No. 2201

Breasts of Woodcocks a la Houston

Ailes ou Filets de Becasses a la Houston

Fry quickly in butter six breasts of woodcocks previously cleaned, singed, and seasoned; as soon as cooked, drain them off. Cook the small part of the intestines before pounding and rubbing them through a sieve. Prepare a little game quenelle forcemeat (No. 91), mix in with it an equal quantity of liver baking forcemeat (No. 64), and the pounded intestines. With this preparation fill a smooth buttered border mold (Fig 139), having the bottom rounded, and poach it in a bainmarie. Take a part of the woodcock carcasses, to make a good fumet (No. 397), and after it has been strained and the fat removed, incorporate it into a good brown sauce (No. 414) while reducing, also a few spoonfuls of Madeira. When the sauce has attained succulence, strain it over the woodcock breasts, and keep them in a bain-marie. Fry quickly in a frying-pan, with oil and melted butter, half a pound of peeled truffles cut in slices or in large shreds, season and drain off the fat, pour over a few spoonfuls of Madeira wine, and reduce; then add it to the prepared breasts, and dress the whole in the inside of the border, unmolded, on a hot dish.

← No. 2200 Breasts of Woodcocks a la Diane Quail, Snipe, Woodcock & Small Birds No. 2202 Breasts of Woodcocks a la Mancelle →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with stockpots already on the fire; almost every element here is a cross-reference to another numbered preparation. What follows is what a cook working alone needs to know before starting.

Sourcing the birdsIn the United States the American woodcock is a migratory game bird: it may be taken in season under licence but may not be bought or sold, so this is a hunter's dish only. In some European countries, Britain among them, wild woodcock is sold in season by game dealers; others prohibit its sale, so check local rules. Failing either, the method transfers directly to squab or quail breasts, though the flavour is far milder.
The trail is the pointThe "small part of the intestines" is the trail, the woodcock's lower gut, which by long tradition is left in the carcass and treated as a delicacy rather than offal. Cook it briefly, then pound and sieve it. It carries much of the dish's character, and the gizzard is discarded first.
The forcemeatsNo. 91 is Ranhofer's game quenelle forcemeat and No. 64 his liver baking (gratin) forcemeat; you will need to look both up, as the composition is not given here. In a modern kitchen a food processor does the pounding quickly. The mixture should be soft but not slack: poach a teaspoonful in simmering water to test the seasoning and bind before filling the mold.
Border mold and bain-marieA ring mold with a rounded base, buttered heavily. Set it in a pan and pour in hot water to about two-thirds the mold's depth, keeping the water hot but never boiling — on the stove or in a moderate oven — until the forcemeat is set and firm to the touch, roughly 30 to 40 minutes for a small ring. Boiling water will make the forcemeat grainy and pull it away from the mold.
Fumet and sauceNo. 397 is a game fumet, made from the carcasses; No. 414 is Ranhofer's brown sauce, the espagnole family. A well-reduced game stock finished with a good demi-glace gives the same result. "Succulence" means reduced to a light coating consistency, glossy on a spoon.
Cook the breasts rareWoodcock breast is lean, dark and dries to liver-flavoured cardboard if taken past pink. One to two minutes a side in hot butter is enough. They are then held warm in the bain-marie under sauce, which continues to cook them slightly, so pull them early.
The trufflesHalf a pound of fresh peeled truffles for six small breasts reflects Delmonico's pricing, not ours. An ounce or two, shaved and warmed in butter with the Madeira, gives the intended perfume; large shreds of cooked cremini or a good wild mushroom fill the volume if the aroma comes from the truffle.
YieldSix breasts, most likely from six birds; a first course for three or a small main for two. Unmold the border onto a heated dish and pile the breasts, truffles and sauce into the well.

A Little History

The recipe comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the vast working record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, where garnish names of this kind were routinely coined for patrons, occasions or fellow chefs; who "Houston" was is not recorded in the book. Woodcock held a peculiar rank in nineteenth-century cookery: it was among the few birds served undrawn — snipe was treated the same way — on the grounds that its trail was a delicacy rather than offal, and English and French cooks alike spread the sieved intestines on toast set beneath the roasting bird. Ranhofer's version is that idea pushed into haute cuisine, with the trail folded into a poached forcemeat ring and the breasts sauced with a fumet drawn from the birds' own carcasses so that nothing but the bones leaves the kitchen. The dish also belongs to the period before American game laws changed the trade: market hunting supplied restaurant kitchens with wild birds in quantity until the Lacey Act of 1900 restricted interstate traffic in illegally taken game and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 brought commercial hunting of species like woodcock to an end, which is why a recipe that was once simply expensive is now, in the United States, simply unavailable.