Lapwings’ Eggs à la Danoise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Eight 2½-inch (6 cm) tartlet molds
• •Food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Wide 3-quart saucepan
• •Small slotted spoon
• •Quail-egg scissors or small serrated knife
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pâte brisée

   Whisk the flour and salt together, then cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces remaining. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of ice water, tossing just until a squeezed handful holds together. If it remains sandy, add more water a teaspoon at a time; if it becomes sticky, stop handling it and chill it rather than burying it in extra flour. Form a flat disc, wrap it, and chill for 30 minutes. This pâte brisée, the short butter pastry, stays tender because you stop mixing before it becomes smooth.

   Cold butter leaves tiny pockets in the dough, giving the tartlets a crisp, delicate bite. Warm butter simply soaks into the flour.
2. 2

   Shape and blind-bake

   Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter eight 2½-inch (6 cm) tartlet molds. Roll the dough about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick, cut eight rounds, and ease them into the molds without stretching. Prick the bases, chill for 10 minutes, then line them with small pieces of parchment and fill with baking weights. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, remove the paper and weights, and brush the interiors thinly with beaten egg white. Bake for another 4 to 6 minutes, until evenly golden and dry. If a base puffs, press it down gently while warm; if a hairline crack appears, the egg white will seal it. Ça se rattrape. Unmold and cool completely.

3. 3

   Blend the salmon purée

   Reserve 1 teaspoon of the chilled cream. Process the smoked salmon until it forms a fine paste, scrape down the bowl, then add the softened butter a little at a time. Drizzle in the remaining cream and process only until the purée is smooth and satin-like. Press it once through a fine-mesh sieve. This is a small emulsion, and warmth is its enemy. If it turns oily, chill it for 5 minutes, then process it briefly with the reserved teaspoon of cream. Ça se rattrape. Cover and keep chilled, then let it soften for 10 minutes before filling the tartlets.

4. 4

   Prepare the poaching water

   Place 6 cups (1.4 liters) of the water and the vinegar in a wide saucepan. Heat it to 180 to 190°F (82 to 88°C), when the surface barely quivers and a few bubbles cling to the pan. Put the remaining 2 cups (475 ml) of water, comfortably warm but not hot, in a bowl for holding the eggs. Use quail-egg scissors or the point of a small serrated knife to open four eggs into four little cups. Quail shells are tough, so cracking them like hen eggs tends to drive fragments inward.

5. 5

   Poach at a tremble

   Slide one test egg close to the surface of the acidulated water. Poach for 45 to 60 seconds, until the white has gathered and turned opaque while the yolk remains fluid. If the white feathers outward, lower the heat and use a teaspoon to fold the strands gently around the yolk during the first few seconds. Ragged edges can be trimmed after poaching. Lift the egg with a small slotted spoon and place it in the bowl of warm plain water. Adjust the timing from that first egg, then poach the remaining eggs in two batches without crowding the pan. Hold them for no longer than 3 minutes.

6. 6

   Fill and serve

   Spread a rounded tablespoon of smoked salmon purée inside each cooled tartlet. Lift the eggs from the holding water, blot their undersides carefully on a clean towel, and set one in each shell. Serve two tartlets per person at once. The pastry should crack cleanly, the salmon should remain cool and smoky, and the yolk should run into the purée as its sauce. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Do not seek lapwing eggs from a collector. Lapwings are protected across much of their range, and taking wild eggs damages already pressured nesting populations. Farmed quail eggs are the honest modern equivalent, though they are smaller, which is why these tartlets are scaled to 2½ inches.
• •Choose supple cold-smoked salmon, not hot-smoked salmon, which flakes rather than forming the close, silky purée intended here. Taste before reaching for salt. The fish usually provides all the seasoning the butter needs.
• •Poach one quail egg alone before committing the batch. These eggs cook in moments, and their freshness changes the timing. Water that barely trembles gives you control; boiling water gives you lace and hard yolks.
• •Serve with brut Champagne or a dry Crémant. Its acidity cuts through the butter and smoked salmon without trampling the delicate eggs.
• •For guests who should avoid lightly cooked eggs or refrigerated smoked fish, serve fully set yolks and use hot-smoked salmon in the purée. The texture changes, and it is better to say so plainly.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the tartlet shells up to one day ahead and keep them airtight at room temperature. If they soften, bake them for 3 minutes at 350°F (175°C), then cool completely before filling.
• •Prepare the smoked salmon purée up to one day ahead and refrigerate it covered. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before spreading, but do not warm it.
• •Make and chill the pastry dough up to one day ahead. Poach the eggs and assemble the tartlets only when the guests are ready to eat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 130g)