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Dutch Quenelles
Make some forcemeat--either game, chicken or veal--place it in a mortar, beat it well, and mix in two well-beaten eggs. Line a plain mould with some thin slices of fat bacon, fill it with the forcemeat and press well down. Put the mould into a saucepan with boiling water to three-fourths its height, and steam the contents for about an hour and a half. When cooked, turn the quenelle out onto a hot dish, removing all the bacon, brush it over with a paste-brush dipped in melted glaze, and serve with a sauceboatful of brown sauce.
This is a steamed forcemeat loaf rather than the small poached dumplings the word "quenelle" usually calls to mind. The hinge is the water bath: the water must stay at a bare simmer, because a hard boil will make the egg-bound forcemeat curdle and weep fat.
- ForcemeatThe recipe assumes you can already make a forcemeat and gives no quantities. A workable modern reading: about 1 lb lean game, chicken or veal, ground, with roughly 4 oz fat (cream, butter or pork fat) and a binder such as bread soaked in milk or stock. Season it firmly with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg or mace, since a steamed loaf tastes flat if underseasoned.
- Mortar workThe pounding is there to make the mixture smooth and homogeneous so it slices cleanly. A food processor does the same job in a minute; keep the meat and fat cold and stop as soon as it comes together as a paste, or the fat will break out.
- Fat baconThis most likely means unsmoked barding fat or fat salt pork, sliced almost translucent, rather than modern smoked streaky bacon. If you use ordinary bacon the finished loaf will taste cured and smoky. Blanching the slices for a minute takes some of the salt out.
- The mouldA "plain mould" is a smooth-sided mould such as a charlotte mould, or any straight-sided tin; the recipe does not give a size. Covering it tightly with buttered paper or foil keeps condensation from running into the meat.
- The water bathWater to three-quarters the height of the mould, kept at a bare simmer rather than a rolling boil. Top it up with boiling water as it evaporates; if the pan runs dry the base of the loaf scorches.
- Time and donenessThe recipe's hour and a half suits a fair-sized mould. Better to go by an instant-read thermometer: 160-165F at the centre. A smaller mould will be done sooner, and overcooking is what turns this dry and grainy.
- Glaze"Melted glaze" is glace de viande — brown stock reduced to a syrup that sets firm when cold. Brushed on warm it gives the loaf a dark gloss. A well-reduced demi-glace does the same thing.
- Brown sauceIn this kitchen that means espagnole or demi-glace, sent to table hot in a boat. Rest the loaf five minutes before turning out, then slice about half an inch thick.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantities; a loaf made from about a pound of meat would serve roughly six as a first course, four as a main.
Quenelle is generally traced to the Alsatian-German Kn del, though the derivation is usually given as probable rather than settled, and by the late nineteenth century the word covered any smooth pounded forcemeat, whether poached in spoon-shaped ovals for a garnish or, as here, moulded and steamed whole. The "Dutch" label in period cookbooks is loose and often means little more than German or Northern European in style. Its presence in Oscar Tschirky's book reflects the reality of a large hotel kitchen, where a dish could be cooked in advance, glazed to a shine and portioned to order.