Cailles Judic

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large covered sauté pan or shallow casserole
• •3-quart (2.8-liter) wide saucepan
• •12-inch (30-centimeter) skillet
• •Clean kitchen towels, a flat board, and a light weight for pressing
• •18-inch (46-centimeter) oval serving platter
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Braise and press lettuce

   Trim each lettuce core just enough to clean it while leaving the leaves attached. Blanch the lettuces in well-salted boiling water for 90 seconds, until flexible but still holding their shape, then drain and cool them in cold water. Squeeze each one gently from leaf to core and reshape it into a compact oval. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a wide covered pan, arrange the lettuces in one layer, add the chicken stock, and season with half the remaining salt and white pepper. Cover with parchment and a lid, then braise at the gentlest simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife enters the hearts without resistance. Lift them onto doubled clean towels, cover with more towels, and press beneath a board for 10 minutes. If they still release liquid when pressed, give them another five minutes. Ça se rattrape: lettuce that remains wet can be returned to a dry pan and turned gently until its surface moisture is gone.

   Don't discard the lettuce braising liquor. It doesn't belong in the Judic sauce, which must taste of quail fumet, but it makes a splendid beginning for a vegetable soup.
2. 2

   Reduce the demi-glace

   Reserve 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the quail fumet. Bring the remaining fumet to a lively simmer in a wide saucepan and reduce it to about 3/4 cup (180 ml). Add the veal demi-glace and, if using preserved truffles, their strained preserving liquid. Simmer gently until the sauce reaches nappe, meaning it coats the back of a spoon in a glossy film, and you have about 1 1/2 cups (355 ml). Skim any fat from the surface. If the sauce is thin, keep reducing; if it tightens too far, whisk in the reserved fumet a spoonful at a time. Hold it barely warm.

3. 3

   Poël the quails

   Prepare and cook the quails according to Poëlings (No. 250), using the referenced preparation at the scale of eight small birds. Cook until richly colored and until the thickest part of each thigh reaches at least 165°F (74°C), then transfer the birds to a warm dish, cover loosely, and rest them for 8 minutes. The poëling is not brigade scaffolding. It is the flavor of the bird, and it stays.

4. 4

   Sauté the kidneys

   Dry the kidneys thoroughly. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet over medium heat and add the kidneys in one uncrowded layer. Season with the remaining salt and white pepper, then turn them in the foaming butter for 2 to 3 minutes, until browned at the edges and just firm throughout. Too much cooking makes them chalky. If the pan begins to darken before the centers are cooked, lower the heat and add a teaspoon of water; the butter settles, and the kidneys finish gently.

5. 5

   Warm the truffles

   Set preserved truffles in the warm demi-glace for 3 minutes, turning them once so they take on its gloss. Fresh truffles need only 1 minute, since prolonged heat drives off their perfume. Lift them out, cover, and bring the sauce back to nappe without boiling it hard.

6. 6

   Rewarm the lettuces

   Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a wide skillet. Add the pressed lettuces and turn them gently over medium heat until hot, butter-glossed, and dry on the outside. Press one lightly with the back of a spoon before plating. If liquid beads around it, keep turning the lettuces for another minute. The demi-glace must meet a dry surface.

7. 7

   Build the crown

   Arrange the eight lettuces in a close ring on a large warmed platter, their tapered ends pointing outward. Set one quail squarely on each lettuce. Place one kidney on either side of every bird and crown each quail with one whole truffle. Spoon the quail-fumet demi-glace generously over the birds without drowning the lettuces, letting the sauce pool lightly beneath the crown. Carry it straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask a poultry butcher for the kidneys well in advance. Modern suppliers rarely separate kidneys by the sex of the bird, so chicken kidneys are the honest home equivalent to cocks’ kidneys. Livers are not: their soft, rich texture changes the garnish completely.
• •Whole truffles are not decoration here. They are part of the Judic composition. Fresh black truffles are magnificent in season, while whole preserved black truffles are the classical pantry's sound answer for the rest of the year.
• •Choose a prepared demi-glace made from real stock, one that sets to a firm jelly when cold. Salty brown gravy has neither the gelatin nor the depth to carry quail fumet, and reducing it only concentrates the mistake.
• •Press the lettuces more firmly than feels polite. Their appearance recovers when they are warmed in butter; a sauce diluted by hidden lettuce water does not recover until it has been reduced again.
• •Pour a mature red Burgundy with enough freshness to meet the truffle and demi-glace. The quail is delicate, so avoid a heavily oaked wine that arrives at the table before the food does.

Advance Preparation

• •The quail fumet and demi-glace can be prepared up to three days ahead and kept chilled separately. Reduce and combine them on the day of serving so the finished sauce retains its clean gloss.
• •The lettuces can be braised, pressed, covered, and chilled up to six hours ahead. Rewarm them in butter only after the quails have rested, and test again for escaping liquid.
• •The quails may be trussed and the kidneys trimmed earlier the same day. Keep both cold and dry, then bring the quails out shortly before their Poëlings preparation.
• •Do not assemble the crown in advance. The lettuce moistens the sauce and the quail loses its buttered surface as it waits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)