon of butter in a wide skillet and sauté the quartered mushrooms over lively heat until their moisture has evaporated and their edges brown. If they first flood the pan, keep cooking; once the water disappears, the butter can do its proper work.
- 6
Strain and assemble
After the turkey has cooked for 40 minutes, lift the pieces out. Trim away only loose flaps of skin or any visible bone splinters; sculpting every piece into formal service shapes is brigade scaffolding and can go. Skim obvious surface fat from the sauce, then strain it through a fine-mesh sieve. Arrange the turkey in a deep 3-quart ovenproof serving dish, surround it with the mushrooms, chestnuts, glazed onions, quartered tomatoes, and uncooked chipolatas, then pour the strained sauce evenly over everything.
- 7
Complete the cooking
Return the assembled dish to the oven, uncovered, for 25 minutes, turning the sausages once so they cook evenly in the sauce. The turkey must reach at least 165°F (74°C) at its thickest point, and the pork sausages at least 160°F (71°C). If a breast piece reaches temperature before the sausages, lift it to a warm plate and return it when the rest is ready. Young white meat keeps a shorter clock, and attending to it preserves the source's generous mixed cut without drying it.
- 8
Correct the sauce
The finished sauce should be nappante, coating the back of a spoon in a smooth, glossy layer. If it is thin, transfer the turkey and garnishes to a warm dish and boil the sauce alone until it reaches that texture. If it is too tight, loosen it gradually with the reserved chestnut consommé. If sausage fat has gathered on the surface, skim it with a shallow spoon. Ça se rattrape. Return everything to the sauce, rest the dish for 10 minutes, and bring it to the table in its deep serving dish. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The tiny measure of garlic is deliberate. This is tomato, wine, and a composed garnish scented with garlic, not a garlic braise; one full modern clove would push the sauce out of balance.
- •Sauce Espagnole and brown stock are the foundation, so have both prepared before the turkey meets the pan. A thin boxed broth and gravy granules cannot do the same work. Use a properly gelatinous brown poultry stock and a finished Sauce Espagnole with enough body to coat a spoon.
- •Vacuum-packed or jarred whole chestnuts are the honest home equivalent here. They save the peeling, which is scaffolding, while the simmer in consommé preserves the flavor and tenderness the original requires.
- •If fresh tomatoes are poor, use three well-drained canned whole plum tomatoes and quarter them gently. The classical pantry solved this problem long ago; a sound preserved tomato is better than a pale fresh one.
- •Choose small, mildly seasoned pork chipolatas without smoke, chile, or heavy herbs. The sausages belong inside the garnish and should enrich the sauce without taking possession of it.
- •Pour a dry white from Roussillon or a supple, lightly tannic red from the same country. The sauce carries tomato and brown stock, so either works, provided the wine has freshness rather than sweetness.
Advance Preparation
- •The Sauce Espagnole, brown stock, and consommé may be prepared up to 2 days ahead and kept chilled. Warm them gently before they enter the recipe.
- •The chestnuts and glazed onions may be prepared earlier the same day. Refrigerate them separately, then let them lose their chill while the turkey completes its first 40 minutes in the oven.
- •For a dinner party, complete the first 40-minute braise up to 1 day ahead, cool the turkey in its sauce promptly, and refrigerate it covered. Reheat the sauce to a simmer before assembling the garnishes, then allow roughly 10 extra minutes for the final oven cooking and verify both turkey and sausage temperatures.
- •Leftovers keep for up to 3 days under refrigeration. Reheat them gently in a covered dish with a spoonful of stock, since hard boiling can tighten the turkey and dull the sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 650g)
Calories
930 calories
Total Fat
49 g
Saturated Fat
20 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
28 g
Cholesterol
300 mg
Sodium
2300 mg
Total Carbohydrates
36 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
82 g
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