No. 2234

Cases of Squabs a la Folsom and Cases of Squabs a la Umberto

Caisses de Pigeonneaux a la Folsom et Caisses de Pigeonneaux a la Umberto

Pluck well all the pin feathers from some drawn, singed and cleaned squabs; bone them entirely, beginning by making an incision in the meat on the back and following the line down on each side with the help of a small knife; remove the breast and wing bones, then fill the inside with chicken forcemeat (No. 89) into which has been mingled mushrooms and truffles chopped up fine, fried in butter and wetted with a little Madeira. Oil the insides of some paper cases, turn them upside down on a baking pan, push them into the oven to stiffen and then cover the bottoms and sides with a layer of the same forcemeat; set the squabs on top, one on each, and cover with a slice of fat pork; cook them in a slack oven for half an hour. Drain off the fat and dress the cases in a circle, having on top of each one a channeled mushroom head (No. 118); pour a Madeira sauce (No. 492) over that has been reduced with some mushroom essence (No. 392).

Cases of Squabs a la Umberto.—Butter or oil as many oval paper cases as there are squabs to be prepared; place them in the oven to stiffen and brown, then drain. Bone the birds, stuff them with a delicate quenelle forcemeat (No. 89), into which mix chopped truffles and mushrooms; lay them in a sautoir in oval rings of the same diameter as the cases, moisten with a little mirepoix stock (No. 419), reduce it to a glaze, then remoisten to half the height of the squabs, and when done the stock ought to be well reduced; lay them in the cases and cover over with African sauce (No. 424), dress and serve.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Two variations on the same construction: a boned squab stuffed with chicken forcemeat, baked or braised, and served in a stiffened paper case. Ranhofer's cross-references do most of the work, so the main task is reconstructing what they contained.

The hinge: bone the bird from the backThe incision runs down the spine, not the breast, so the bird stays closed around the stuffing and the breast skin remains unbroken. Work the blade along each side of the ribcage, lift out the breast and wing bones, and leave the leg bones in for shape unless you want a wholly boneless bird.
SquabsYoung domestic pigeon, roughly 12 to 16 oz dressed, usually sold frozen by game and specialty butchers. They are dark-meated and richly flavored; there is no supermarket substitute of the same size, though small poussins can be handled the same way.
"Slack oven"A cool oven, usually reckoned at about 300 to 325F. A low heat suits the dish, since the forcemeat lining the paper case can curdle and weep if pushed hard.
Cook to temperature, not to the half hourA boned squab packed with raw chicken forcemeat is a dense object. Take the center of the stuffing to 165F rather than trusting thirty minutes; in a 300F oven it will usually want longer.
Forcemeat No. 89Ranhofer's chicken quenelle forcemeat: raw chicken breast pounded and sieved, bound with panada and egg, finished with cream. A food processor does it in a minute, but keep everything near freezing or the cream will break out as the mixture warms.
Paper casesOiled parchment or stiff baking-paper boxes, inverted and dried in the oven so they hold their shape and brown. Small ovenproof ramekins or foil moulds will do the same job; the paper is for looks at table.
Fat porkA sheet of pork back fat or fatback used as barding. Blanch salt pork first if that is all you can get, or the dish turns salty as the sauce reduces.
Channeled mushroom headA turned or fluted cap: shallow spiral grooves cut with a paring knife, cooked white in butter, lemon and water. Purely decorative.
Sauces and stocksMadeira sauce is a reduced brown sauce fortified with Madeira; mushroom essence is the strained, heavily reduced liquor from stewed mushrooms. Mirepoix stock is stock cooked down with the aromatic vegetable base. African sauce (No. 424) is not part of the familiar modern repertoire; if you do not follow the cross-reference, a well-reduced Madeira sauce stands in without loss.
YieldOne squab and one case per person, as a middle course. The recipe scales by the bird.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the house habit of naming dishes for the people who ate them or for whoever was in the news. Umberto I reigned in Italy from 1878 to 1900, so the name would have read as current; Folsom is generally taken to honor Frances Folsom, who married Grover Cleveland at the White House in 1886 and was the subject of relentless public attention, though Ranhofer never explains his dedications. Squab was familiar restaurant fare in the period rather than a luxury oddity, and the labor here is in the boning and the forcemeat, not the bird. The paper case belongs to the same era's taste for individual service: caisses stiffened in the oven let a kitchen send out one composed portion per guest.