No. 2095

Partridges a la Marly

Perdreaux a la Marly

Have two partridges, truss them as for an entree (No. 178), and fill them with well seasoned partridge quenelle forcemeat (No. 91), into which mix truffles and cooked beef tongue cut in three-sixteenth of an inch squares; tie thin slices of fat pork over and braise in a white wine mirepoix stock (No. 419); strain this and put the fat back into the saucepan to keep the birds warm therein. Raise the fillets from the breast of a raw partridge, remove the sinews and cut the meats into escalops; saute them in butter without browning, drain off the butter, remove the meats and keep them warm in this. Put half a pint of the stock used for cooking the partridges into a sautoir with as much allemande sauce (No. 407), reduce and add some cut up truffles and mushrooms; the sauted partridge escalops, a little fresh butter and lemon juice. Dress the partridges on the bottom of a dish, place the garnishing around, and outside of it lay some crescent-shaped game croquettes (No. 885).

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with stocks, forcemeats and sauces already standing on the range, so most of the work here lives in the cross-references rather than the paragraph itself. Read it as an assembly of four separate preparations: a stuffed braised bird, a mounted braising liquor, a quick sauté of raw breast meat, and a garnish of croquettes.

The hinge: two doneness targetsThe stuffed birds are braised through, but the escalops cut from a third, raw partridge are only meant to be stiffened in butter "without browning" and then held in the warm fat. That is a minute or two per side at most. Treat them as you would a duck breast slice; carried on into the sauce they turn dry and livery.
Partridge, and what to buyRanhofer's birds would in all likelihood have been wild, on the order of 12-16 oz each. Farmed grey partridge or chukar sold today are broadly comparable in size and much milder; two feed two people generously, or four as part of a longer menu. You need a third bird for the escalop garnish, so buy three.
White wine mirepoix stockNo. 419 is a braising liquor of the usual pattern: diced root vegetables and ham or bacon sweated in butter, moistened with white wine and stock, with herbs. Check the numbered recipe itself for the exact make-up. It is a cooking medium, not a finished sauce. The book gives no temperature or timing; braise covered and gently -- around 325F in a modern oven, roughly 25-35 minutes for birds of this size.
Allemande sauceA veloute finished with an egg-yolk and cream liaison, lemon and butter. It has largely dropped out of modern kitchens because the yolks make it fragile: once the liaison is in, hold it below a simmer or it will curdle. The recipe calls for half a pint of the braising stock and an equal quantity of allemande; reduce the stock before the sauce goes in.
Quenelle forcemeatNo. 91 is a partridge forcemeat of the usual type: meat pounded with panada and butter, bound with egg and passed through a sieve. A food processor will do the pounding if you keep everything cold, but the mixture still needs sieving to catch the sinew. The truffle and tongue are cut to three-sixteenths of an inch, about a 5 mm dice; cooked beef tongue is still sold at good butchers, and a firm cooked ham is the usual stand-in.
Barding pork"Thin slices of fat pork" means fresh back fat or blanched salt pork, tied over the breasts to keep them from drying in the braise. Caul fat or thin-cut unsmoked streaky bacon serves the same purpose; smoked bacon does not, as it will dominate the game.
Measures and vesselsHalf a pint is one cup. A sautoir is a straight-sided sauté pan, wide enough that the reduction happens quickly. "Trussed as for an entree" (No. 178) means legs drawn in tight against the body so the bird holds a compact shape on the dish.
TrufflesFresh black truffle at Delmonico's prices was a matter of course in 1894. A small tin of black truffle peelings, added at the end with their juice, gives the right note; truffle oil does not and will fight the allemande.
The croquettesNo. 885 is a game croquette: cooked game bound in a thick reduced sauce, chilled, shaped, breaded and fried; here they are cut into crescents. They are border work. Skip them without harming the dish, or shape them the day before, since they need to be very cold to hold their form in the fryer.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the Delmonico's kitchens in New York for more than thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is his attempt to set down the whole repertoire in one volume of several thousand numbered items, each leaning on the others. Dishes "a la Marly" are generally traced to Marly-le-Roi, the retreat Louis XIV built near Saint-Germain-en-Laye, north of Versailles, and the name carried the sort of courtly association that American diners of the Gilded Age were paying for as much as the food. The construction itself is thoroughly nineteenth-century French: a bird stuffed with a forcemeat of its own flesh, braised under fat, then served with a garnish made from a second bird of the same species and a sauce built out of its cooking liquor. Nothing leaves the kitchen, and the whole animal is worked into the plate in three different textures. Partridge appears in this section alongside pheasant and grouse; market hunting still supplied game birds to restaurants like Delmonico's, and it is that trade the game laws of the following decades were written to curb.