Filets de Levraut à la Dampierre

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •1-quart (1-liter) tapered ovenproof bowl or charlotte mold
• •Deep roasting pan for the bain-marie
• •Heavy saucepan for the poivrade
• •Wide sauté pan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Oval serving platter and sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill and divide

   Separate the four back fillets, four minion fillets, lean mousseline meat, and sauce bones. Remove every trace of sinew from the fillets and lean trim. Cut the trim into small cubes, spread it on a cold plate, and chill it with the processor bowl and blade for at least 20 minutes. Pat the fillets dry and keep them covered in the cold. The mousseline meat should feel nearly firm before processing, not merely cool.

   Use commercially processed farmed hare for this short, gentle poach. Wild hare requires handling and cooking according to local game-safety guidance and is better directed toward a longer braise.
2. 2

   Build the poivrade

   Melt 1 tbsp of the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped hare bones and trimmings, browning them until the pan floor carries a dark hazelnut-colored fond. Add the carrot, shallot, and crushed peppercorns; cook until the vegetables color at their edges. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, letting this small roux turn tawny. Add the vinegar and wine, scrape the fond cleanly from the pan, and reduce until about one-third remains. Pour in the brown stock, add the bouquet garni, and hold at a bare simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing lightly, then return the liquid to a clean saucepan. It should taste peppery and concentrated but remain a little thin, because the fillets' cooking liquor still has to join it.

3. 3

   Glaze the garnishes

   Use one sauté pan for all three garnishes. Brown the mushrooms in 1 1/2 tbsp butter until their rounded sides are bronze, season lightly, and set them aside. Add 1 tbsp butter, the pearl onions, and 1/4 cup of the consommé; cover and cook gently until the onions are tender, then uncover and roll them through the reducing liquor until glossy. Lift them out. Add the chestnuts, remaining consommé, and 1 tbsp butter, then simmer gently until the chestnuts are hot, intact, and lacquered by the reduced consommé. Keep all three garnishes covered.

4. 4

   Contise the fillets

   Use the contise set prepared in the manner of Poularde Chevalière (No. 1458). With the tip of a sharp paring knife, make four shallow diagonal incisions along each back fillet and slip a truffle slice halfway into every cut, leaving a narrow black edge visible. Bend each fillet gently into a crescent. Make two small radiating incisions in each minion fillet and insert the salted-tongue strips so their rose-colored ends form a simple rosette. A paring knife does the work once assigned to a larding needle, and it gives the same pattern without tearing such small pieces.

   Cut pockets within the meat rather than sawing through it. If a slit opens too widely, overlap its edges around the truffle and chill the fillet for 10 minutes; the meat will firm enough to hold.
5. 5

   Make the mousseline

   Put the chilled hare trim in the chilled processor with about 1 1/4 tsp of the salt and all the white pepper. Process in short pulses until the meat becomes smooth and tacky. Add the egg whites and process just until absorbed. With the machine running, pour in 1 cup of the cold cream gradually, stopping once to scrape the bowl. Fold in the chopped truffle and 1 tbsp of the truffle juice by hand. Poach a teaspoonful in barely trembling water, taste it only once fully cooked, and correct the seasoning. The mousseline should hold a soft ridge from the spoon. If it loosens, shines with separated fat, or feels warm, stop. Set the bowl over ice for 10 minutes. Put the reserved 2 tbsp cold cream in the clean chilled processor, blend in 2 tbsp of the mousseline until smooth, then add the remaining mixture a spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape.

   A processor is the honest home equivalent for the brigade's pounding and repeated sieving. If you want an especially fine mousseline, press it through a medium-fine sieve after processing, but temperature matters more than ceremony.
6. 6

   Poach the cone

   Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Butter a 1-quart (1-liter) tapered ovenproof bowl or charlotte mold with 1 tbsp butter. Pack in the mousseline firmly to remove air pockets, level the top, and cover it with buttered parchment and foil. Set the mold in a roasting pan and pour hot water halfway up its sides to make a bain-marie. Bake gently for 30 to 40 minutes, until the center reaches 160°F (71°C). Rest it in the water for 5 minutes, then lift it out and keep covered. The tapered mold replaces freehand shaping on the serving dish, giving one cook a clean truncated cone without changing its purpose.

7. 7

   Poach the fillets

   Butter a shallow ovenproof dish with 1 tbsp butter. Arrange the crescent-shaped back fillets and tongue-studded minions in one layer, season lightly, and sprinkle them with the Cognac. Melt 1 1/2 tbsp butter and spoon it over the meat. Cover first with parchment, then tightly with foil, and place the dish in the 300°F (150°C) oven. Begin checking the small minions after 7 minutes and the back fillets after 10; remove each piece when its center reaches 160°F (71°C), then keep it covered. The liquor must gather quietly around the meat, never boil. If it begins sputtering, pull the dish from the oven and let the retained heat finish the cooking.

8. 8

   Finish the poivrade

   Pour every drop of the fillets' cooking liquor through a fine sieve into the poivrade base and add the remaining 1 tbsp truffle juice. Bring it to a full simmer for 3 minutes, then reduce until the sauce nappes, meaning it coats the back of a spoon in a glossy veil. Take it off the heat and whisk in 2 tbsp cold butter a little at a time. Taste for salt and pepper. If the sauce tightens too far, loosen it with a spoonful of consommé; if the butter begins to separate, whisk in 1 tsp cold water away from the heat until the gloss returns.

9. 9

   Build the rosette

   Warm an oval serving platter. Run a thin knife only around the upper rim of the mousseline mold, invert the cone onto the center, and lift the mold away. If it clings, wrap the mold briefly in a hot damp cloth rather than digging at the mousseline. Stand the back fillets and minions radially against the cone, alternating the truffle-black crescents with the rose-marked minions. Glaze the whole truffle in a spoonful of poivrade and set it at the center. Arrange mushrooms, chestnuts, and pearl onions in a repeating ring around the base. Spoon a modest pool of poivrade around them and serve the rest in a warm sauceboat. The architecture should look generous, not fussy. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask a specialist game butcher for commercially processed young hare with the saddles, tenderloins, trim, and bones kept together. Rabbit can follow the method, but its flesh is paler and milder; it makes a good dish, not Filets de Levraut à la Dampierre.
• •Use fresh black truffle in season or whole preserved truffles packed in their natural juice. The preserved version is the classical pantry's honest answer and gives you both the truffle and its essence. Truffle-flavored oil cannot supply the slices, texture, or clean woodland perfume this dish requires.
• •Cooked cured beef tongue is often available by order from a good delicatessen or butcher. Its salt and rosy color are deliberate contrasts to the dark hare and truffle, so don't replace it with an unrelated garnish merely for convenience.
• •A red Burgundy with some bottle maturity suits the hare, truffle, and chestnuts without bullying the poivrade. Serve the dish on its own or with a plain green vegetable; the mousseline and glazed garnishes already make a complete main course.

Advance Preparation

• •The poivrade base can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept chilled. Reheat it gently, then add the fresh fillet cooking liquor, truffle juice, and finishing butter only when serving.
• •The mushrooms, pearl onions, and chestnuts can be glazed 1 day ahead. Chill them separately, then warm them gently with a spoonful of consommé so each garnish keeps its own shape.
• •The fillets can be contised up to 6 hours ahead and held covered in the cold. Make and mold the mousseline no more than 4 hours ahead, keeping it thoroughly chilled until the bain-marie is ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 480g)