No. 2030

Turkey with Cepes

Dinde aux Cepes

Pick out four dozen good unopened cepes weighing about four pounds, having them fresh, sound, and of equal size; cut off and peel the stalks, chop them up and cook in butter with a little chopped onion. Prepare a fine hash with one pound of veal, and one pound of fresh fat pork, sea-soning it highly, add the chopped cepes and a handful of soaked and pressed out bread-crumbs. Crack the breastbone of a fat turkey, remove the bone and fill in the empty space with the prepared dressing, sew the skin underneath and truss for entree (No. 178). Lay the bird in a buttered stewpan covering the bottom with small squares of bacon; surround it with the peeled and seasoned cepes heads, and a bunch of parsley; season and moisten with a quart of stock (No. 194a); baste the turkey with butter, salt well, and place it in the oven to leave until the moistening is entirely reduced, then moisten again to half its height with more stock; boil, close the pan, and keep it cooking in the oven for three hours, pouring in a little broth at times while basting it occasionally. At the last moment drain off the turkey to untruss and dress on a dish surrounding it with the cepes and bacon. Strain the stock, skim it free of fat, then thicken and reduce with some good bechamel, (No. 409) and a few spoonfuls of half-glaze (No. 400). Pour a part of this over the turkey and the surplus in a sauce-boat.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A braised, boned-breast turkey from Ranhofer's Delmonico kitchen, built around a forcemeat of veal and pork fat and a very large quantity of fresh porcini. The cross-references to numbered preparations assume you have the rest of the book; here is what they amount to.

Cepes are porciniCepes (cèpes de Bordeaux) are Boletus edulis, sold fresh in autumn and dried year round. Four pounds of fresh unopened caps is a substantial outlay; about 5-6 oz of dried porcini, soaked and drained, gives comparable flavour but none of the meaty texture the whole heads provide as a garnish. Buy fresh if you can and use the soaking liquid, strained, as part of the stock.
"Cut off and peel the stalks"The stalks are cut off, peeled and chopped for the forcemeat; the caps are peeled and seasoned too, but go in whole around the bird. Trim any spongy, waterlogged tube layer from older caps or it will disintegrate into the braising liquid.
Boning the breastCracking and removing the breastbone means taking out the keel from inside, leaving the breast meat and skin intact so the cavity between them can be packed with forcemeat. A boning knife and patience; a butcher will do it if asked for a turkey boned for galantine-style stuffing.
Oven temperatureRanhofer gives none. The method is a covered braise: start uncovered at about 400F to reduce the first quart of stock and colour the bird, then cover and hold at 325F for the three hours. Higher than that and the liquid boils rather than simmers, and the breast dries.
The forcemeat must reach temperatureA pound of veal and a pound of fresh pork fat packed into a closed cavity heats slowly. Check the centre of the stuffing with a thermometer, not the clock: 165F. Three hours at a genuine braising temperature will normally get there in a bird of 12-14 lb, but a larger turkey will need longer.
Fresh fat porkThis is unsalted, uncured back fat or fatback, not bacon or salt pork. Ask a butcher; the point is to keep a lean veal forcemeat moist over three hours. The bacon squares lining the pan are a separate element and are served with the bird.
The sauceNo. 409 is a bechamel and No. 400 a half-glaze (demi-glace). In practice: strain and thoroughly degrease the braising liquid, reduce it, then thicken with some bechamel and a few spoonfuls of demi-glace to a coating consistency. The bechamel is there for body and pallor as much as flavour; a little goes far.
Trussing and yield"Truss for entree" refers to the book's No. 178, which in practice means legs and wings drawn in tight against the body so the bird holds a compact shape through a long braise. A bird treated this way, with the forcemeat, should serve roughly twelve to sixteen.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this dish shows the house style plainly: a French braise, a numbered cross-reference for every component, and an ingredient — four pounds of fresh cèpes — that only a restaurant with money and a reliable supplier could count on. Cèpes are strongly associated with southwestern France, where they appear in markets from late summer through autumn, and a turkey aux cèpes would have read to Ranhofer's clientele as a seasonal luxury rather than an everyday roast. The technique of boning out the breastbone and packing the cavity with forcemeat is older than the book and belongs to the tradition of the galantine and the ballotine; it makes the bird easier to carve and, more to the point, lets a lean breast baste itself from within over three hours in the oven.