Poularde à la Nantua

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8 to 10-quart stockpot
• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Fine-mesh sieve and cheesecloth
• •Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Two teaspoons for shaping quenelles
• •Large oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Make crayfish butter

   Twist the tails from the crayfish, remove the meat and dark intestinal vein, then cover and refrigerate the tails. Put the shells, heads, and claws in a sturdy bag and crush them firmly with a rolling pin. Melt the softened butter over medium-low heat, add the crushed shells, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring and pressing often, until the butter turns coral and smells deeply of crayfish. Keep the heat gentle so the milk solids don't brown. Strain through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth, pressing hard to recover the butter. Reserve 1 tablespoon for the quenelles and keep the remainder soft for finishing the sauce.

   The old kitchen used a mortar and several hands to pound and press the shells. A rolling pin and fine sieve do the same honest work at home, provided you crush thoroughly and press without mercy.
2. 2

   Poach the poularde

   Set the poularde breast-side up in an 8 to 10-quart stockpot. Add the stock, onion, carrot, leek, bouquet garni, peppercorns, and 2 teaspoons of the salt, then add enough cold water to cover the bird by about 1 inch. Bring the liquid slowly to 180°F to 185°F (82°C to 85°C), skimming away any grey foam. Hold it at that bare tremble for 50 to 65 minutes, turning the bird once if it floats unevenly, until both the thickest breast and inner thigh register at least 165°F (74°C). Never let the pot boil. If it does, pull it from the burner, add a cup of cold water, and resume over gentler heat. Ça se rattrape. Lift the poularde onto a rack over a tray and cover loosely while you finish the garniture and sauce.

   A hard boil tightens the breast and clouds the liquor. The surface should move quietly, with an occasional lazy bubble and no rolling agitation.
3. 3

   Mix the quenelles

   While the poularde poaches, make a farce mousseline, a cream-lightened forcemeat. Process the cold diced chicken with ½ teaspoon of the salt and a pinch of white pepper until smooth and tacky. Add the egg white and process again. With the machine running, pour in the cold cream in a thin stream, stopping as soon as the mixture is smooth, then pulse in the reserved tablespoon of crayfish butter. Scrape the mousseline into a chilled bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. If the processor bowl begins to feel warm, stop and chill everything before continuing; warmth loosens the emulsion before it ever reaches the water.

4. 4

   Strain the liquor

   Strain the poultry poaching liquor through a fine sieve and discard the aromatics. Measure 2 cups for sauce suprême and keep another 4 cups for poaching the quenelles and warming the crayfish tails. Reserve a little extra in case the finished sauce needs loosening. Taste the liquor now. If it is already distinctly salty, dilute it with water before reduction, because reduction concentrates everything.

5. 5

   Poach the quenelles

   Bring the reserved poaching liquor to 175°F to 180°F (79°C to 82°C). Shape one teaspoon of chilled mousseline between two wet teaspoons and lower it into the liquor as a test. It should hold its oval shape and rise gently as it cooks. If it feathers or spreads, chill the mousseline for another 15 minutes and test again. Ça se rattrape. Shape 12 small quenelles and poach them without boiling for 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until firm and cooked to 165°F (74°C) at the center. Lift them into a covered warm dish. Add the crayfish tails to the liquor for 30 seconds, just long enough to warm them, then drain and keep them beside the quenelles.

6. 6

   Build sauce suprême

   Melt the roux butter in a medium saucepan over gentle heat. Stir in the flour and cook this roux blanc, or white roux, for 2 minutes without letting it color. Whisk in the 2 cups of hot poaching liquor gradually, making each addition smooth before the next. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, skimming if needed. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cream for a possible rescue, add the rest, and reduce for another 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce reaches a nappant consistency and coats the back of a spoon in an even veil. If it is lumpy, strain it. If it is too thick, loosen it with reserved liquor. Get the texture right now, before the crayfish butter enters.

7. 7

   Mount off heat

   Remove the sauce completely from the heat and wait 30 seconds. Whisk in the remaining crayfish butter a teaspoon at a time, letting each addition disappear before adding the next. Taste and correct the salt and white pepper. The sauce should be glossy, blush-ivory, and fluid enough to fall from the spoon in a broad ribbon. Do not boil it again. If the sauce turns oily or separates, put the reserved tablespoon of cold cream in a clean bowl and whisk in the broken sauce one spoonful at a time until the emulsion returns. Ça se rattrape. Hold the finished suprême over barely warm water for no more than 10 minutes.

8. 8

   Dish à la Nantua

   Warm a large oval platter with hot water and dry it well. Set the whole poularde in the center and coat it generously with sauce suprême. Arrange the quenelles in four small groups around the bird, three to a group, then place the warm crayfish tails and thin truffle slices between them. Spoon over enough additional sauce to gloss the garniture, serving the remainder in a warm sauceboat. Bring the poularde whole to the table and carve it there. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A true poularde is a specially fattened young hen with unusually tender, well-marbled flesh. If your butcher cannot order one, use a plump young roasting chicken of the same weight. The result will be slightly leaner, so the quiet poach matters even more.
• •Buy whole unseasoned crayfish, fresh or frozen and already cooked. Loose peeled tails cannot make the crayfish butter, and heavily spiced crawfish bring another table's seasoning into Nantua's sauce. The shells are not waste here; they are the foundation.
• •Fresh black truffle is magnificent when the season offers it, but a whole preserved black truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer. Drain it, slice it thinly, and use it with confidence. Truffle-flavored oil supplies perfume without the texture or quiet earthiness the garnish requires.
• •Serve with buttered rice or small boiled potatoes and nothing more elaborate. A dry Chardonnay from Bugey keeps the regional line clear and has enough freshness for the cream and crayfish butter.

Advance Preparation

• •The crayfish butter can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated in a covered container, or frozen for up to 1 month. Let it soften until pliable before mounting the sauce.
• •The farce mousseline can be mixed up to 6 hours ahead and kept very cold. The quenelles may be poached 1 day ahead, chilled promptly in a little strained poaching liquor, and rewarmed gently before serving.
• •Sauce suprême can be prepared through the cream reduction up to 4 hours ahead. Cool and refrigerate it, then reheat gently and adjust its consistency with poaching liquor. Mount with crayfish butter only at the last moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 490g)