Poularde Marguerite de Savoie

Poularde Marguerite de Savoie (pullet filled with little birds and braised in Savoy wine) teaches that timing is part of technique. The Polenta (No. 2294) must be cold and firm before the bird goes into the pot, because a warm slab tears beneath the cutter and drinks the frying butter. That is the one true thing to know before you touch a pan.

At the table, the poularde rests on a low cushion of butter-fried bread, its pale-gold skin glossed with concentrated cooking liquor. Crisp polenta roundels make a generous ring around it, Parmesan bronzed across their tops, while white Piedmont truffles arrive separately in a little dish of butter and consommé. It is ceremonial food, certainly, but cooking well is not cooking fancy.

The original kitchen assumed ten larks, veal stock never off the fire, a saucier reducing the braising liquor, and a salamander ready while another pair of hands fried the polenta. Here, two farmed quail replace protected wild larks because they are larger and lawfully available; good unsalted veal stock replaces the perpetual stockpot, a covered cocotte handles the braise, and an ordinary broiler gives the Parmesan its quick glaze. The separate cooks were brigade scaffolding. The nested birds, equal measures of stock and Savoy wine, cold-set polenta, real butter, and truffle accompaniment are the dish, so they stay.

This is one cook, one stove, one evening. Make the Polenta (No. 2294) first, chill it until it offers clean resistance to the cutter, and only then begin the birds.