Suprêmes de Pigeonneaux aux Truffes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Narrow boning knife
• •Food processor with chilled bowl and blade
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Piping bag with 3/4-inch / 2 cm plain tube
• •Ovenproof oval platter, about 12 by 9 inches / 30 by 23 cm
• •Roasting pan for the shallow water bath
• •Wide 12-inch / 30 cm sauté pan
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Reduce the pale glaze

   Pour the chicken stock into a small wide saucepan and boil it briskly until only 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) remain, about 15 to 20 minutes. It should be pale amber, gelatinous, and able to coat a spoon without tasting scorched or aggressively salty. This is the home equivalent of the pale meat glaze once kept ready by the saucier. If it reduces into a stiff syrup, whisk in a spoonful of water until it flows again. Ça se rattrape. Set it beside the stove, and heat the oven to 300°F / 150°C.

   Use unsalted stock. Salt concentrates with the reduction, and a well-seasoned carton can become briny before it develops the body the sauce needs.
2. 2

   Raise the suprêmes

   Place one squab breast-side up. With a narrow sharp knife, cut beside the keel bone and follow the ribs closely, lifting away each breast fillet in one clean piece while leaving its skin attached. Repeat to produce eight suprêmes. Save the legs and carcasses for another meal or stock. Lay each suprême between sheets of parchment and press the thick end gently with the flat base of a small saucepan until the fillet is an even 5/8 inch / 1.5 cm thick. This is flattening, not pounding; torn pigeon dries quickly. Cover and return the suprêmes to the cold.

3. 3

   Make the farce mousseline

   Chill the bowl and blade of a food processor for 10 minutes. Process the cold chicken with 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 6 g) of the salt and half the white pepper until it becomes smooth and tacky. Add the egg white and process just until absorbed, then pour in the cold cream in three additions, pulsing briefly after each. The farce mousseline should be satin-smooth and hold a soft ridge. If it turns loose or greasy, stop, set the bowl over ice for 10 minutes, and pulse once or twice when thoroughly cold. Ça se rattrape. Press the farce through a fine-mesh sieve, then poach a teaspoonful in barely simmering water until it reaches 165°F / 74°C. Taste that cooked sample and correct the seasoning without tasting the raw mixture.

   Cold is structural here. Warm cream and an overworked processor melt the chicken fat, leaving a grainy border instead of a tender one.
4. 4

   Pipe and poach border

   Brush an ovenproof oval platter lightly with 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) of the clarified butter. Transfer the farce to a piping bag fitted with a 3/4-inch / 2 cm plain tube. Pipe two close, continuous ropes into an oval band about 1 1/2 inches / 4 cm wide, leaving the center open, and smooth the joining seam with a wet fingertip. If the band begins to slump, chill the entire platter for 10 minutes before cooking. Set the platter inside a roasting pan and pour just-boiled water around it to a depth of 1/2 inch / 1 cm. Tent loosely with buttered parchment and oven-poach for 14 to 18 minutes, until the border is ivory, gently firm, and 165°F / 74°C at its thickest point. Lift out the platter and dry its underside.

5. 5

   Prepare the final mise

   Lower the oven to 200°F / 95°C and hold the poached border there for no more than 10 minutes. Slice the truffle into 32 fine slices, exactly four for each suprême, and keep them covered. Place the Madeira, pale meat glaze, and cold butter cubes beside the stove. The sauce will wait for none of them once the pigeon leaves the pan.

6. 6

   Sauté the suprêmes

   Pat the suprêmes dry and season them with 3/4 teaspoon (3.75 ml / 4.5 g) salt and the remaining white pepper. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) clarified butter in a wide sauté pan over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add the suprêmes in one uncrowded layer, presentation-side down. Rock the pan so the clarified butter washes around them, cooking for about 90 seconds until lightly bronzed, then turn and cook for another 60 to 90 seconds. Remove each as its center reaches 155°F / 68°C, place it directly on the warm forcemeat border, and rest it there for at least one minute. For pregnant, elderly, very young, or immunocompromised guests, cook the pigeon to 165°F / 74°C.

   Small suprêmes vary in thickness, so follow the thermometer and their spring rather than forcing every piece to obey the same clock.
7. 7

   Reduce Madeira with truffle

   Pour off any excess clarified butter without disturbing the browned fond. Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the Madeira, and scrape the pan clean as it bubbles. Reduce it to about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g), then add the pale meat glaze and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Add all 32 truffle slices and turn them through the sauce for 20 to 30 seconds, just long enough to warm and perfume the glaze. Do not boil them into exhaustion.

8. 8

   Monter au beurre

   Take the pan completely off the heat. Monter au beurre (finish by whisking in cold butter), adding the cubes one at a time until the sauce is glossy, cohesive, and thick enough to veil a spoon. Never boil it after the butter goes in. If oily beads appear, whisk 1 teaspoon of cold water in a clean bowl, then add the broken sauce back a spoonful at a time until smooth. Ça se rattrape. Taste before adding the reserved 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) salt. Coat each suprême with sauce, then lift exactly four truffle slices onto each one. Spoon the remaining glaze inside the forcemeat border and serve immediately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask a poultry butcher to raise the suprêmes if whole-bird work would divide your attention. Request eight intact breast fillets from four squab, with the skin left on, and take the legs and carcasses home. The butchery station is scaffolding; the cut itself must remain exact.
• •Fresh black truffle gives the deepest perfume, but a good whole preserved truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer outside its season. Drain it well and slice it yourself. Truffle paste and flavored oil cannot supply the required 32 slices or the same texture.
• •Choose dry Sercial or medium-dry Verdelho Madeira, not salted cooking wine. The pan reduces it hard, so sweetness and poor seasoning would only become louder.
• •The source assigns four fine truffle slices to every suprême. Count them before cooking. They belong to the sauce itself, not to a last-minute decorative flourish.
• •Serve a fragrant red Burgundy with enough acidity to meet the pigeon and Madeira without overwhelming the truffle. A simple celery-root purée or buttered spinach is enough beside it; the composed platter has already said what it came to say.

Advance Preparation

• •Reduce the pale meat glaze up to 3 days ahead. Chill it covered, then warm it gently before beginning the final sauce.
• •Raise and flatten the suprêmes up to 1 day ahead. Keep them covered on a tray in the cold, then dry their surfaces thoroughly before seasoning.
• •The farce mousseline may be made up to 4 hours ahead and held below 40°F / 4°C. Pipe and poach the border close to serving so it stays tender.
• •Slice the truffle and cube the finishing butter before the pigeon enters the pan. The finished Madeira-butter emulsion does not hold well and must be served at once.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)