Côte de Veau à la Dreux

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 12-inch (30 cm) skillet
• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Larding needle, or narrow metal skewer and slim paring knife
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Two teaspoons for shaping quenelles
• •Broad saucepan for poaching
• •Very sharp slicing knife
• •Large warmed serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the mousseline

   Chill the bowl and blade of a food processor. Pulse the cold chicken with ½ teaspoon of the salt and the white pepper until it becomes a smooth, sticky paste, then add the egg white and pulse until fully absorbed. With the machine running in short bursts, add the cold cream gradually, stopping as soon as the mousseline is smooth. Season with nutmeg. If the mixture grows warm, loose or oily, stop immediately and chill it for 15 minutes. Ça se rattrape. Forcing a warm mousseline only separates its fat.

   Poach a teaspoon of mousseline before shaping the batch. Taste it cold enough to judge the seasoning, then correct the remaining mixture while you still can.
2. 2

   Poach the quenelles

   Heat the water in a broad saucepan until it barely trembles, about 175°F (80°C). Using two teaspoons dipped in cold water, shape 12 small quenelles de volaille, meaning chicken dumplings, or 20 smaller ones if they will replace the poultry offal. Slip them into the water and poach gently for 5 to 7 minutes, turning once, until firm and cooked through. Lift them onto a towel. If the first quenelle frays, the water or mousseline is too warm: lower the heat, rechill the mixture and begin again.

3. 3

   Stud the veal

   Chill the ham, tongue and truffle batons for 15 minutes so they stay firm. Lay each chop flat and use a narrow larding needle, or a metal skewer followed by the tip of a slim paring knife, to make nine straight channels through the kernel of the meat from one broad face to the other. Thread three batons of ham, three of tongue and three of truffle through each chop in an even pattern, leaving the ends barely proud on both faces. If a channel tears, stop, rechill the chop and make one clean channel beside it rather than widening the damage. Pat the chops dry and season with 1½ teaspoons salt and the black pepper.

4. 4

   Cook gently in butter

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Melt 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g) of the butter in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the chops in two batches, basting steadily, until each face is pale gold, about 3 minutes per side, then briefly colour the fat edge. Transfer them to a rack set over a roasting pan and finish in the oven until the centres reach 140 to 142°F (60 to 61°C), about 8 to 12 minutes. Rest for 8 minutes so they finish at a safe 145°F (63°C). Keep the butter foaming rather than scorching; if its milk solids turn dark before the veal colours, lower the heat, wipe out the bitter solids and continue with fresh butter.

5. 5

   Trim to the quick

   Set each rested chop flat and use a very sharp slicing knife to shave a paper-thin layer from each broad face, just enough to expose clean cross-sections of ham, tongue and truffle. This is trimmer work, not carving. If the first shaving leaves an uneven patch, take one more thin slice only; cutting deeply sacrifices both juiciness and the pattern you worked to make. Reserve any resting juices for the sauce and hold the chops loosely covered in the turned-off oven.

6. 6

   Warm the garnish

   Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter in a wide sauté pan. Add the mushrooms with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and cook until lightly bronzed and tender, about 6 minutes. Add ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) veal stock, the fully cooked cocks’ combs completed through Blanchings (No. 273), the cock kidneys and the turned olives completed through Blanchings (No. 273). Cover and warm gently for 4 minutes, then add the quenelles for the final 2 minutes. If using extra quenelles instead of poultry offal, add all of them only at the end so they remain delicate. Drain the garnish well before plating.

7. 7

   Finish the demi-glace

   Warm the sauce demi-glace with the truffle juice and the reserved veal juices at a bare simmer until it coats the back of a spoon in a glossy film. Remove it from the heat and swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter. If the sauce tightens too far, loosen it a spoonful at a time with the remaining veal stock. If it is thin, reduce it before adding the butter. Once mounted, never boil it hard or the gloss turns greasy.

8. 8

   Compose the platter

   Arrange the chops on a warmed platter with their bare bones facing outward and their inlaid faces clearly visible. Ring them generously with the quenelles, mushrooms, cocks’ combs and kidneys, and olives, then spoon a little truffled demi-glace over the garnish rather than hiding the veal. Leave the bones bare. The paper frill was ceremony, not flavour. Carry the platter straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask for pale, bone-in veal rib chops cut a full 1½ inches (4 cm) thick. A thin chop cannot hold the channels securely and will be overcooked before the butter has done its work.
• •Preserved whole black truffle packed in its own juice is an honest choice here because the liquid flavours the sauce exactly where the old formula calls for truffle essence. Avoid perfumed truffle oil. It gives aroma without the deep, earthy flavour the garnish needs.
• •Cocks’ combs and cock kidneys, the latter a classical name for rooster testicles, are specialist poultry offal. Order them fully prepared from a trusted supplier. If they cannot be found, additional chicken quenelles preserve the garnish’s tenderness and pale colour without pretending the substitution is invisible.
• •Buy true prepared veal demi-glace from a butcher or good frozen supplier, not an aggressively salted gravy concentrate. The sauce should taste of reduced veal stock before it tastes of anything else.
• •Serve a mature red Burgundy or a structured white Burgundy. Either has enough restraint for veal and enough depth for truffle without bullying the quenelles.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken mousseline can be mixed and the quenelles poached one day ahead. Chill them in a covered container, then warm them gently with the garnish.
• •Complete Blanchings (No. 273) for the cocks’ combs and olives in advance, then finish cooking the combs and cock kidneys according to their own preparations. They should reach this recipe fully cooked and ready only for reheating.
• •The veal sauce demi-glace can be prepared several days ahead or frozen in measured portions. Add the truffle juice and butter only during the final reheating.
• •The chops may be studded up to 6 hours ahead and kept covered in the cold. Bring them out 20 minutes before cooking so the centres lose their deepest chill, but keep the inserted batons firm.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 425g)