No. 2280

Escalops of Fat Livers a la Rulli

Escalopes de Foies-Gras a la Rulli

Braise for forty minutes in a mirepoix (No. 419) with Madeira some duck's or geese livers, wrapped in thin slices of fat pork or caul fat and buttered paper; put them into a small vessel, and pour the stock over, then let get cold in this; remove them from the stock and cut them into slices a quarter of an inch thick; pare them into rounds an inch and a quarter, and have the same quantity of truffles and mushrooms sauted in butter. Fry some shallots in butter, add chopped up parsley, meat glaze (No. 402) and some well-reduced allemande sauce (No. 407), and with this cover over the livers, mushrooms and truffles. Have small sheets of buttered paper, lay on the livers, partly overlapping the livers lay a slice of truffle, and partly overlapping the truffle lay a slice of mushroom; cover again with a little more of the sauce, and leave to get very cold; remove from the paper, then roll the escalops in bread-crumbs, afterward dip them in beaten egg, again in bread-crumbs, again in the egg, and in the bread-crumbs once more; smooth the crumbs with the blade of a knife, and fry them a fine color; dress on a folded napkin with a bunch of fried parsley to decorate.

← No. 2279 Escalops of Fat Livers a la Villeneuve Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2281 Escalops of Fat Livers with Risot, Perigueux →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a cold-set, breaded-and-fried preparation in the nineteenth-century grand-cuisine manner: the liver is braised, sliced, masked with a stiff sauce, chilled solid, then crumbed and fried. Most of the work is done a day ahead.

The hinge: chill until firmThe escalops must be genuinely cold and the sauce set hard before crumbing, or the coating will slide off and the liver will melt in the fat. Refrigerate the sauced, papered slices at least four hours, preferably overnight.
The livers"Foies-gras" here means whole fattened duck or goose liver, not a mousse or pâté. A raw duck foie gras of 1 to 1½ lb is the practical modern equivalent; note that its sale is restricted in some jurisdictions. Ordinary duck liver will work but gives a firmer, less unctuous result.
Mirepoix No. 419Ranhofer's braising mirepoix is broadly diced root vegetables and onion with lean raw ham or salt pork and aromatic herbs, sweated in butter and moistened with stock and wine; see the cross-reference for his exact proportions. Forty minutes at a bare simmer, not a boil, then leave the livers to cool in their own stock as directed.
Caul fat and buttered paperCaul fat is available from any butcher who breaks down whole pigs; soak it briefly in warm water to make it pliable. Thin sheets of fresh pork back fat serve as well. The buttered paper is parchment; wax paper is not a substitute in a hot braise.
Allemande sauce No. 407A veloute (white roux with veal or chicken stock) finished with egg yolks, cream and lemon. It must be reduced until it will coat and hold a slice of truffle in place - thicker than a sauce for serving. Meat glaze (No. 402) is stock reduced to a syrupy glaze, well beyond demi-glace; commercial glace de viande is fine.
Truffles and mushroomsThe original assumes fresh black truffle. A canned or jarred truffle sliced thin is the honest substitute; truffle oil is not. Sauté the mushrooms until their water has gone and they have begun to brown, or the sauce will loosen in the refrigerator.
Triple breadingThree passes of crumb and two of egg build a shell stiff enough to contain the melting liver. Use fine dry crumbs, keep one hand for wet and one for dry, and smooth the surface with a knife as directed — a ragged crust splits in the fat.
FryingDeep fat at 360-375F, one to two minutes, just to color. The interior is already cooked; longer frying only renders the foie gras out through the crust.
Yield and serviceThe original states no yield; how many rounds you get depends entirely on how much is lost in paring, so plan on cutting and trimming first and portioning after. "Dress on a folded napkin" means the napkin absorbs frying fat on the platter; a rack over a warm dish does the same job. Fried parsley must be very dry before it goes into the fat.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York for some three decades, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of his kitchen, and this dish shows the house style at full stretch: an expensive raw material braised, sliced, sauced, chilled and then deep-fried in a crumb shell - a technique closely related to the cromesquis and to the croquette family that dominated late-Victorian entree cookery. The dedication "a la Rulli" appears to follow the period habit of naming a garnish or preparation after a patron, colleague or occasion; Ranhofer supplies many such tags without explanation, and the people behind them are now largely unidentifiable. Fattened goose and duck liver was imported to American kitchens largely from France, often tinned or in terrines, so a recipe beginning from whole raw livers assumes unusual supply. The array of cross-references - mirepoix No. 419, glaze No. 402, allemande No. 407 - reflects a brigade system in which the foundation sauces were standing preparations, so no individual recipe needed to begin from scratch.