No. 2209

Woodcocks Stuffed

Becasses Farcies

Bone three woodcocks, remove the best part of their breast meat and cut these into large dice; lay them in a vessel and add an equal quantity of truffles and as much foies-gras; season these meats, and pour over two tablespoonfuls of Madeira. Pound the leg meats with those of three wild pigeons or as much of rabbit, adding a third as much panada (No. 121), and four egg-yolks; season and strain this forcemeat. Melt four tablespoonfuls of grated fat pork, add to it the woodcock intestines, also five or six good chicken livers, season highly and leave stand till cold, then strain and mix the forcemeat with this, also the meats and truffles laid away in the vessel. Fill the woodcock with this preparation, shaping each one to resemble a boned turkey, and wrap a piece of fat pork around; attach them firmly in separate pieces of thin muslin, tying it on tight to keep them in proper shape, then cook in some good stock on a moderate fire for one hour; leave them in this partly cold, then drain, unwrap, and tie them up again tight until thoroughly cold, keeping them in shape, but not under the pressure of any weight. Unwrap them half an hour before serving, stand them upright in a saucepan with a little of their own stock, reduced to a half-glaze; heat them in a very slack oven, basting over frequently, then dress them in a triangle on a forcemeat border, poached in the oven and turned out on a dish, having fastened to the center a portion of bread covered with some of the forcemeat. Place in the angles the three birds' heads, slightly cooked and glazed over with a brush; fasten three skewers garnished with truffles in the summit of the pad and cover the woodcock, and border lightly over with a brown sauce (No. 414) prepared with the stock and the truffle parings.

Miscellaneous Entrees

← No. 2208 Salmis of Woodcocks a la Sandford Quail, Snipe, Woodcock & Small Birds No. 2210 Border of Chicken Forcemeat Filled with Chic →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a ballotine in all but name: three birds boned, stuffed with their own forcemeat, poached in stock, pressed cold, then reheated and built into a table piece. Read it as a two-day project, because it is one.

Sourcing the birdsWoodcock is a migratory game bird and cannot legally be bought or sold in the United States; the only lawful source is a licensed hunter in season. Where woodcock is unavailable, the same construction can be done with quail or squab, reckoning roughly four to six quail for three woodcock in bulk.
The trailRanhofer's "woodcock intestines" are the trail, the bird's lower intestine and its contents, which classical practice treats as the finest part of the bird. Here it is worked with melted fat pork and chicken livers, seasoned, cooled and strained into the forcemeat; the whole stuffing is then poached inside the bird for an hour.
PanadaNo. 121 is Ranhofer's panada, the standard forcemeat binder of the period: a starch base cooked to a stiff paste that leaves the pan clean. It binds the forcemeat and keeps it from breaking; the recipe calls for a third as much panada as pounded meat.
Grated fat porkCured fatback or unsmoked salt pork, grated on a coarse grater so it melts evenly. Modern bacon is smoked and brined differently and will dominate the woodcock; use plain fresh or lightly salted pork fat, and blanch salt pork briefly if it is heavily cured.
Muslin and the pressingThe muslin is doing the work of a ballotine wrap. Roll each bird tight, tie at both ends and at intervals, poach at a bare simmer so the forcemeat sets without bursting, then cool partly in the stock, rewrap tighter, and chill overnight. The instruction not to weight them is deliberate: pressure would flatten a shape meant to read as a miniature boned turkey.
Poaching heat"A moderate fire" for the stock means an unhurried simmer for the hour, never a rolling boil. A forcemeat bound with four yolks risks curdling and weeping fat if the stock is boiled.
The slack ovenA very slack oven is usually reckoned at roughly 250-275F. The birds are already cooked; this stage only warms them through and glazes them as the half-glaze reduces over the surface, so baste often and reckon on the half hour the recipe allows.
Half-glazeThe reserved poaching stock reduced until it is syrupy and coats a spoon, short of a full glace de viande. The finishing sauce is No. 414, the brown sauce, let down with the same stock and the truffle trimmings.
Yield and presentationThree stuffed birds will serve perhaps six as an entree. The forcemeat border, bread pad and skewered truffles are period display work; the eating part is the sliced birds and the sauce, and the dish loses nothing if it is plated without the heads and skewers.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the kitchen at its most elaborate: three birds disassembled and rebuilt into a single centerpiece, complete with their own heads set into the angles of the triangle. Woodcock held a particular place in nineteenth-century French cooking because it was traditionally drawn only of its gizzard, the trail being cooked and eaten with the bird, which is why the intestines appear here as a seasoning rather than as waste. The wild pigeon called for in the forcemeat would have been an ordinary market bird in Ranhofer's day; American game laws passed in the following decades ended the commercial trade in wild birds altogether. Dishes like this one survive mainly in the record, as evidence of what a well-supplied restaurant kitchen could still buy over the counter in 1894.