Poularde à la Beaufort

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5 to 6-quart heavy oval cocotte with lid
• •Small covered saucepan for the lambs' tongues
• •Small ovenproof dish for the foie gras
• •Fine-mesh sieve and fat separator
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Kitchen twine and two small skewers
• •Blender or food mill
• •Pastry bag with a large star tip
• •Warm oval serving platter and sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Raidir the foie gras

   Heat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Season the foie gras with ¼ teaspoon of the salt and a pinch of white pepper, place it in a snug ovenproof dish, and spoon over the Madeira. Cover loosely and bake for exactly 20 minutes, just until the outside firms while the centre remains yielding. This is raidir, to stiffen gently, not to roast until the foie surrenders all its fat. Drain it, cool for 20 minutes, then chill until firm enough to handle. If it breaks into soft pieces or renders heavily, do not discard it. Ça se rattrape: press the drained pieces together in a small dish and chill them into one firm block.

   Keep the rendered foie gras fat for potatoes or toast, but leave it out of the stuffing. The sausage meat and the bird already provide all the richness the braising liquor requires.
2. 2

   Braise the tongues

   While the foie gras cooks and cools, rinse the lambs' tongues and place them in a saucepan with 2 cups of the chicken stock, the cold water, the bouquet garni, and ½ teaspoon salt. The liquid should barely cover them. Bring it to a gentle tremble, cover, and cook for 1½ to 2 hours, until a knife enters the thick end without resistance. Lift out one tongue at a time and peel away the coarse skin while it is still warm, then trim the root neatly. If the skin clings, the tongue is not ready; return it to the liquid for 10 minutes and try again. Hold the peeled tongues in a little strained cooking liquor.

   Never boil tongues hard. Fierce bubbling tightens the meat before the connective tissue has time to soften.
3. 3

   Make the Soubise

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a covered saucepan over low heat. Add the onions with ½ teaspoon salt and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely soft but still pale. Colour would make the finished Soubise muddy. Stir in the rice and ½ cup of the chicken stock, cover again, and cook gently for 25 minutes, until both rice and onion collapse beneath a spoon. Purée until smooth, press through a fine sieve, then return it to the pan with the cream and 1 tablespoon butter. Cook gently until it holds a piped ridge. If it becomes loose, keep stirring over low heat until the excess moisture leaves; if it becomes too tight, loosen it with hot stock one spoonful at a time.

4. 4

   Stuff the poularde

   Raise the oven to 350°F (175°C). Dry the poularde thoroughly inside and out, then season the cavity and skin with most of the remaining salt and white pepper. Working from the neck and cavity openings, use the tip of a narrow paring knife to make 12 short channels into the breast and thigh flesh without piercing the outer skin. Push a truffle baton into each channel with a metal skewer or chopstick. This is the home equivalent of the larding needle the old larder kept at hand. Place the chilled foie gras in the centre of the cavity and fit the sausage meat loosely around it. Do not ram the stuffing tight, which delays cooking and presses out the foie gras. Close the opening with two small skewers and truss the bird securely with kitchen twine.

   If one truffle channel breaks through the skin, tuck the skin back over it and let the trussing hold it in place. The flavour remains exactly where it belongs.
5. 5

   Build the fond

   Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a snug heavy cocotte over medium heat. Brown the poularde patiently on its breast, back, and both sides, turning it with folded towels or broad tongs, until the skin is evenly butter-gold, about 12 to 15 minutes. Lift it out and brown the reserved neck, gizzard, and heart for 4 minutes, if the bird supplied them. The brown glaze left on the pot floor is the fond, the foundation of the final liquor. Keep it bronze, not black.

6. 6

   Braise with little liquor

   Return the poularde to the cocotte breast-side up. Pour 1¼ cups of the remaining chicken stock around it, scraping the fond into the liquid, and bring it only to a bare simmer. The stock must reach no higher than the lower third of the bird; if your cocotte is narrow and the liquid rises farther, hold some back. Cover and braise in the oven for 70 to 90 minutes, basting at 25-minute intervals. Add the reserved ¼ cup stock only if the pot threatens to dry. The poularde is ready when the centre of the sausage stuffing reaches 165°F (74°C) and the thickest thigh reaches at least 170°F (77°C). If the stuffing is below temperature, cover the bird again, add a spoonful of stock, and return it to the oven for 10 minutes before checking once more. Ça se rattrape, and the thermometer settles the argument.

   Short liquor is the dish. If you accidentally add too much stock, the bird is not lost, but the liquor will need a longer reduction after the poularde comes out.
7. 7

   Rest the bird

   Lift the poularde onto a warm tray, tipping any liquid from the cavity back into the cocotte. Remove the trussing string but leave the bird whole for presentation. Cover it loosely and rest for 20 to 25 minutes. Resting lets the stuffing settle into clean slices and returns the juices to the meat; carve too soon and both run across the platter.

8. 8

   Clear the liquor

   Strain the braising liquor and resting juices through a fine sieve into a small saucepan, pressing lightly on the browned giblets before discarding them. Remove every visible trace of fat with a separator or shallow spoon, then reduce the liquor briskly until about 1 cup remains and it coats a spoon with a clear, light gloss. Do not thicken it with flour or cream; the bird's gelatin supplies its body. If the liquor looks greasy or cloudy, whisk in 1 tablespoon of cold water, let it stand for 30 seconds, and skim again. Ça se rattrape. If it tastes too strong or salty, add a little unsalted stock and stop reducing as soon as the balance returns.

9. 9

   Finish the entourage

   Warm the peeled lambs' tongues gently in their reserved liquor, then drain them and glaze with half of the remaining tablespoon of butter and a spoonful of the reduced braising liquor. In the same pan, warm the artichoke bottoms with the remaining butter and another spoonful of liquor. Reheat the Soubise over low heat, adding a teaspoon of stock if it has tightened, then transfer it to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe a generous rosette of Soubise into each artichoke bottom.

10. 10

    Arrange and serve

    Set the whole poularde directly on a warm low oval platter. The original cushion supplied height but no flavour, so it has done its work and may retire. Alternate the four glazed lambs' tongues with the four filled artichoke bottoms around the bird, spoon a little clear braising liquor at the base, and send the rest in a warm sauceboat. Carve at the table, giving each guest poularde, foie gras and sausage stuffing, one tongue, one Soubise-filled artichoke bottom, and plenty of liquor. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A true poularde is a plump, well-fattened young hen with generous breast meat and enough fat to stay succulent through braising. If your butcher cannot supply one, use a fine 4 to 4½-pound roasting chicken. The result will be slightly leaner, but careful browning and short moistening matter more than the label.
• •Ask for chair à saucisse, fine sausage meat, made from pork and fat with restrained seasoning. Sage-heavy breakfast sausage and fennel sausage drag the dish into another larder entirely.
• •Use fresh foie gras or a properly frozen raw piece, not pâté or mousse. For the truffle, a small whole preserved black truffle is an honest classical-pantry answer when fresh truffles are unavailable; truffle oil cannot be studded through a bird and contributes no texture.
• •Order the lambs' tongues from a butcher in advance. They are not decoration but part of the Beaufort entourage, one tender, savoury portion for each guest. Plain frozen or canned artichoke bottoms are equally proper, provided they are packed in water rather than an oil marinade.
• •The cocotte should hold the bird snugly. In a wide roasting pan, short liquor evaporates before it can draw enough gelatin from the poularde; in an oversized deep pot, the same measure spreads too low to baste properly.
• •Pour a broad white Burgundy with enough acidity to meet the foie gras and Soubise, or a supple red Burgundy if truffle is the note you want to carry. The dish is Parisian in composition, so the wine need not pretend otherwise.

Advance Preparation

• •The foie gras may be stiffened with Madeira and chilled up to 24 hours ahead. Keep it covered and cold, then place it in the bird directly from the refrigerator.
• •The lambs' tongues may be braised, peeled, and refrigerated in their strained cooking liquor up to 24 hours ahead. Reheat them gently in that liquor before glazing.
• •The Soubise may be made up to 24 hours ahead and chilled with its surface covered. Reheat over low heat and loosen with hot stock by the teaspoon until it once again holds a clean rosette.
• •Do not stuff the poularde the day before. Assemble and truss it shortly before browning so the cold stuffing spends as little time as possible inside raw poultry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 700g)