Laitues Farcies

Laitues farcies (stuffed lettuces) teach the discipline of removing water before adding flavor. The lettuce must be blanched until pliable, cooled, then pressed dry, and the mushroom preparation must fall from the spoon in soft, dry clumps. If either carries water into the parcel, the forcemeat weeps and the sauce thins.

The original entry assumed a bowl of Ordinary or Dry Duxelle (No. 223) beside the cook, the braising liquor and thickened veal gravy of Laitues Braisées au Jus (No. 2160) already waiting, a stockpot never off the fire, and a saucier free to reduce the finish while other hands blanched and tied. At home, prepare those linked components ahead, scale the assembly to four small lettuces, and choose the simple timbale service the book permits instead of building a crown with fried croûtons. The crown is brigade scaffolding. The intact stems, the two-to-one volume of forcemeat to duxelle, and the gentle braise are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Done properly, each parcel holds its rounded shape beneath tender olive-green leaves, with savory forcemeat at the center and a glossy veil of concentrated jus outside. Before you touch the braising pan, make certain the lettuce and the duxelle are dry. Everything depends on it.