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Quails, Galantine Of
Bone half a dozen quails. This is a delicate and troublesome process, and if the cook cannot manage it she had better let it be done by the poulterer. Mince finely the livers of the birds, and mix with them a minced sweetbread, two or three ounces of grated ham, and a little chopped parsley, minced shallot, and pepper and salt. Bind the forcemeat together with the yolk of an egg. Lay the birds open on the table, skin downwards. Divide the forcemeat equally amongst them, and spread half of it upon the birds. Lay upon each a slice of cold tongue, a spoonful of chopped truffle, if this can be had, and afterwards the rest of the forcemeat. Roll each bird to an oval shape, and tie it in a piece of old napkin. Lay the birds side by side, and put with them the bones and trimmings, a little pepper and salt, an onion stuck with two or three cloves, and either a knuckle of veal or a calf's foot. Cover with nicely-flavoured stock, and let the quails simmer gently for three-quarters of an hour. Take the saucepan from the fire, and let the birds remain in the liquor until they are nearly cold. Drain them, take them out of the napkins, and brush them over with glaze. Boil the sauce quickly to a jelly, and strain it. If it is not quite clear, clarify it with white of egg. Boil a pound of rice in a quart of water slightly salted, until it is quite tender, and the liquid is absorbed. Beat well till it is smooth, then press it into a plain round mould. When it is cold and stiff, turn it upon the centre of a large dish. Brush it over with clarified butter, and rest the quails in an upright position upon it. Garnish the dish with the gravy jelly, cut into dice, and the galantine will be ready for serving. Any small birds may be served in the same way. Probable cost of quails, when cheap, 1s. each. Sufficient for a moderate-sized supper dish.
A cold galantine built on a moulded rice base, meant for a supper table where it will be carved or handed round whole. Nothing here is difficult except the boning, and the recipe itself tells you to hand that off.
- The hinge: bone from the back, keep the skin wholeThe whole dish depends on each bird staying in one unbroken sheet so the forcemeat is contained during simmering. Slit along the backbone, work the carcass out with the knife tip against the bone, and leave wing and leg bones in if you like — they hold the oval shape. Any tear should be patched with a scrap of skin before rolling.
- Quail todayFarmed quail run 4-6 oz each, and boned or semi-boned birds can be ordered from a game dealer or good butcher, which removes the recipe's one real obstacle. Six birds is right for six to eight people as part of a cold table, rather less if it is the only dish.
- SweetbreadUse veal sweetbread, soaked in cold water for a few hours with a change or two, blanched for five minutes, cooled, and the membrane peeled off before mincing. Raw unblanched sweetbread will not mince cleanly and gives the forcemeat a grey cast.
- Tongue and ham"Cold tongue" means cooked, pressed ox tongue, sold sliced at good delicatessens; the grated ham should be a dry-cured one, not wet-cured sandwich ham, or the forcemeat will weep. Truffle is genuinely optional here, as the original concedes.
- "A piece of old napkin"Butter muslin or cheesecloth does the job — a double layer, rolled tight and tied at both ends like a cracker. Some cooks now roll first in cling film to set the shape, then in muslin for the poaching; the film must be the poach-safe kind and is removed before the birds go into the stock if you would rather not risk it.
- The setting agentThe knuckle of veal or calf's foot is there purely for gelatine, and the bones and trimmings reinforce it. If neither is obtainable, use a well-made veal or chicken stock and be prepared to add leaf gelatine to the reduced, strained liquor — about 4-5 sheets per pint gives a jelly firm enough to dice.
- CoolingThree-quarters of an hour at a bare simmer is correct for birds this size. Leaving them to go "nearly cold" in the liquor keeps them moist, but do not leave them at room temperature for hours: cool the pan quickly in a sink of iced water, then refrigerate, and keep the finished galantine chilled until it goes to table.
- Glaze and clarification"Glaze" is meat glaze — stock reduced to a syrup that sets tacky — brushed on the drained birds for shine. To clarify the jelly, whisk a lightly beaten egg white (with its crushed shell if you like) into the cool liquor, bring it slowly to a tremble without stirring, let the raft form, then ladle through a scalded cloth.
- The rice socleA pound of rice to a quart of water, cooked dry and beaten smooth, makes a stiff starch plinth — decorative architecture, not really eating. Short-grain or pudding rice works; long-grain will not bind. If a rice pedestal holds no appeal, set the quails on a shallow layer of the jelly instead and dice the rest for garnish.
- On the cost note"1s. each" is a later nineteenth-century shilling price and tells you only that quail were then cheap enough to buy by the dozen. Ignore it as a guide to anything but the period.
Galantine's name is often traced to the Old French for jelly or aspic — the word is said to share a root with gelée, though the derivation is disputed — and the dish is defined less by the bird than by the boning, the forcemeat and the clear jelly that sets around it. Cassell's places it among the small-bird cookery of the late Victorian supper table, when quail arrived in Britain in great numbers, largely imported and often fattened on arrival, cheap enough to be sold by the dozen and grand enough to sit on a moulded pedestal. The rice socle is a survival of the ornamental service of the period, when a cold dish was expected to have height and a carved or moulded base; such plinths were sometimes made of rice, sometimes of semolina or even inedible stiffened paste, and were there to be looked at rather than eaten. The closing line — "any small birds may be served in the same way" — is the honest note: this is a method for larks, snipe, plover, pigeon and whatever else came through the poulterer's door.