Timbale de Bécasse Nesselrode

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •1½-quart (1.5-liter) metal Charlotte mould, about 6 inches (15 cm) wide
• •Heavy lidded pan sized closely to the woodcocks
• •Food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Rimmed baking sheet

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pâte brisée

   Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized flakes remaining. Add the ice-cold water gradually, stopping as soon as the pâte brisée, the savory short paste, holds together when pressed. Flatten it into a disc, wrap, and chill for at least thirty minutes. If it remains crumbly, add cold water one teaspoon at a time; if it turns sticky, chill it rather than burying it in more flour.

2. 2

   Prepare the game forcemeat

   Soak the bread in the milk for ten minutes, then squeeze it lightly to make the panada. Process the ice-cold raw game meat with the salt and white pepper until it becomes tacky, add the panada, then work in the cold butter a piece at a time. Fry a teaspoonful and taste for seasoning. The forcemeat must remain cold and close-textured; if it becomes shiny or greasy, the butter is warming. Stop, spread it on a chilled plate, and refrigerate for fifteen minutes before pulsing it briefly again. Ça se rattrape. Cover and keep cold.

3. 3

   Poêle the woodcocks

   Cook the woodcocks using Poëlings (No. 250), keeping the vessel snug and retaining every drop of its finished liquor. Take the birds out while the breasts remain distinctly underdone, since they will cook again inside the timbale. Let them stand only until they can be handled, then begin dismantling them; leaving the cooked birds whole traps heat and carries the suprêmes too far.

4. 4

   Build the game paste

   Raise the suprêmes cleanly from the breasts and slice them across into neat collops about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick. Refrigerate them at once. Remove every usable morsel of meat from the legs and frames, weigh it, then weigh raw foie gras equal to exactly one-quarter of that amount. Process the cooked meat and foie gras to a paste, press it through a fine sieve, and weigh the result. Fold in precisely the same weight of the cold game forcemeat. This equal-weight ratio gives the lining both the savor of roasted woodcock and the structure to hold the collops. Cover and chill.

5. 5

   Extract the fumet

   Chop the stripped carcasses into small pieces and return them to the liquor from Poëlings (No. 250). Take the pan off the heat, add the Cognac, then return it to a gentle simmer and cook for eight minutes, crushing the bones once or twice with a spoon. Strain through a fine sieve and remove the surface fat. Bring the fumet to the barest simmer, add the olive-shaped truffles, and poach fresh truffles for four minutes or preserved truffles for one minute. Lift them out and chill them. Reserve all the fumet.

6. 6

   Reduce the filling sauce

   Combine the Sauce Espagnole with ½ cup (120 ml) of the fumet and simmer until reduced to about ⅓ cup (80 ml), glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon without running like broth. Cool it completely. If it tightens too far, loosen it with a spoonful of reserved fumet; if it remains thin, keep reducing. Thin sauce soaks the pastry, and no amount of hopeful baking corrects it.

7. 7

   Line the Charlotte mould

   Butter a 1½-quart (1.5-liter) metal Charlotte mould thoroughly. Reserve one-third of the pastry for the lid, then roll the rest to about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick and line the mould in one piece, pressing it gently into the bottom angle and leaving ¾ inch (2 cm) overhanging. Avoid stretching, which makes the pastry retreat in the oven. If it tears, patch it from inside with a thin scrap brushed with water, press the seam flat, and chill the lined mould for fifteen minutes.

8. 8

   Assemble the timbale

   Spread the chilled woodcock forcemeat about ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick over the bottom and sides of the pastry. Set the woodcock suprême collops against this lining in overlapping rows, keeping their cut faces visible. Pack the poached truffles into the centre and spoon the cold Espagnole reduction over them. Roll out the reserved pastry, brush the exposed rim with beaten egg, and set the lid in place. Crimp firmly, trim the excess, cut a small central vent, and glaze the top. If the forcemeat softens or the pastry begins to shine, refrigerate the entire mould before continuing. Cold assembly is the step that decides the dish.

9. 9

   Bake until burnished

   Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Set the mould on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about forty-five minutes, keeping the source recipe's good, moderate heat, until the pastry is deeply golden and the centre of the forcemeat reaches 165°F (74°C). If the top colors before the filling is ready, cover it loosely with foil without blocking the vent. If the centre has not reached temperature at forty-five minutes, continue in five-minute intervals. Rest the baked timbale in its mould for fifteen minutes.

10. 10

    Finish and unmould

    While the timbale rests, combine the demi-glace with the remaining fumet and simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon while still pouring freely. If reduction makes it too strong or salty, restore the balance with hot water a tablespoon at a time. Loosen the pastry edge, invert the timbale onto a warm serving dish, and lift the mould straight upward. If it clings, wrap the mould for thirty seconds in a towel wrung out in hot water, then try again. Spoon a little sauce around the base and serve the remainder in a sauceboat. If a corner cracks, set that side toward the carver and carry on with confidence. Never apologize at your own table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Woodcock must be legally sourced, oven-ready, and suitable for the table. If it cannot be bought where you live, the source itself permits pheasant, partridge, or hazel-hen by the same method. Rename the finished dish for the bird used, such as Timbale de Faisan Nesselrode; the name should tell the truth.
• •Five ounces of truffle is deliberate, not decoration. Fresh black truffle is splendid in season, while good whole preserved truffles are the honest classical-pantry answer when fresh ones are poor or unavailable. Drain preserved truffles well and poach them only briefly.
• •Use a scale for the forcemeat ratios. The cooked woodcock meat receives one-quarter its weight in foie gras, and the sieved result receives its own weight in game forcemeat. Volume measures cannot protect that balance.
• •The processor saves the old work of pounding, but the fine sieve still matters. It removes sinew and small bone fragments while giving the paste the close texture needed to support the suprêmes.
• •Serve with a mature red Burgundy or another fragrant, restrained red. The wine should meet the woodcock and truffle without bullying them; this timbale already knows how grand it is.

Advance Preparation

• •The pâte brisée can be made one day ahead and kept wrapped in the refrigerator. Let it soften only enough to roll without cracking.
• •The game forcemeat can be prepared one day ahead and held very cold. Fry and taste its seasoning before storing it.
• •The woodcocks may be poëled, dismantled, and chilled earlier on the day of serving. Make the fumet and both sauce bases at the same time, then refrigerate them separately.
• •The timbale may be assembled up to two hours before baking and kept refrigerated. Longer holding lets the central sauce soften the pastry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 420g)