No. 2045

Paupiettes of Young Turkey, Souvenir

Paupiettes de Dindonneau au Souvenir

Remove the nerves from the minion fillets, beat them lightly and cut into oblongs, season and spread over the surface a layer of well seasoned quenelle forcemeat (No. 89) into which has been mixed some chopped truffles, roll them cork-shaped and place in buttered tin paupiette rings ranged on a buttered baking sheet having the bottoms of the rings covered with croutons of bread fried on one side only and of the same dimensions as the rings, the unfried side resting on the buttered sheet; on top of each place a channeled mushroom head (No. 118) and cover this with a bard of fat pork, then cook in a slack oven. Have braised as many turkey legs as there are paupiettes and when done to perfection, drain and cut them into small pieces; enclose each one of these in some quenelle forcemeat with cooked fine herbs (No. 385); bread-crumb, dip in eggs and fry to a fine color, then glaze. Dress the paupiettes in a circle, fill the center with the fried legs and serve with a separate cream soubise sauce (No. 543).

GAME (Gibier).

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in shorthand for a professional brigade, so several of the numbered cross-references and pieces of equipment need translating before this can be attempted at home. The dish is really two preparations served together: forcemeat-wrapped breast rolls baked gently in rings, and braised leg meat wrapped, breaded and fried.

Minion filletsThese are the two small tenderloin strips lying beneath the turkey breast (the filet mignon of the bird). On a modern turkey they are large enough to flatten into usable oblongs; if you buy breast alone, slice the breast horizontally into thin cutlets and pound them instead.
Quenelle forcemeat, No. 89A cross-reference to Ranhofer's quenelle forcemeat, not given here: broadly a pounded lean meat forcemeat bound with panada and enriched, seasoned and passed through a sieve. A food processor does the pounding and sieving in one step, but keep everything cold or the cream will break out of the emulsion.
Paupiette ringsPlain tinned rings, small enough to take a cork-shaped roll; no size is given here. Straight-sided metal ring moulds, or crumpet rings, work; so do rings cut from a scrubbed tin can. They exist only to hold the roll upright while the forcemeat sets.
Bard of fat porkA thin sheet of fresh pork back fat laid over the top to keep the surface from drying. Sheet fatback is a butcher order; thinly sliced unsmoked pork belly or blanched salt pork is the nearest substitute, and a buttered paper on top is a plain-cooking alternative.
A slack ovenA low oven, somewhere around 275-325F. The point is to set the forcemeat without letting it swell and split, so low and slow is not laziness here. Cook until the centre of a paupiette reads 165F; expect something in the region of half an hour for rolls of this size, but go by the thermometer.
Channeled mushroom headA mushroom cap with shallow curved grooves cut from the centre outward with a paring knife, then cooked white in butter with a little lemon. Purely decorative; an untrimmed sauteed cap tastes the same.
The croutonsFried on one side only, with the unfried face resting on the buttered sheet and the fried face taking the paupiette. The practical effect is a crisp surface under the roll; the recipe does not explain the choice.
Soubise sauce, No. 543An onion sauce, not a shallot one — onions cooked slowly in butter without colour, moistened with bechamel or rice-thickened cream, then sieved. Serve it separately as directed; poured over, it hides the two textures the dish is built on.
YieldReckon one paupiette per person as part of a longer menu, two as a main course; a turkey gives only two minion fillets, so scale by the number of birds or fall back on breast cutlets. The braised legs give more meat than the centre of the ring will hold.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book is essentially the kitchen's working repertoire set down with every component cross-referenced by number o to to four other pages. Paupiette is the French term for a thin slice of meat spread with stuffing and rolled, and dindonneau means a young turkey rather than a full-grown one; the suffix au Souvenir is a name attached to the composition rather than a description of it, and it tells the reader nothing about the ingredients. The structure is characteristic of the era's grande cuisine: the prime cut is turned into a neat identical shape for the border of the platter, while the tougher braised leg is disguised in forcemeat, crumbed and fried to fill the centre, so nothing of an expensive bird is wasted and the plate still reads as symmetrical. The recipe directs that the sauce be served separately.