No. 2092

Salmis of Partridges

Salmis de Perdreaux

Pick, singe, draw and truss four partridges as for an entree (No. 178); roast them either on the spit or in the oven; they will require half an hour to cook, remove, untruss and let get partly cold, then cut them up into five pieces each; the two legs, two fillets and one breast piece; suppress all the skin covering each member and put them into a saucepan with buttered paper over and cover with the lid; keep either in a bain-marie or else at a moderate heat. Break up the bones, put them into another saucepan and moisten with a pint of broth (No. 194a) and a pint of Chablis, leave it on the range until it boils, then add a pint more broth and let cook very slowly for half an hour, being careful to skim off all the fat as it arises to the top, then strain through a napkin. Fry in butter a little chopped shallot, thyme, bay leaf and whole peppers, moisten with the stock and reduce with as much espagnole sauce (No. 414) stirring well from the bottom with a spatula to prevent it adhering thereto. After this sauce is well reduced, pour it through a tammy and put one-third of it with the pieces of partridge. Fry sixteen half hearted-shaped croutons in butter; dish up the salmis putting the legs at the bottom on top of bread croutons, cover these lightly with the sauce and lay the wings and breasts between intermingling in the other croutons and in the intersections formed by the, dress some turned and channeled mushroom heads (No. 118) and cut up truffles. Incorporate a few spoonfuls of good oil into the remainder of the sauce and pour it over the salmis.

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For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

A classic salmis: the birds are roasted, jointed, and finished in a sauce built from their own bones. Nothing about the method has aged badly, but the timings and the sauce references need translating.

The hinge: the meat must not cook twiceOnce jointed, the pieces go into a covered pan with buttered paper and are held over gentle heat or in a water bath only until serving. If they stew in the sauce they turn dry and livery, which is the failure mode of every salmis.
Roasting timeHalf an hour suits a plump bird at moderate heat, but modern farmed partridges run about 12-16 oz and will be overcooked well before that. Roast hot, 425-450F, and pull the birds when the breast reads 130-135F; they finish in the covered pan.
EspagnoleClassic French brown sauce made from brown roux, brown veal stock and mirepoix, simmered for hours; it was already long established by Ranhofer's day. A good reduced brown veal stock or commercial demi-glace stands in. The recipe gives no measure, only 'as much espagnole' as the reduced game stock; it should be thick enough to coat.
Broth No. 194aOne of Ranhofer's cross-referenced meat broths, presumably a plain stock rather than a seasoned soup. Use unsalted or very lightly salted stock, since the liquid is reduced and salt concentrates.
ChablisDry, unoaked Chardonnay. Any crisp dry white without oak will do the same work; avoid anything sweet or heavily wooded.
Tammy and napkinA tammy is a fine worsted straining cloth wrung between two people. A fine chinois lined with a doubled layer of muslin gives the same clarity with less drama.
"Suppress all the skin"A literal translation of the French supprimer: simply remove and discard it. It will not crisp again in a covered pan, which is why Ranhofer strips it.
Turned and channeled mushroomsDecorative work: caps trimmed to a dome and grooved with a knife tip. Whole small button caps sauteed in butter serve the purpose if you are not plating for a banquet.
Finishing with oilThe few spoonfuls of oil beaten into the reserved sauce give gloss without the risk of a butter emulsion breaking on a warm platter. A mild olive oil or a neutral oil both work; whisk it in off the heat.
YieldFour birds cut into five pieces each will serve four generously as a main course, or more as one course of a longer menu. The recipe itself gives no stated yield, though the sixteen croutons suggest a fairly large service.

A Little History

Salmis is a long-established technique in French game cookery: the bird is roasted, carved, and its carcass turned into the sauce that dresses its own flesh, so nothing of the animal is wasted and the roasting flavour is carried into the liquid. The word is generally traced to salmigondis, an old term for a ragout of mixed meats, and by the nineteenth century a salmis generally meant this two-stage treatment of feathered game. Charles Ranhofer, chef of Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of his restaurant's repertoire, and the cross-references to numbered recipes throughout — trussing, broth, espagnole, turned mushrooms — show it was written for a brigade kitchen where those preparations already stood ready. Partridge appears often in the book because wild game was still a normal item on American restaurant menus before the market-hunting trade was curtailed in the early twentieth century; today the birds usually come from game farms instead.