Karoly Éclairs

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-quart heavy saucepan
• •Small heavy sauté pan
• •Two piping bags with 12 mm and 6 mm plain tips
• •Heavy baking sheet and parchment
• •Small blender or food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve and clean filtering cloth
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Soft pastry brush
• •Chilled serving platter and shallow tray for crushed ice

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the cold station

   Clear space in a refrigerator held at 4°C or colder and prepare a bowl of ice water for cooling the purée and sauces. Examine the woodcock giblets under strong light, removing connective tissue, blood clots, feathers, and any shot fragments. Use only the livers, hearts, and thoroughly cleaned gizzards; discard the intestinal tract, gallbladder, and any liver marked by green bile. Keep the giblets covered and cold until the pan is ready.

   Woodcock must be legal to possess or purchase where you live, promptly dressed, and kept cold. If its handling history is uncertain, do not use its offal.
2. 2

   Cook the panade

   Heat the oven to 220°C. Put the water, choux butter, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a full boil so the butter is completely melted, add the sifted flour at once, and beat firmly with a wooden spoon until the panade, the cooked flour paste, gathers into a ball. Continue over medium heat for 2 minutes, turning the dough against the pan until a thin film forms on the bottom. Transfer it to a bowl and let it cool for 3 minutes.

   Dessécher means drying the panade over heat. It removes enough water to let the dough accept the eggs without becoming slack.
3. 3

   Pipe and bake

   Beat in the eggs a little at a time, holding back the final spoonful until you judge the texture. The finished dough should be glossy and fall from the spoon in a heavy V; if it tears away in a lump, add the reserved egg by teaspoons. Pipe twelve logs about 7 cm long and 1.5 cm wide onto a parchment-lined tray, spacing them well apart. Smooth their points with a wet fingertip. Bake for 10 minutes, lower the oven to 190°C, and bake for another 18 to 22 minutes without opening the door during the first 20 minutes. The shells are ready when deeply golden, light in the hand, and hollow-sounding underneath. Pierce both ends, then dry them for 5 to 8 minutes at 160°C before cooling completely on a rack. If they soften as they cool, return them to the 160°C oven for 5 minutes. Ça se rattrape.

   Pale choux is underbaked choux. The shells need a firm, dry wall because they must withstand filling and two cold coatings.
4. 4

   Build the giblet purée

   Finely chop the hearts and cleaned gizzards, keeping the livers separate. Melt 1 tablespoon of the filling butter in a small sauté pan and cook the hearts and gizzards over medium heat for 3 minutes without scorching. Add 1/4 cup of the game stock, cover, and cook gently for 10 minutes. Uncover, add the livers and Champagne, then cook until the liquid has reduced to a moist glaze and every piece of offal has reached 74°C. Blend immediately until smooth, then work in the remaining 3 tablespoons of cold filling butter a piece at a time. Season lightly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and the white pepper, push the purée through a fine sieve, and cool it rapidly over the ice bath. If it looks grainy, blend in 1 teaspoon of warm game stock followed by a small piece of cold butter. Ça se rattrape.

   The Champagne should perfume the purée, not leave it wet. Reduce until the pan holds a glaze before adding the cold butter.
5. 5

   Fill the éclairs

   Chill the purée until firm enough to pipe but still supple. Fit a piping bag with a narrow plain tip and use the holes at the ends of each cold éclair to fill it from both directions. Stop when the shell feels evenly weighted and the purée just reaches the openings; overfilling splits the dry choux. Wipe the ends clean and refrigerate the filled éclairs while you make the coating.

6. 6

   Make brown chaud-froid

   Bloom the brown chaud-froid gelatin in its cold water for 5 minutes. Melt the chaud-froid butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook the roux over medium-low heat until it reaches a deep hazelnut brown and smells toasted, about 4 minutes. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of game stock, scraping the corners of the pan, then simmer gently for 10 to 12 minutes until the sauce naps the back of a spoon. Remove it from the heat, dissolve in the bloomed gelatin, season with about 1/8 teaspoon salt, and strain. Cool over ice, stirring, until it reaches roughly 28°C and falls in a thick, continuous ribbon. If it sets too firmly, warm it over barely warm water; if it runs like broth, cool it another few minutes. Do not add raw flour.

   Chaud-froid means a sauce laid on warm and served cold. Its name carries the technique: fluid enough to coat, cool enough not to soak the pastry.
7. 7

   Coat and chill

   Set the filled éclairs on a rack over a clean tray. Spoon the brown chaud-froid evenly over each one, covering the top and sides in a thin, opaque coat. Let the excess fall away, then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, until the coating is dry to a gentle fingertip and no longer tacky. If the sauce slides off transparently, the éclairs or the sauce were too warm; collect the drips, cool both components, and coat them again.

8. 8

   Set the game jelly

   Bloom the game-jelly gelatin in its cold water for 5 minutes. Bring the remaining 3/4 cup game stock to a bare simmer, skim the surface carefully, and reduce it to about 2/3 cup. Remove it from the heat, dissolve in the bloomed gelatin, taste for salt, and pass it through a fine cloth or coffee filter without pressing. Cool it over ice until clear, glossy, and slightly syrupy. If it begins setting into threads in the bowl, place the bowl over barely warm water and stir just until fluid again. Never boil gelatin after adding it.

9. 9

   Mask and serve

   Brush one thin, complete layer of the syrupy game jelly over each firmly chilled éclair. Refrigerate for 45 minutes, until the jelly forms a clear, smooth mask over the brown chaud-froid. Line a chilled serving platter with a restrained white paper lace or clean parchment, set it over a shallow tray of crushed ice, and arrange the éclairs in loose rows. Keep them thoroughly cold and bring them to the table within an hour. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The giblets are the identity of Éclairs Karoly. Chicken liver makes an easier canapé, but it does not make this dish. Squab giblets offer the nearest cousin when legally sourced woodcock is unavailable, and the result should be named accordingly.
• •Use a stock with real game depth and very little salt. Woodcock stock is the closest foundation; stock made from other small game birds changes the accent but still supplies the gelatin and roasted character the two coatings require.
• •Hold back the final spoonful of egg when making the pâte à choux. Flour absorbs differently from one kitchen to another, and judging the V from the spoon is more reliable than forcing in every drop.
• •Cold is an ingredient here. Warm filling softens the shells, warm chaud-froid runs off, and warm game jelly cuts channels through the brown coating.
• •Serve with the same brut Champagne used in the filling. Two or three éclairs per guest are enough before dinner; their richness is deliberate, and cooking well is not cooking fancy.

Advance Preparation

• •The game stock can be prepared several days ahead and kept refrigerated, or frozen until needed. Chill it quickly after straining.
• •Bake the empty choux shells one day ahead and keep them airtight once completely cool. Before filling, refresh them for 5 minutes at 160°C and cool them again.
• •The cooked giblet purée may be made up to one day ahead and kept covered at 4°C or colder.
• •Fill and glaze the éclairs no more than 2 hours before service. Longer storage softens the choux beneath the cold coatings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 170g)