Cold Eggs Colbert

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Eight 90 ml small oval moulds or straight-sided silicone cups
• •Wide 3 litre saucepan for poaching
• •Medium saucepan for blanching
• •Fine-mesh sieve and slotted spoon
• •Plain 6 mm to 10 mm piping tip or small paring knife
• •Shallow 20 cm tray for setting the chopped jelly
• •Balloon whisk and medium mixing bowl
• •Large oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the white jelly

   Pour ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) of the cold stock into a bowl and sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of gelatin evenly over it. Leave it undisturbed for 10 minutes, until every granule has swollen. Heat the remaining stock only until the edge begins to quiver, then remove it from the heat and whisk in the bloomed gelatin until completely dissolved. Season lightly with salt and white pepper, remembering that cold dulls seasoning. Pass the jelly through a fine sieve. Chill a spoonful on a cold saucer for 8 minutes: it should cut cleanly but yield under the spoon. If it remains loose, rewarm it without boiling, bloom the reserved teaspoon of gelatin in a tablespoon of cold water, and dissolve it into the jelly. If it sets like rubber, melt it and add cold water a tablespoon at a time, testing again. Ça se rattrape.

2. 2

   Cook vegetables separately

   Bring a saucepan of well-salted water to a boil and prepare a deep bowl of ice water. Blanch each vegetable separately so it keeps its own colour and texture: turnip for about 3 minutes, carrot for 2 to 3 minutes, French beans for 2 minutes, and peas for 45 seconds. Each should be tender at the edge but still firm at the centre. Transfer each batch directly to the ice water, then drain it on clean towels and dry it thoroughly. Keep the reserved decorative pieces separate from the diced vegetables for the salad. Wet vegetables loosen the mayonnaise and cloud the aspic, so do not hurry the drying.

3. 3

   Poach and chill eggs

   Bring 8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg) water and the 2 tablespoons of vinegar to the barest simmer in a wide saucepan. Crack one egg into a fine sieve, let the watery white drain for 10 seconds, then slide it into a small cup. Lower it gently into the water and repeat, cooking no more than three at once. Poach for 3 to 3½ minutes, until the white is fully set but the yolk still yields beneath it. Lift each egg into ice water, chill for 2 minutes, then transfer it to fresh cold water. Trim away ragged white with a small knife and drain the eggs on a cloth until completely dry. A torn fringe is not a lost egg; trim it cleanly, and the jelly will hide the seam.

4. 4

   Line the moulds

   Set eight cold 90 ml oval moulds on a tray. Spoon in just enough cool, fluid jelly to coat each base and side, turning the moulds as it clings, then chill for 5 to 8 minutes until tacky rather than hard. Reach for the draughtboard arrangement of Chartreuse de Ris de Veau (No. 1220): alternate the reserved orange carrot, ivory turnip, green bean, and peas in short, neat rows against the lined moulds. A plain piping tip can cut small roundels where the old kitchen used a special tube cutter. Brush the vegetables with another thin film of jelly and chill again. If the pieces slide, the lining is too warm; return the tray to the cold for 2 minutes and press them back into place.

5. 5

   Set eggs in aspic

   Pour 1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g) of the jelly into a shallow tray and refrigerate it for the chopped-jelly border. Set one cold, dry poached egg in each decorated mould, placing its smoothest face against the patterned side. Fill slowly with the remaining cool jelly, letting it run around the egg rather than directly onto it, and pierce any trapped air bubbles with a skewer. If the jelly begins setting in the bowl, stand it briefly in lukewarm water until fluid again; hot jelly would melt the pattern you have built. Chill the filled moulds for at least 4 hours, until firm through the centre.

6. 6

   Bind the salad

   Whisk the pasteurized yolk with the Dijon mustard and half the tablespoon of vinegar. Add the oil drop by drop at first, whisking each addition fully into the emulsion, then continue in a fine steady thread once the mayonnaise holds its shape. Whisk in the remaining vinegar, salt, and white pepper. If the mayonnaise breaks, put a teaspoon of cold water in a clean bowl and whisk the broken mayonnaise into it a spoonful at a time until smooth. Fold enough mayonnaise through the diced carrot, turnip, French beans, and peas to bind them lightly. The vegetables should hold in a generous mound, not disappear beneath the sauce. Keep the salad cold.

7. 7

   Unmould and arrange

   Chop the jelly from the shallow tray into fine, irregular crystals. Heap the vegetable salad in the centre of a cold oval platter. Dip each mould in warm water for 2 seconds, loosen the rim with a damp fingertip, and invert it firmly around the salad. If an egg refuses to release, dip the mould for one more second; if its surface begins to soften, chill it for 10 minutes before trying again. Arrange all eight eggs around the salad and surround them with the chopped jelly, keeping the bright draughtboard patterns visible. Serve immediately while everything is properly cold. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use the palest clear chicken stock you can make or buy. Chill it first and lift away every trace of fat; a coffee filter set inside a fine sieve will improve a cloudy stock, though it cannot clarify one that is muddy.
• •Small, very fresh eggs give the neatest poached shape. Pasteurized eggs are the sensible choice because the yolks remain soft and the mayonnaise is uncooked.
• •Cook the vegetables separately. Putting them into one pot saves a few minutes but gives soft peas, grey beans, and turnip stained orange by the carrot. This separation is the dish, not brigade scaffolding.
• •Frozen peas picked at their peak are entirely welcome. Thawing them on the counter leaves them wrinkled; blanch them directly from frozen for about 45 seconds and chill them at once.
• •Flexible silicone moulds release most easily. Small cups work if oval moulds are unavailable, though the silhouette changes; the coloured pattern, clear jelly, egg, salad, and chopped border preserve the dish's intent.
• •A dry sparkling wine or a mineral, lightly chilled white suits the cool egg, aspic, and mustardy mayonnaise without crowding them.

Advance Preparation

• •The moulded eggs and shallow tray of jelly can be prepared up to 24 hours ahead. Once fully set, cover them without letting the wrapping touch the jelly and keep them at 4°C / 40°F or colder.
• •The vegetables may be blanched, dried, and refrigerated one day ahead. Keep the decorative pieces separate and dress the salad only after the mayonnaise is made.
• •Make the mayonnaise and dressed salad on the day of service. Keep both cold, and do not leave the completed platter at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
• •Chop the spare jelly and unmould the eggs shortly before serving. The clear surfaces remain brighter when the platter does not sit uncovered in the refrigerator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)