No. 1980

Pullet a la Printaniere-Glazed

Poularde Glacee a la Printaniere

Have a clean, singed pullet; break the breast bone and stuff the breast with grated fat pork mingled with truffle peelings, truss for entree (No. 178). Scald the breast in boiling water to harden the meat, then dip these scalded parts at once into cold water, wipe dry and lard with fine lardons of larding pork (No. 3, Fig. 52). Lay the puliet in a saucepan containing fragments of fat pork, roots and minced onions, salt over and steam for fifteen to twenty minutes, then moisten with two or three gills of stock (No. 194a) and allow it to fall to a glaze. Remoisten to half its height with stock and reduce the liquid slowly to half, finish cooking the pullet in this manner, basting it over frequently; when done it should be glazed to a fine color; drain it off to untruss and dress on a dish, surrounding it on both sides with clusters of new cooked carrots and small glazed onions. Strain and skim the pullet stock, reduce it until it becomes succulent, then thicken with a little good brown sauce (No. 414), serving it in a sauce-boat.

← No. 1979 Pullet a la Perigord Capon & Pullet No. 1981 Pullet a la Seymour →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a braise disguised as a roast: the bird cooks covered in successive reductions of stock until the pan liquid becomes the glaze on its skin. Everything hinges on adding the stock in stages and letting each addition cook down almost to syrup before the next.

The glazing method"Allow it to fall to a glaze" means reduce the stock in the pan until only a sticky film remains, then moisten again. The recipe has you moisten, reduce to a glaze, remoisten to half the bird's height, reduce by half, and go on "in this manner" until done, basting constantly; the repeated reductions are what build the lacquered brown surface. If you add all the liquid at once you get a poached bird in thin broth.
GillsA gill is half a cup, so two or three gills is one to one and a half cups. The second moistening, "to half its height," will take considerably more depending on your pan; use a vessel that just fits the bird.
What a pullet isA young hen under a year old; the birds intended here would have been small, on the order of a few pounds dressed. A standard supermarket roasting chicken of that weight stands in. A capon, the other bird in this section, is a castrated cock grown considerably larger and is now a special-order item.
LardingFine lardons of larding pork are strips of firm back fat drawn through the breast with a larding needle. Salt pork rinsed of its cure, or thin strips of fatback from a butcher, will do; bacon is smoked and will change the flavour. Scalding the breast first firms the flesh so the needle does not tear it.
Truffle peelingsThe trimmings left from turning truffles, once a cheap byproduct in a large kitchen and sold in tins. Jarred truffle peelings still exist; a small quantity of finely chopped preserved truffle mixed into the grated fat pork gives the same effect. Truffle oil does not.
"Steam for fifteen to twenty minutes"This means sweat the bird covered over low heat on the aromatics with no added liquid, drawing out juices before the stock goes in. It is not steaming in the modern sense.
DonenessThe original gives no total time. Reckon on 60 to 80 minutes for a 3 to 4 lb bird after the initial sweating; the thigh should read 165F / 74C. The frequent basting is not optional if the exposed breast is to stay moist.
The sauceNo. 414 is a brown sauce in the espagnole family. A well-reduced demi-glace, or a good brown chicken stock thickened with a little beurre manié, gives the intended body. Skim the fat off the braising liquid before reducing or the sauce will break.
YieldOne pullet serves four, or three generously. The carrots and glazed onions were arranged in separate clusters down each side of the platter rather than scattered.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house repertoire written down, French terminology intact. A la printanière means "in the spring manner" and in classical usage signals a garnish of young vegetables — here new carrots and small onions, glazed in butter and their own sugars until shining. The glazing of the bird itself belongs to the older poêlé technique, a covered cooking on a bed of fat pork and root vegetables that sits between braising and roasting and was standard in nineteenth-century professional kitchens. Larding a breast that will then be glazed brown may have been as much about appearance as moisture, giving pale stripes of pork fat against the dark lacquer.