No. 2091

Partridge Minced with Rice

Emince de Perdreaux au Riz

Cut in slices the breasts of two roast partridges; if very tender take also the thick thigh part and pare the slices neatly; range them in a sautoir with two or three minced truffles and cover with half-glaze sauce (No. 413); keep the meats warm in a bain-marie. At the last moment dress the mince and truffles in the center of a risot border inverted on a dish, or else the stew can be served alone and surrounded with a row of oval game quenelles, poached, cut in half across, breaded and fried, and set on the flat end. Even these quenelles can be replaced by small hollow bread crusts cut either into triangles or half circles and covered with a salpicon of truffles.

← No. 2090 Partridges—Minced Partridge, Pheasant & Grouse No. 2092 Salmis of Partridges →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Ranhofer reheating dish: the work is in the sauce and the garnish, not the cooking of the bird. Everything depends on the partridge being already roasted and only warmed through, never simmered.

The hinge: warm, do not cookThe sliced breast goes into the sauce only to heat, held over hot water in a bain-marie: warm, never simmering. Partridge breast is lean and dries to cotton if it simmers, so assemble at the last moment as the text says.
SautoirA straight-sided shallow pan, wide enough to hold the slices in one layer. Any wide saute pan or skillet works; the point is surface area, not depth.
Half-glaze sauce (No. 413)Ranhofer's half-glaze is a reduced espagnole, the equivalent of modern demi-glace; some versions are finished with Madeira. Commercial demi-glace concentrate loosened with game or brown chicken stock gives the same effect. The recipe specifies no quantity, only "cover."
"Risot border"Ranhofer's risot is a firm risotto, cooked stiff, packed into a buttered ring mould and turned out ("inverted") onto the platter so the mince fills the center. Cook the rice drier than you would for a plated risotto or the border will slump.
TrufflesFresh black truffle is the assumption; two or three minced amounts to perhaps 1 to 1.5 oz. Preserved truffle peelings in their juice are the practical substitute, added with the sauce. Truffle oil is not a substitute here — the dish wants texture as much as scent.
Quenelles as garnishThe game quenelles are a forcemeat of raw partridge or other game pounded with panada, cream and egg, shaped oval in two spoons, poached in barely trembling stock, then halved, breaded and fried and stood on the cut end. They are a considerable second recipe; the bread-crust option with a truffle salpicon (small neat dice bound in sauce) is the shortcut Ranhofer himself offers.
Partridge substitutionTwo roast partridges yield very little meat — perhaps 8 oz off the breasts and thighs. Farmed or French red-legged partridge is what is available now; two roast quail per person, or one small roast pheasant breast, fill the same role.
YieldAs written this would serve two as a main course, or four as a small entree in a multi-course meal. The recipe gives no yield.

A Little History

This is No. 2091 of Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the vast compendium he assembled from more than thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York. An emince is simply meat cut in thin slices and reheated in sauce, and its presence in a book of this scale shows how seriously the nineteenth-century kitchen took the second appearance of a roast: rather than serving cold game, the breasts were pared, napped in half-glaze and rebuilt into a formal dish with a rice border and fried quenelles. The cross-references to No. 413 and to the neighbouring salmis are typical of the book's construction — Ranhofer wrote for professionals who already had a stockpot and a bain-marie going, and who would read "cover with half-glaze" as a complete instruction. Partridge, pheasant and grouse in this period were largely wild and market-bought in season, and the American game trade that supplied Delmonico's was governed chiefly by state-level game and market-hunting laws; the first major federal measure, the Lacey Act, came in 1900, only a few years after this book was printed.