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Based on No. 1888, Cailles à la Grecque, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Four butter-browned quails settle into Riz à la Grecque, then receive every drop of their fumet-loosened pan swillings. The unskimmed butter is not excess here; it seasons the rice.
Cailles à la Grecque (butter-cooked quails with Greek-style rice) teaches one true thing before you touch the pan: here, the fat is not waste. The quails cook in butter, the pan is swilled with game fumet (a concentrated game essence), and the liquor goes over the Riz à la Grecque without being cleared of its fat. That butter is the seasoning. Skim it away and the rice tastes of very little.
The original entry assumed Riz à la Grecque already hot, game fumet waiting at the saucier's elbow, and a formal timbale ready for service. At home, a wide lidded sauté pan controls the quails, a warmed deep serving bowl replaces the timbale, and reduced unsalted poultry stock stands in honestly when game fumet isn't available. Four birds make four generous portions. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The separate saucier and ceremonial vessel are brigade scaffolding. Hot Riz à la Grecque, properly browned quails, and the unskimmed swillings are the dish and must stay. The step that decides everything is the swill: lift every chestnut bit with the fumet, then pour the butter with it.
Cailles à la Grecque belongs to the Parisian codification of the French classical table, where à la grecque named a prescribed accompaniment rather than claiming the entire plate came from a Greek household. The title here is fixed by the Riz à la Grecque: butter-cooked quail is set into a timbale with the rice and moistened with game fumet lifted from its own pan. Its telling detail is the refusal to degrease the swillings, because the butter is meant to carry the flavor of the bird into every grain.
Quantity
4 (about 5 to 6 ounces / 140 to 170 g each; 20 to 24 ounces / 560 to 680 g total)
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 6 g)
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g)
Quantity
3 cups (720 ml / about 600 g)
kept hot
Quantity
1/4 cup (60 ml / 60 g)
kept hot
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| oven-ready whole quails | 4 (about 5 to 6 ounces / 140 to 170 g each; 20 to 24 ounces / 560 to 680 g total) |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 6 g) |
| unsalted butter | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) |
| prepared Riz à la Grecquekept hot | 3 cups (720 ml / about 600 g) |
| game fumetkept hot | 1/4 cup (60 ml / 60 g) |
Have the Riz à la Grecque fully hot and covered before the quails meet the pan, because these small birds should not wait once cooked. Fill a 2-quart (2-liter) straight-sided serving bowl or timbale with hot tap water and set it aside to warm. The source treats the rice as a finished preparation, so keep it whole here rather than turning this assembly recipe into a second rice formula.
Inspect the quails for stray pinfeathers, then dry them thoroughly inside and out. Season evenly with the salt and tie the legs together if they spread widely. Dry skin browns; wet skin steams, and a pale bird leaves too little fond for the swilling-liquor.
Melt the butter in a heavy lidded sauté pan over medium heat. When it foams and the foam begins to subside, add the quails breast-side down. Brown for 2 to 3 minutes without fussing with them, then roll them onto each side and finally the back, giving each surface 1 to 2 minutes until the skin is deep bronze. Lower the heat, cover, and cook for another 4 to 6 minutes, turning once, until the deepest part of the breast and inner thigh reaches 165°F (74°C). If the butter solids race from chestnut toward black, lift the pan from the heat, add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the measured fumet, and lower the burner before continuing. Ça se rattrape. Drain and dry the warmed timbale, half-fill it with the hot Riz à la Grecque, and arrange the quails breast-side up on the rice.
Return the uncovered pan to medium heat and add the remaining fumet, or all of it if none was needed during cooking. Swirl the pan and scrape every chestnut-colored bit from its floor, letting the liquid bubble briskly for 30 to 60 seconds. The swilling-liquor should remain loose, bronze, and rich with butter, not reduce into a sticky glaze. If the fond clings while the liquid disappears, take the pan off the heat, add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of hot water, cover for 20 seconds, then scrape again.
Taste the swilling-liquor and correct the salt only if it needs it. Do not strain it, skim it, or spoon away the butter; a few golden pools on the surface are intentional. Pour every drop over the quails and let it run down into the Riz à la Grecque. Serve immediately. À table!
1 serving (about 260g)
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