Potage à la Diane

Potage à la Diane (partridge and lentil purée) teaches one lovely piece of classical discipline: the roast is only the beginning, not the finish. Keep the partridges slightly underdone. Their fillets cook again in the royale garnish, while the bodies finish gently with the lentils and game consommé. Roast them through at the start and the soup will taste dry, however much butter follows.

The original kitchen assumed a saucier, game stock never off the fire, a mortar, a tammy, and enough hands to prepare the garnish alongside the soup. For one cook, one stove, one evening, prepared unsalted game stock serves at two strengths, a blender replaces the mortar, and a fine-mesh sieve replaces the tammy. Separate consommé clarification and hand-pounding are brigade scaffolding, so they can go. The under-roasting, second cooking with lentils, thorough sieving, reduced Madeira, and monter au beurre, mounting with butter off the heat, are the dish itself and must stay.

When it is right, the Potage à la Diane is tawny and perfectly smooth, with the deep savor of roast game lifted by Madeira and little crescents of pale royale and black truffle appearing in every spoonful. The step that matters most comes first: pull the partridges while their breasts are still rosy. The pot finishes the cooking.