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Turkey, Galantine Of
This dish, though rather troublesome to prepare, is an excellent one for luncheon or supper. Pluck, draw, and singe a plump hen turkey; cut it in two down the breast, cut off the wings and neck, and bone it carefully without injuring the skin, first removing the back-bone. Remove some of the flesh from the inside of the turkey and from the legs, especially all the sinews. Lay the turkey flat on the table, skin downwards, and truss the legs inside. Spread on it a layer of veal forcemeat an inch deep, then put a layer of the meat cut from the turkey, and on this some strips of cooked lean ham and fat bacon, lean veal, boiled tongue, with three or four sliced truffles, if obtainable. The meat and the truffles must be laid on in such a way that the colours will contrast. Put another layer of forcemeat on the top, and season the whole with pepper and salt. Turn the skin over, roll the turkey in the form of a large sausage, and sew it up securely that the contents may not escape. Lay thin slices of fat bacon round it, and tie it in a cloth. Put it into a stewpan, cover with nicely-seasoned stock, and let it simmer gently for four hours. Two or three onions stuck with cloves, a bay-leaf, three sliced carrots, a bunch of parsley, and a sprig of thyme may be stewed in the stock with the turkey. Put the bones of the turkey into a separate stewpan with a few spoonfuls of stock, and let them simmer gently for an hour. Strain the liquor, stir a wine-glassful of white wine into it, and pour this broth into the pan containing the turkey. When the galantine is sufficiently cooked, lift it from the fire and let it remain in the liquor for an hour. Tie it in a fresh cloth, and lay it on a dish; put a weight upon it so that it may be pressed and still retain its shape, and let it remain until cold. Remove the cloth, clear the galantine from fat, and brush two coats of glaze over it. Ornament with aspic jelly, beetroot, and eggs cut into various shapes, or with truffles, etc., stuck into it with silver skewers. Time, four hours to simmer the galantine. Sufficient for a large supper-dish.
A boned, stuffed and poached turkey roll, served cold. The work is all in the boning and the rolling; the poaching is slow and forgiving, and the dish must be made a day ahead.
- The hinge: sew and wrap tightlyIf the roll is loose the forcemeat swells, the seam opens and the whole thing poaches into a ragged mass. Stitch the skin closed with a trussing needle and butcher's twine, then wrap firmly in a double layer of rinsed cheesecloth and tie at 2-inch intervals like a roast.
- Boning the birdAsk a butcher for a boned turkey, or buy boneless skin-on turkey breast and thigh and build the roll on a wide sheet of skin. If boning yourself, work with the point of a small sharp knife against the bone and keep the breast skin intact; nicks can be patched with a scrap of skin on the inside.
- A hen turkeyThe original means a female bird, smaller and finer-grained than a tom. A 10-12 lb turkey is the right scale; anything larger gives a roll too thick to cook evenly.
- Veal forcemeatGround veal is not always stocked; ask at a butcher counter or substitute ground pork shoulder. Bind it with an egg, a handful of soaked breadcrumbs and cream, and season it assertively, since it will be eaten cold when salt reads flatter.
- Wine-glassfulVictorian recipes generally reckon this at about 2 fl oz, roughly a quarter cup; the book does not define it here. It is going into several quarts of stock, so precision is not critical.
- Timing and temperatureFour hours at a bare simmer is longer than needed. Hold the poaching liquid at 175-180F (never boiling, which bursts the skin) and cook to an internal temperature of 165F at the centre of the roll, generally 2 to 2 1/2 hours for a roll 4-5 inches thick. Then let it cool in the liquid as directed, which is what keeps it moist.
- Pressing and chillingPress under a weight of 3-4 lb, and once it is cool enough move it to the refrigerator. A galantine sitting out overnight at room temperature is a food-safety problem the original book had no reason to consider; it needs at least 12 hours chilled before slicing.
- Glaze, aspic and trufflesThe two coats of glaze are reduced stock brushed on cold; the strained poaching liquor, defatted and reduced, sets firm enough on its own if the bones went into it. Fresh truffles are optional at any price. Preserved truffle peelings, or simply blanched pistachios and strips of tongue, give the same cut-face pattern.
- YieldA roll from a 10-12 lb bird serves 16 to 20 in cold slices, and keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated. Slice it cold, no thicker than a quarter inch.
Galantine belongs to the classical French repertoire of boned, stuffed and poached meats served cold in their own jelly, and the name is generally traced to Old French words for a jellied dish. Cassell's recommends it for luncheon and supper because that is where cold set pieces lived in a late-Victorian household: the dinner service was hot and sequenced, while the buffet and the sideboard wanted things that could be built the day before, glazed, decorated with cut beetroot and hard-boiled egg, and carved by a servant or by the diners themselves. The turkey version is a large-scale exercise in the same technique used for boned chicken or veal, and the decorated finish, aspic croutons, truffle studs, silver skewers, reflects a period taste for food arranged as architecture. The recipe opens by admitting the dish is "rather troublesome", which is fair.