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Sliced Galantine in Aspic
Coat the sides of any sort of handsome mould--a fluted cake mould or jelly mould is as good as any with clear jelly, according to the extended directions for a pyramid already given; line it with handsome slices of turkey or chicken galantine, one slice slightly overlapping the other; in the center drop a piece of the galantine not sliced, or a boned bird, fill up with jelly, and when perfectly cold and set turn it out onto its dish and decorate for the table.
This is an assembly recipe rather than a cooking one: it assumes you already have a cooked galantine and a pot of clear aspic waiting at the right temperature. Everything depends on the jelly being set firm enough to hold and cold enough not to melt the meat's surface.
- Galantine, definedA galantine is a bird boned out, stuffed with a forcemeat (often veal or pork with pistachios, tongue or truffle), rolled tight in its own skin or a cloth, poached in stock, then pressed and chilled. Sliced cold, it shows a mosaic pattern, which is the whole point of lining the mould with it. A good commercial chicken or turkey terrine slices much the same way if you are not making one.
- "Clear jelly" means aspic, not dessert gelatinThe jelly here is a savoury one, made from reduced veal or poultry stock, clarified with egg white, and stiffened with sheet or powdered gelatin as needed. Sweetened fruit gelatin is not a substitute. Aim for a jelly noticeably firmer than you would serve as a sauce, since it has to support meat and survive unmoulding.
- The hinge: coat the mould in thin cold layersChill the mould thoroughly, pour in a few spoonfuls of aspic that is syrupy but not set, and rotate it over ice until a thin film clings to the sides. Repeat two or three times. One thick pour will slide down and pool at the bottom, and the meat will show through the walls.
- Cold slices, cool jellyThe galantine slices must be cold and blotted dry, and the aspic should be cool and syrupy, just short of setting. Warm jelly greases the meat surface and clouds; jelly already setting traps air bubbles between slices.
- "According to the extended directions for a pyramid already given"The author is cross-referencing an earlier lining method in the same book. Those directions are not reproduced here, so what they specify cannot be judged from this page alone; some form of layered coating like that described above is the likely procedure.
- A "boned bird" for the centreA small boned and poached quail, squab or half a chicken breast, pressed into a compact shape, fills the middle without pushing the lining out of place. Whatever goes in the centre should sit clear of the walls by at least half an inch so jelly can flow all around it.
- Turning outDip the mould in warm water for five to ten seconds, wipe it, and invert onto a chilled platter. If it resists, warm a cloth and press it against the mould rather than dipping again, which quickly melts the pattern.
- Yield and holdingThe recipe names no mould size or number of servings. Assemble the day before if convenient, keep it refrigerated and covered, and do not leave it out on a buffet for more than about two hours; the aspic softens and the meat is a cooked, moist, low-acid food.
Galantine in aspic belongs to the grand cold-buffet repertoire that French professional cooking exported to American hotels and caterers in the second half of the nineteenth century. The name is generally traced to the Old French galantine or galatine, related to words for jelly, which is fitting for a dish whose whole architecture is gelatin. Before mechanical refrigeration was common in kitchens, work like this depended on ice houses and ice boxes, and a successfully unmoulded aspic in warm weather advertised that an establishment had both ice and the labour to use it. The instruction to decorate for the table is the period's shorthand for truffle cutouts, hard-boiled egg white, blanched leek greens and chopped jelly, arranged in patterns that were meant to be looked at from a distance across a long table.