Boudins de Volaille Soubise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart heavy saucepan with lid
• •Wide skillet for reducing the filling
• •12-cup food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •12-inch sauté pan
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Parchment paper and kitchen twine
• •Wire rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the Soubise

   Melt 4 tablespoons of the unsalted butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Add the onions with half the Soubise salt, cover, and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely tender but still pale. Browning would give the sauce a sweetness and color it does not want. Stir in the rice, add 2½ cups (590 ml) of the chicken stock, and bring it to the barest simmer. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until the rice crushes easily under a spoon and the onions have nearly dissolved. Purée until smooth, then press through a fine-mesh sieve while warm.

   Keep the heat low and the lid on while the onions soften. If their edges begin to color, add a spoonful of the measured stock and lower the heat at once.
2. 2

   Reduce the truffled center

   Transfer 1¼ cups (300 ml / about 300 g) of the Soubise to a wide skillet. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring and scraping the pan continuously, until it has reduced to about ¾ cup (180 ml / about 180 g). It must hold a firm furrow when the spatula crosses the pan, and a spoonful set on a cold plate must show no watery rim. Remove it from the heat, fold in the chopped truffle, and taste for salt and white pepper. Spread the purée in a shallow dish, cover its surface, and chill for at least 1 hour. If liquid gathers as it cools, don't shape the boudins. Ça se rattrape: return the filling to the skillet, reduce it further, and chill it again.

3. 3

   Make the farce mousseline

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade for 15 minutes, and place the diced chicken in the freezer until very cold and slightly firm at the edges, about 20 minutes. Process the chicken with the forcemeat salt until it forms a sticky paste. Add the egg whites one at a time, processing only until each disappears, then add the ¾ cup of cold cream in a thin stream with the white pepper and nutmeg. This farce mousseline, a cream-lightened chicken forcemeat, should be smooth, glossy, and cold enough to cling firmly to a spoon. If it turns loose or grainy, stop before adding anything else. Chill it over ice for 10 minutes, then process briefly with 1 tablespoon of the optional cold cream; add the second only if needed. Poach a teaspoonful in barely trembling water for 2 minutes, taste it, and correct the seasoning.

4. 4

   Shape the boudins

   Divide the cold truffled Soubise into eight short batons, each about 3 inches long and 1½ tablespoons in volume. Chill them while you prepare eight sheets of parchment, each about 8 by 10 inches, and brush the centers lightly with softened butter. Spread one-eighth of the farce mousseline on each sheet in a rectangle about 4½ by 3½ inches. Lay a Soubise baton along the center, keeping it clear of every edge. Lift the parchment to fold the chicken around the filling, seal the long edges of forcemeat together, and roll each parcel into a snug cylinder. Twist and tie the parchment ends. Chill the shaped boudins for 20 minutes.

5. 5

   Poach at a tremble

   Bring a wide pan of water to 180°F (82°C), with only an occasional small bubble breaking the surface. Lower in the wrapped boudins and keep the water between 176°F and 180°F (80°C and 82°C), turning them once, for 16 to 20 minutes. The center of a test boudin must reach 165°F (74°C). Boiling water makes the forcemeat expand before it sets and can split the seam. If a parcel begins to swell, lower the heat immediately; if it opens, lift it out, wrap it tightly in fresh buttered parchment, and return it to gentler water. The crumb will cover the repaired seam.

6. 6

   Chill and crumb

   Lift the boudins from the water and let them settle in their wrappers for 10 minutes, then chill for at least 30 minutes. Unwrap them only when firm and cold, and blot every surface dry. Roll each boudin first in beaten egg and then in the fine breadcrumbs, pressing gently so the coating is complete but not heavy. The source calls for egg and crumbs, with no flour layer, and the chilled surface holds them perfectly. Set the coated boudins on a rack and chill for 15 minutes so the crust adheres.

7. 7

   Finish the Soubise claire

   Warm the remaining plain Soubise over low heat, adding as much of the reserved ½ cup (120 ml) chicken stock as needed to make it flow in a smooth ribbon. Pass it through the clean sieve once more, then whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons unsalted butter off the heat. This is the Soubise claire, the stock-built, pourable onion sauce served separately. It should lightly coat a spoon without standing stiffly on it. If it is thin, reduce it gently; if it tightens, loosen it with another spoonful of stock. Correct the salt and white pepper, then keep it warm without boiling.

8. 8

   Color in clarified butter

   Let the crumbed boudins stand out of the cold for 15 minutes. Heat half the clarified butter in a wide sauté pan over medium heat until fluid and shimmering. Brown four boudins at a time, rolling them through quarter turns for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crumbs are evenly butter-gold and the centers are hot. Add more clarified butter as the pan requires, and repeat with the second batch. If the crumbs color before the centers warm, lift the pan from the heat for a moment and continue at a gentler pace.

9. 9

   Serve at once

   Arrange two boudins per person on warm plates or bring all eight to the table on an oval platter. Pass the Soubise claire in a warm sauceboat rather than pouring it over the crust in advance; the separate sauce preserves the crisp crumb until each diner helps themselves. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Fresh black truffle is splendid when it is honestly in season. A good preserved whole truffle is the classical pantry's answer for the rest of the year; drain it well before chopping. Truffle oil supplies perfume but not the earthy pieces this filling requires.
• •Cold is structure. Chill the chicken, processor bowl, egg whites, and cream before making the farce mousseline, and stop processing if the bowl grows warm. The emulsion should feel almost firm under the spatula.
• •Fine dry breadcrumbs, not panko. The source wants a close, even shell that browns against the cylinder; coarse flakes make a ragged coat and drink too much butter.
• •Soubise claire does not mean transparent. It is the pale, stock-built onion-and-rice sauce kept untruffled and thin enough to pour, in contrast to the hard-reduced filling.
• •Serve with buttered spinach or haricots verts and a firm white Burgundy. Keep the plate simple. The cut center and the sauce have already done the work.

Advance Preparation

• •The Soubise can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep the hard-reduced truffled portion and the plain sauce portion in separate covered containers in the refrigerator.
• •Shape and poach the boudins up to 1 day ahead, cool them promptly, and refrigerate them in their parchment wrappers. Unwrap, dry, and crumb them on the day of serving.
• •The boudins may be coated with egg and breadcrumbs up to 6 hours before serving. Hold them uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator so the crumb stays dry, then let them stand for 15 minutes before coloring in clarified butter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 460g)