Chef Juliette
Selle de Chevreuil et Cuissot
Selle de Chevreuil et Cuissot teaches the discipline of game: strip every tendon, skip marinade for a young, well-hung joint, roast in butter, and stop before leanness turns to dryness.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Soufflé de Lièvre
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1820, Soufflé de Lièvre, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Hare becomes silk, then rises: a cold-worked mousseline folded with two egg whites, baked bronze and finished with glossy hare fumet, butter-tossed minion fillets, and black truffle.
Main Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
1 hr
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•2 hr 15 min total
Yield4 servings
Soufflé de lièvre (a risen hare mousse) teaches one true thing before you touch a pan: lightness begins with cold, not with the whisk. The mousseline, a smooth cream-bound forcemeat, must remain cold enough to hold its emulsion; only then can the two stiffly beaten whites lift it into something tender, savory, and remarkably light.
The grand kitchen behind the original kept a saucier beside a half-glaze, game stock never left the fire, several hands could pound and sieve at once, and a salamander waited nearby for finishing. At home, the salamander goes entirely because it is scaffolding, not the dish. A food processor replaces the pounding, a fine sieve preserves the texture, prepared real veal demi-glace and a quick Fumet from the hare bones replace the stockpots, and an ordinary oven supplies the moderate heat. The source's pound of hare is already right for four, so that ratio stays; the sauce and truffle garnish are simply brought down to one platter. One cook, one stove, one evening.
What must remain is the cold mousseline, the two whites folded without crushing them, the gentle oven poach, and the minion-fillet collops tossed in butter at the last moment. Keep the forcemeat cold before anything else. That is the step that decides the Soufflé de Lièvre.
Soufflé de lièvre belongs to the formal Parisian game table, where hare from the country shooting larder entered the grand kitchen and was refined into mousseline without surrendering its dark, distinctive flavor. Unlike a familiar cheese Soufflé, it begins with cream-bound forcemeat rather than a flour-thickened base, then gains its rise from additional egg whites. The separate minion fillets and truffle preserve the logic of the grand game service: the tender saddle meat remains distinct while hare Fumet carries the animal's deeper character into the sauce.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
lean hare meat
Quantity
1 lb (450 g)
very cold, freed of sinew and silver skin, and cut into 1-inch pieces
hare minion fillets
Quantity
5 oz (140 g)
trimmed and chilled
hare bones and meaty trimmings
Quantity
1 lb (450 g)
chopped
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g)
divided
shallot
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 35 g)
thinly sliced
cold water
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / 480 g)
prepared veal demi-glace (half-glaze sauce)
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 185 g)
heavy cream, at least 35 percent fat
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 240 g)
ice-cold
fine salt
Quantity
1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g), plus more for the sauce
finely ground white pepper
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
large egg whites
Quantity
2 (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 g)
fresh or good preserved black truffle
Quantity
1 oz (28 g)
thinly sliced
ice cubes
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / about 300 g)
for chilling
just-boiled water
Quantity
6 cups (1.4 L / 1.4 kg)
for the bain-marie
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| lean hare meatvery cold, freed of sinew and silver skin, and cut into 1-inch pieces | 1 lb (450 g) |
| hare minion filletstrimmed and chilled | 5 oz (140 g) |
| hare bones and meaty trimmingschopped | 1 lb (450 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g) |
| shallotthinly sliced | ¼ cup (60 ml / 35 g) |
| cold water | 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) |
| prepared veal demi-glace (half-glaze sauce) | ¾ cup (180 ml / 185 g) |
| heavy cream, at least 35 percent fatice-cold | 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) |
| fine salt | 1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g), plus more for the sauce |
| finely ground white pepper | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
| large egg whites | 2 (about ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 g) |
| fresh or good preserved black trufflethinly sliced | 1 oz (28 g) |
| ice cubesfor chilling | 2 cups (480 ml / about 300 g) |
| just-boiled waterfor the bain-marie | 6 cups (1.4 L / 1.4 kg) |
Equipment Needed
- •Food processor with a metal blade
- •Fine tamis or sturdy fine-mesh sieve
- •1½-quart (1.4 L) straight-sided soufflé dish
- •Deep roasting pan for the bain-marie
- •Small heavy saucepan
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Make everything cold
Put the hare meat, cream, food-processor bowl, blade, and a mixing bowl in the cold for 20 minutes. Set the mixing bowl over the ice before you begin. Mousseline is an emulsion, and temperature decides it: cold meat binds the cream into silk, while warm meat releases its fat and turns grainy. Keep the minion fillets in the cold until the soufflé is nearly cooked.
- 2
Make the hare fumet
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the hare bones and trimmings, then brown them deeply for 10 to 12 minutes, turning until the pan floor carries a dark fond. Add the shallot and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the 2 cups of cold water, scrape up the fond, and hold at a bare simmer for 25 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing lightly, then reduce the liquid to ¾ cup. This is the Fumet, the concentrated hare essence that gives the sauce its own voice rather than merely the taste of veal.
- 3
Ready sauce and dish
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the lower middle. Butter a 1½-quart (1.4 L) straight-sided soufflé dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter, brushing upward along the sides. Combine the veal demi-glace with ½ cup of the hare fumet and simmer gently until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes. Reserve the remaining fumet for adjustment, cover the sauce directly with a small piece of parchment, and keep it barely warm.
- 4
Build the mousseline
Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cold cream. Put the chilled hare meat, salt, and white pepper in the cold processor bowl. Process until the meat becomes fine and tacky, scraping the bowl once. With the machine pulsing, add the remaining cream in four small additions, letting each disappear before adding the next. Stop as soon as the mixture is smooth. If it turns shiny, loose, or beads fat, stop immediately. Ça se rattrape: spread it on a cold plate for 10 minutes, then process one quarter with a tablespoon of the reserved cream until tacky; add the rest back by spoonfuls and keep everything over ice.
- 5
Sieve and fold
Press the hare mousseline through a fine tamis or sturdy fine-mesh sieve into the bowl set over ice. The processor replaces the old kitchen's pounding, but the sieving stays because the smooth texture is the dish, not brigade scaffolding. In a spotless bowl, whisk the two egg whites to a stiff but glossy froth. If they look dry or grainy, whisk in a teaspoon of the reserved cream by hand. Fold one third into the mousseline to loosen it, then fold in the remainder with broad turns until no large white patches remain. Stop before the mixture loses its air.
- 6
Poach in the oven
Spoon the mousseline into the buttered dish, level it lightly, and set the dish in a deep roasting pan. Pour the just-boiled water into the pan to come halfway up the sides, keeping every drop out of the mixture. Bake this gentle oven poach without opening the door for 25 minutes, then continue until the soufflé is swollen, lightly bronzed, and reaches 160°F (71°C) at the centre, 35 to 45 minutes in all. If the top colours before the centre is ready, lay foil loosely over it once the rise has set. Lift the dish carefully from the bain-marie.
- 7
Toss the collops
During the soufflé's final 5 minutes, cut the minion fillets across the grain into 8 collops, meaning thin medallions. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. When it foams, add the collops in one uncrowded layer and toss them just until browned and cooked through, about 60 to 90 seconds per side depending on thickness. Thin hare fillets toughen when left waiting, which is why this happens at the last moment.
- 8
Sauce and serve
Bring the demi-glace back to a bare simmer. If it has tightened, loosen it with the reserved hare fumet; if it runs thin, reduce it briefly. Take it off the heat and whisk in the final tablespoon of cold butter until the surface gleams. Set the soufflé dish on a warmed platter and coat its top lightly with the hare-fumet demi-glace, never enough to crush the rise. Arrange the minion-fillet collops around the dish, alternating them with the truffle slices, and spoon a little sauce over the collops. Carry it straight to the table. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Ask a game butcher for a whole dressed hare with the minion fillets kept intact and the bones chopped. The leg and shoulder flesh make the mousseline; the small saddle fillets provide the collops. Rabbit makes a pleasant Soufflé de Lapin, but it does not have hare's depth and should be named honestly.
- •Prepared demi-glace must be real reduced veal stock, preferably unsalted or lightly salted. A concentrated gravy paste brings salt without gelatin or depth, and the hare fumet cannot repair it.
- •Fresh black truffle is magnificent when sound. Outside its season, use a whole preserved black truffle packed in its own juice and drain it well. A tired fresh truffle is worse than an honest preserved one.
- •Mousselines are the same smooth forcemeat shaped in small individual portions. This recipe gathers that preparation in one Soufflé dish, then adds the two stiffly whisked whites specified by the source.
- •The source also permits the collops and truffle slices to be warmed in the sauce and served separately in a small warmed timbale. Choose that presentation if the platter feels crowded, but keep the garnish beside the soufflé rather than burying it.
- •A red Burgundy with firm acidity suits the hare, truffle, and glossy sauce. Pour it before the soufflé leaves the oven because this dish waits for no corkscrew.
Advance Preparation
- •The hare fumet can be made up to 2 days ahead, chilled quickly, and kept covered in the cold. Combine it with the demi-glace on the day of serving, but whisk in the final butter only at the last moment.
- •The hare mousseline can be processed and passed through the sieve up to 4 hours ahead. Press parchment directly against its surface and keep the bowl over ice in the cold; fold in the whisked whites only when the oven and water bath are ready.
- •The minion fillets may be trimmed earlier in the day, but cut and cook the collops at the last moment. Slice the truffle shortly before serving so its fragrance remains in the dish rather than on the cutting board.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 270g)
Calories
525 calories
Total Fat
38 g
Saturated Fat
23 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
215 mg
Sodium
1250 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
40 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Poultry (Volaille) - Venison and Ground Game
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Selle de Chevreuil à l’Allemande
A three-day marinade perfumes this lean saddle, but the roast lives or dies by its rosy center; the tray fond, cream, meat glaze, and one juniper berry make the sauce.
Chef Juliette
Selle de Chevreuil à la Baden-Baden
A butter-poêled venison saddle, carved rosy and flanked by unsweetened pears scented with cinnamon and lemon, with clear game jus and redcurrant jelly at the table.
Chef Juliette
Selle de Chevreuil aux Cerises
Verjuice perfumes rather than pickles this saddle, while a thermometer protects its rosy centre. Poivrade and red-currant jelly meet in strict equality, with semi-candied cherries folded through for the generous game table.