Rizotto de Cailles

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch lidded sauté pan
• •3-quart heavy saucepan
• •Small saucepan for holding the poultry stock
• •Mortar and pestle or broad chef's knife for pounding the stuffing
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Deep 12-inch serving dish with a raised rim

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the quails

   Pound the pork fatback and white truffle together until they form a cohesive paste, keeping their weights equal as the original formula requires. Divide the paste into four hazelnut-sized portions. Pat the quails thoroughly dry, season their cavities and skins with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the white pepper, then place one portion of truffled fat inside each cavity. Tie the legs loosely together so the filling stays where it belongs.

   Keep the fatback and truffle cold while you pound them. If the fat turns greasy and loose, chill the mixture for ten minutes, then divide it.
2. 2

   Start the rizotto

   Hold the poultry stock at a bare simmer. Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, add the onion and a pinch of the remaining salt, and cook until translucent without allowing it to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes, until every grain is glossy and hot. Add the stock one ladle at a time, stirring regularly and waiting until each addition is nearly absorbed before adding the next. After 10 minutes, the outside of each grain should be tender while its centre remains plainly firm. Add one more ladle of stock, take the pan off the heat, and cover it loosely while you brown the birds.

3. 3

   Brown and cover quails

   Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a 12-inch lidded sauté pan over medium heat. Add the quails breast-side down and brown them patiently on the breasts, backs, and sides, turning with tongs until their skins are deep golden, about 6 minutes altogether. Lower the heat, cover, and cook for another 7 to 9 minutes, turning once. While they cook, return the rizotto to medium-low heat and continue adding hot stock until the rice is tender with a fine point of resistance at its centre. If the waiting rice has clumped, add two ladles of hot stock and stir gently; ça se rattrape. The quails are ready when an instant-read thermometer reaches 165°F / 74°C in the thickest part of the inner thigh.

   If the butter races from hazelnut-brown toward black, lower the heat and add 1 tablespoon of poultry stock to arrest the browning. Acrid butter cannot become a good fumet sauce.
4. 4

   Emulsify with quail fat

   Transfer the cooked quails to a warm plate. Tilt their pan and spoon every clear drop of butter, rendered pork fat, and quail juice into the finished rizotto, leaving the dark browned deposits in the pan for the fumet. Add the Parmesan and stir firmly for about 30 seconds, until the fat binds with the rice's starch and the rizotto flows in a slow, creamy wave. This transfer is the dish. If shiny beads of fat remain separate, the rice is too cool or too dry; beat in 1 tablespoon of hot stock at a time until it comes together.

5. 5

   Make the fumet swillings

   Set the quail pan over medium-high heat and pour in the game fumet. Scrape every browned deposit from the pan floor as the fumet comes to a brisk simmer, then reduce it for 3 to 5 minutes, until about ½ cup remains and it lightly coats a spoon. These are the saucepan-swillings named by the source, concentrated but still pourable. If they become too strong or salty, stop the reduction and lengthen them with a spoonful of hot poultry stock.

6. 6

   Shape and serve

   Spoon the rizotto into a warmed, deep serving dish and shape it into a generous round timbale with the back of the spoon. Hollow the centre into a broad nest, keeping enough rice beneath it to hold the fumet. If the rizotto has tightened while the sauce reduced, loosen it first with 2 tablespoons of hot stock. Sit the four quails in the hollow, breasts uppermost, and pour the fumet swillings over the birds and into the nest. Carry it straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Fresh white truffle is part of the stuffing, not a decorative shaving, and its equal weight with the pork fat must stay. When fresh truffle isn't available, a good preserved white truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer; drain and weigh it, and expect a gentler perfume. Truffle oil is not the same ingredient.
• •Choose plump quails of similar size so they finish together. Technique first: dry skins, patient browning, and a thermometer will do more for this dish than an extravagant bird handled carelessly.
• •Use a lightly seasoned game fumet because the pan reduction concentrates salt as well as flavour. Poultry stock can cook the rice, but it cannot replace the final fumet without changing the dish's game character.
• •A supple red Burgundy suits the browned quail and truffle without flattening the rice. Keep the wine's tannin gentle; this is a butter-built dish, not a heavy braise.

Advance Preparation

• •The game fumet may be prepared up to three days ahead and kept cold, then measured before cooking. Leave it lightly seasoned because it will reduce in the quail pan.
• •The quails may be stuffed and tied up to four hours ahead. Keep them covered in the cold, then remove them twenty minutes before cooking so they brown evenly.
• •Measure the rice, stock, butter, and Parmesan before the quails meet the pan. Cook the rizotto only at serving time; reheated rice loses the flowing texture this presentation requires.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)