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Salmis of Quails
Draw and prepare two quails, cut them into halves lengthwise down the back, place them in a pan with a small quantity of butter, and cook them. Have in readiness two croutons of fried bread, and place the birds on them; reduce and thicken the liquor, strain it, pour it over the birds and serve with a little lemon juice squeezed over each.
A very short recipe of the kind Oscar wrote for cooks who already knew what a salmis was. The whole dish stands or falls on the pan juices, so plan for them from the start.
- The hinge: the sauce is the panNothing is added but butter, so every bit of flavour comes from the fond left after the birds are cooked. Use a heavy pan wide enough that the halves do not steam, and deglaze while it is still hot; a splash of stock, Madeira or dry white wine is entirely within the spirit of a salmis even though Oscar does not mention it.
- "Draw and prepare"Gut, remove the head and feet, and singe off remaining pin feathers. Quail today arrive dressed and often semi-boneless; a whole bird runs 4 to 5 oz.
- Splitting the birdsCutting lengthwise down the back means going through the backbone with poultry shears, then flattening the two halves so they lie flat on the crouton. Halves cook faster and more evenly than whole birds.
- Cooking timeQuail halves in butter over medium heat need roughly 4 minutes skin side down and 3 to 4 minutes on the second side. The breast is small and dries out quickly; the recommended safe internal temperature for poultry is 165F.
- CroutonsThe recipe asks only for croutons of fried bread: bread fried until crisp and cut to roughly the footprint of the bird. Fry them before the quail so they can drain while the sauce reduces.
- Reduce and thickenReduce the strained liquor to a few spoonfuls of syrupy glaze. Oscar does not say how the thickening is to be done; reduction, or a knob of cold butter swirled in off the heat, will do it without flour.
- YieldTwo quails, halved, on two croutons is one restaurant portion as a game course, or a light main for one. Allow two birds per person if it is the centre of the meal.
A salmis is a French preparation of game birds, generally traced to the eighteenth-century kitchen, in which the bird is partly roasted, cut up, and finished in a sauce built from its own juices and trimmings; the word is usually explained as a shortening of salmigondis, an old term for a hash or ragout of mixed meats. Oscar Tschirky was compiling recipes at the Waldorf around the turn of the twentieth century, when the elaborate version, with the carcasses pounded and the sauce strained through a tammy, was already well established. Quail were then still shot wild in quantity across the eastern United States, and small birds served whole on a fried crouton were a fixture of the long American banquet menu.