No. 2036

Turkey Legs with Noodles, Milanese

Cuisses de Dinde aux Nouilles a la Milanaise

Bone the legs of a young turkey, leaving half of the drumstick bone to use for a handle; fill up the boned parts with chicken forcemeat (No. 62) into which mingle finely chopped truffles and mushrooms; sew up to inclose well the dressing. Line a sautoir with bards of fat pork and lay the stuffed legs on top; moisten with white wine mirepoix stock (No. 419), and braise slowly, basting and glazing until a fine color is obtained. Dress the legs on a garnishing prepared with noodles (No. 142) veloute sauce (No. 415), tomatoes, parmesan cheese and strips of red beef tongue and mushrooms added. A half-glaze sauce (No. 413) with tomato essence accompanies this dish, but it is served separately.

← No. 2035 Turkey—Grenades—a la Jules Verne Turkey & Guinea Fowl No. 2037 Turkey—Breasts or Fillets—a la Donovan →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade that already has stock, veloute, half-glaze and forcemeat standing by, so the whole dish reads as three lines. Rebuilt at home it is a boned, stuffed turkey leg braise with a baked-noodle garnish, and the boning is the part that decides whether it works.

The hinge: bone from the insideTunnel-bone the thigh and the upper drumstick from the cut end, keeping the skin unbroken, and stop halfway down the drumstick so the exposed bone becomes the handle. A split skin will not hold forcemeat under a two-hour braise; sew with butcher's twine and a trussing needle, and truss the parcel so it keeps a compact shape.
Chicken forcemeat (No. 62)A fine raw-chicken forcemeat. Ranhofer's own No. 62 is not reproduced here, so treat what follows as a reconstruction rather than his proportions: roughly 1 lb boneless breast, 2 egg whites and 1 cup heavy cream pureed cold over ice gives enough for four legs; season firmly, since braising liquid does not penetrate the stuffing. Fold in the chopped truffle and mushroom by hand at the end so the farce stays pale.
Bards of fat porkThin sheets of pork back fat. Fatback or unsmoked pork belly sliced thin does the same job, which is to keep the leg skin off the hot metal and to baste it. Sliced pancetta is the easiest substitute but brings salt and spice the original does not have.
Sautoir and mirepoix stockA sautoir is a straight-sided shallow pan with a lid — any wide braiser will serve. No. 419 is white wine mirepoix stock: veal or chicken stock simmered with diced carrot, onion, celery, thyme and bay in dry white wine. Moisten only to about a third of the height of the legs; this is a braise, not a poach.
Braising temperature"braise slowly" means barely trembling liquid, and a sautoir of this kind would have been worked on the range rather than in an oven. A modern oven at around 325F for about 1.5 to 2 hours suits legs of this size; cook until a skewer meets no resistance and the forcemeat reads 165F at the centre.
Basting and glazingUncover for the last twenty minutes and baste every few minutes with the reducing liquid so it lacquers the skin. If the braise is still thin at that point, strain some off, reduce it hard in a separate pan and brush it on.
The Milanaise garnishNoodles (No. 142) are a rich egg pasta; the exact flour-to-yolk ratio is not given on this page, so use a well-enriched egg dough. Boil, bind with veloute, add chopped tomato and grated parmesan, and fold through julienne of cooked beef tongue and mushroom. Cured tongue from a deli counter is the practical route; it is already cooked and only needs cutting into matchsticks.
The sauceNo. 413 half-glaze is demi-glace; "tomato essence" is tomato reduced to a dark, near-solid paste, not passata. A spoonful of good tomato paste cooked out in the sauce approximates it. Serve it in a boat, as directed — the noodles have their own binding sauce and should not be flooded.
YieldOne stuffed leg per person. Four legs plus the noodle garnish serves four generously as a main course; a whole boned leg with mousseline is a substantial portion.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for some three decades, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house repertoire written down, cross-referenced to itself like a technical manual. "A la Milanaise" covers more than one thing: applied to a garnish in this classical system it signals macaroni or noodles bound with sauce and cheese, with julienne of tongue, mushroom and truffle, the tomato and parmesan carrying the notional Italian reference; the breaded-and-fried sense is a separate classical usage rather than a modern invention. The dish treats the turkey leg as worth sending to the dining room in its own right -- boned, stuffed with a pale forcemeat and braised -- as against simply carving the breast.