Ris de Veau à la Toulousaine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large nonreactive bowl
• •Heavy lidded casserole, about 12 inches (30 cm)
• •Two rimmed trays and a 4-pound (1.8 kg) weight for pressing
• •Food processor with chilled bowl and blade
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Heated oval serving platter and sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak and blanch

   Put the sweetbreads in a nonreactive bowl, cover with 2 quarts of the cold water, and refrigerate for 1 hour. Drain, cover with another 2 quarts, and refrigerate for 1 hour more, until the water remains nearly clear. Transfer them to a saucepan with the remaining 1 quart water and 2 teaspoons of the salt. Bring slowly to a bare simmer, cook for 3 minutes, then lift them directly into ice water. This blanching firms the surface so the membranes can be removed without tearing the tender lobes.

2. 2

   Trim and press

   While the sweetbreads are still slightly warm, pull away the thick outer membrane, visible veins, and loose fatty pieces with your fingers and a small knife. Preserve the connected lobes rather than worrying away every fine filament. Lay the cleaned sweetbreads between two towels on a rimmed tray, set a second tray over them, and add a 4-pound weight. Refrigerate for 45 minutes. Pressing gives them a compact, even shape that will braise and slice cleanly.

3. 3

   Reduce the glaze

   While the sweetbreads press, simmer the rich brown veal or beef stock in the smallest saucepan you own until only 2 tablespoons remain and the Glace de Viande coats a spoon like warm syrup. Watch closely as it nears the end. If it begins catching before it tastes scorched, add a tablespoon of water, dissolve the sticky glaze, and lower the heat. If it sets firmly before service, loosen it with drops of warm water.

4. 4

   Stud and braise

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Cut half the truffle into narrow batons and slice the rest thinly for the garnish. Make three or four slim incisions in each pressed sweetbread with a paring knife and slide in the truffle batons. Melt 1½ tablespoons of the butter in a snug casserole over low heat, add the onion, carrot, and celery, and sweat them for 5 minutes without color. If an edge begins turning gold, add a splash of stock immediately and lower the heat, ça se rattrape. Set the sweetbreads over the vegetables, add the bouquet garni and 2 cups of the light stock, then cover with buttered parchment and the lid. Braise for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once, until the lobes feel resilient rather than soft and reach 160°F (71°C) at the center. Lift them out, cover, and strain the pale braising liquid.

5. 5

   Make chicken forcemeat

   Chill the food-processor bowl and blade before beginning. Process the cold chicken with ¾ teaspoon salt, one-quarter of the white pepper, and the nutmeg until it becomes smooth and tacky. Add the egg white and process again, then pour in ½ cup of the cold cream in a thin stream, stopping as soon as the forcemeat is smooth and glossy. Poach a teaspoonful to test the seasoning. If the mixture looks grainy or oily, it has warmed too far; chill it for 15 minutes, then pulse in 1 tablespoon of cold cream. If it is merely soft, chill it until it holds the shape of a spoon.

6. 6

   Poach the quenelles

   Bring 2 cups of the light stock to a bare tremble in a wide saucepan. Using two teaspoons dipped in cold water, shape the forcemeat into 12 small oval quenelles and lower them into the stock in batches. Poach without boiling for 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until they feel springy and reach 165°F (74°C) at the center. Lift them into a buttered dish and cover. Strain and reserve the poaching stock, which can top up the sweetbread liquor for the sauce.

7. 7

   Prepare Toulousaine garnish

   Put the mushroom caps and reserved stems in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon butter, ½ cup light stock, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook gently for 5 to 7 minutes, keeping the mushrooms very white. Remove the caps intact. Strain their cooking liquor, pressing the stems, then reduce it to 2 tablespoons; this concentrated liquor is the mushroom essence. In a separate small pan, warm the prepared cock's combs and cocks' kidneys gently in the remaining ½ cup light stock for about 5 minutes, then drain them. Keep every element covered so its surface does not dry.

8. 8

   Finish Sauce Allemande

   Measure 2 cups of the strained sweetbread braising liquid, topping it up with strained quenelle-poaching stock if necessary. Melt 2 tablespoons butter over low heat, stir in the flour, and cook this pale roux for 2 minutes without letting it color. Whisk in the measured liquid gradually, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, whisking occasionally, until the velouté coats the back of a spoon. Whisk the yolks with ½ cup cream, temper them with a ladleful of hot velouté, then return the liaison to the pan. Heat gently until the Sauce Allemande thickens, but never let it boil. Stir in the mushroom essence, the reserved truffle liquor if using, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and salt and white pepper to taste, then strain. If the sauce begins to grain, take it off the heat, whisk 2 tablespoons cold cream with a fresh spoonful of sauce in a clean bowl, then incorporate the remaining sauce gradually. Ça se rattrape.

9. 9

   Warm every element

   Rewarm the sweetbreads gently in a little reserved braising liquid. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a broad sauté pan over the lowest heat, add the quenelles, mushroom caps, cock's combs, cocks' kidneys, and truffle slices, and turn them just until hot and lightly glossed. They must not brown. Hold the Sauce Allemande over warm water, thinning it with a spoonful of hot poaching stock if it loses its soft, spoon-coating consistency.

10. 10

    Dish à la Toulousaine

    Arrange the four pale sweetbreads along the center of a heated oval platter. Make small, distinct heaps of quenelles, cock's combs, cocks' kidneys, white mushroom caps, and truffle slices all around them, generous but orderly. Warm the Glace de Viande and use the tip of a teaspoon to draw a fine thread around the garnish, never flooding it. Pour the mushroom-scented Sauce Allemande into a heated sauceboat and serve it separately, exactly as the dish requires. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask specifically for veal heart sweetbreads, the rounded thymus lobes sometimes called heartbreads. They are plumper and more even than throat sweetbreads, which makes them better suited to pressing, studding, and serving whole.
• •In classical kitchen language, cocks' kidneys are the rooster's paired reproductive glands, not the dark red kidneys found against a chicken's backbone. Buy both the kidneys and combs already cleaned and cooked from a specialist poultry or preserved-food supplier. If they cannot be found, add four extra quenelles and more mushroom caps, but say plainly at the table that this is an adaptation rather than the complete Toulousaine garnish.
• •Fresh black truffle is splendid in season, but a good whole preserved truffle is the honest classical pantry answer. Avoid flavored oil here. It supplies perfume without the truffle's texture and turns the careful Sauce Allemande blunt.
• •Complete the roux and velouté before adding the yolk-and-cream liaison. Once the liaison enters, the sauce may be heated gently but never boiled. This is the line between silk and scrambled egg.
• •Serve with a dry Jurançon sec or another firm, dry white from southwest France. Its acidity cuts through the sweetbreads and cream while leaving the truffle alone.

Advance Preparation

• •The sweetbreads may be soaked, blanched, trimmed, and pressed up to 24 hours ahead. Refrigerate them tightly covered and stud them with truffle shortly before braising.
• •The chicken forcemeat can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead and held in the cold. Poach the quenelles before beginning the Sauce Allemande so their stock remains available.
• •The mushrooms, cock's combs, cocks' kidneys, and Glace de Viande can be prepared earlier the same day. Rewarm them gently at service, because boiling toughens the offal and dulls the pale garnish.
• •The pale roux and velouté base for the Sauce Allemande can wait for up to 4 hours. Add the yolk-and-cream liaison, mushroom essence, and truffle liquor only during the final reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)