No. 2264

Cutlets of Squabs a la Jardiniere

Cotelettes de Pigeonneaux a la Jardiniere

Thrust the legs inside as many young pigeons as needed, and split them in two lengthwise. flatten, then trim each half cutlet-shaped, the leg bone to take the place of the handle, season and roll in butter after breading them over, broil and dress on a jardiniere garnishing (No. 677), decorating the leg with a paper frill (No. 10); serve.

← No. 2263 Cutlets of Squabs a l'Albufera Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2265 Cutlets of Squabs a la Lauriston →

For the Modern Kitchen

A characteristic Ranhofer construction: a small bird boned out into two flat "cutlets," with the leg bone left in place to imitate the handle of a chop. The instructions assume a cook who already knows the house garnishes and the broiling grate, so most of the work is in filling those gaps.

What a squab isA pigeon slaughtered at about four weeks, before it flies, weighing roughly 12–16 oz. The meat is dark, tender and mild, unlike an adult wood pigeon. Order from a game butcher or online; poussin or Cornish hen of similar weight behaves the same way under the broiler, though the flavor is much plainer.
The cutlet shape"Thrust the legs inside" means tucking the drumsticks into the body cavity before splitting, so the bird holds a compact shape. Split down the backbone and breastbone, remove the rib cage and thigh bone, and leave the drumstick bone attached and scraped clean at the tip to serve as the handle. Trim each half to a rounded chop outline.
Flatten gentlyPress between plastic film with the flat of a heavy pan to an even half inch. Squab breast is thin already; pounding it hard tears the flesh and it will not hold the crumb coating.
"Roll in butter after breading"The wording is compressed and the order is ambiguous: season, then butter and fine dry breadcrumbs, with a further brushing or rolling in butter so the surface is saturated and will color under heat. The text specifies no egg wash, though Ranhofer breads other dishes with egg; taken as written here, the crust stays thin and light.
BroilingA hot broiler, the cutlets about 4 inches from the element, roughly 3–4 minutes per side. Watch closely — buttered crumbs go from gold to black quickly. If the crust is coloring before the meat is done, move the pan down a rack.
DonenessSquab is traditionally served with the breast rosy, around 135–140°F. Anyone who wants the poultry-safe 165°F should expect dry, livery meat; cooking to that temperature is a legitimate choice, not an improvement in flavor.
Jardinière garnish (No. 677)Jardiniere garnish (No. 677) -- A classical jardiniere is spring vegetables cut to uniform shapes -- carrots and turnips turned into olives or balls, green beans in short lengths, peas, and similar -- each cooked separately, then bound with butter and arranged in small groups around the dish; check No. 677 for Ranhofer's own combination. Cook to just tender and dress at the last moment so nothing weeps.
Paper frillsThe frill (No. 10) slips over the exposed leg bone. They can still be bought, or cut from a folded strip of parchment. Purely decorative, and easily left off.
YieldOne bird gives two cutlets. Figure two cutlets per person as an entrée course in a long menu, three or four if this is the main dish.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades in the kitchens of Delmonico's in New York, and the book is essentially the restaurant's working repertory set down in numbered order with cross-references to its stock garnishes — hence the bare instruction here to "dress on a jardiniere garnishing (No. 677)." Squab appeared constantly on American restaurant menus of the period; pigeons were raised commercially in lofts and arrived in a size that suited the era's many-coursed dinners, where an entrée was a small dish among several. Shaping a boned bird into a côtelette with the leg bone standing in for a chop handle was a standard piece of garde-manger showmanship, applied equally to chicken, veal and game. The name jardinière — the feminine of jardinier, gardener, in culinary use meaning garden-style vegetables — is the classical French term for a garnish of fresh vegetables cut to matching shapes and kept in separate little heaps rather than mixed, a convention codified in nineteenth-century French kitchens and inherited wholesale by Delmonico's.