No. 2308

"pain" of Young Rabbits a la Maintenon

Pain de Lapereaux a la Maintenon

Bone four young rabbits, reserving the minion fillets; suppress the sinews from the meats and cut them into dice; also cut exactly similar a third as much fat pork; fry both these in butter with parsley, truffles and mushrooms, all finely chopped, salt, pepper, nutmeg and fine spices; when cold pound and press through a sieve, adding half as much panada, first pounding it, then mixing it in gradually with the forcemeat until well incorporated, then put in twelve egg-yolks singly, and one pint of espagnole sauce (No. 414) well reduced with game fumet (No. 397). Grease a cylindrical mold with sponged and softened butter, decorate it with fanciful cuts of truffles, and fill with the prepared forcemeat; cover with bards of fat pork, and then poach; unmold, glaze and fill the center with a stew composed of truffles and mushrooms. Cut the minion fillets on the bias in three lengthwise pieces, pare them evenly, score and streak with truffles; turn them into a ring form, and lay them into a generously buttered sautoir, cover over with buttered paper, and cook in a brisk oven; glaze and dress them on top of the "pain." Cut quarter-inch thick slices of brain, and from them remove twelve rounds with an inch and a quarter tin tube, dip in egg and bread-crumbs, and fry; garnish the "pain" around with these and serve with a sauce-boat of half-glaze sauce (No. 413) with game fumet (No. 397).

← No. 2307 "pain" of Pike Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2309 Patty a la Palmerston-Large, Hot →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

This is a Delmonico's banquet piece: a poached forcemeat loaf built from four rabbits, unmolded and dressed with its own fillets. Nothing about it is difficult, but almost every step assumes a professional kitchen with stocks already made.

The hinge: poach, never boilA pain is an egg-bound forcemeat set by gentle heat. Ranhofer says only "poach"; in practice that means the covered mold stood in a water bath in a slow oven -- keep the water well below a simmer and take the loaf out when the centre reaches about 160F. If the water boils the yolks curdle and the loaf weeps fat and turns grainy.
PanadaThe unnamed panada is the standard binding paste - bread crumb soaked in milk and dried over heat, or a flour-and-butter panade cooked stiff. "Half as much" means half the weight of the pounded meat, which by modern taste is a great deal of starch; a third gives a lighter loaf.
Minion filletsThe filets mignons here are the two small tenderloin strips lying under the saddle, not beef cuts. Reserve them whole when boning, and cut them on the bias as directed - they cook in a matter of minutes.
Espagnole, fumet and half-glazeNo. 414 is the long-simmered brown sauce, No. 397 a concentrated game stock, No. 413 its reduction. A good reduced brown veal stock or demi-glace, fortified with the rabbit bones roasted and simmered, stands in for all three.
Fine spicesEpices fines is a compound spice of the older French kitchen; formulas vary, but they generally run to pepper, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, bay and thyme ground together. A pinch is enough for this quantity; the recipe already calls for nutmeg separately.
Bards and sponged butterBards are thin sheets of pork fatback laid over the surface to keep it from drying. "Sponged and softened butter" is butter worked soft -- probably also washed of its buttermilk -- so that it holds the truffle cutouts against the mold wall.
BrainsBovine brain is a specified risk material and its sale is restricted or banned in the United States, the United Kingdom and the EU because of BSE. Veal and lamb brains within permitted age limits are still sold in some markets; if you cannot get them legally, omit the fried rounds and garnish with crumbed mushroom caps.
Brisk ovenFor the fillets in the sautoir, read 425-450F - hot and short, so they color without overcooking under the buttered paper.
YieldFour rabbits, twelve yolks and a pint of sauce make a loaf for twelve to sixteen at a formal service. Scaled to one rabbit and three yolks it becomes a workable terrine for six, served cold in slices.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and dishes like this one show what a large restaurant kitchen could do when labor was cheap and stocks were standing on the stove: a whole rabbit forcemeat, a truffle-decorated mold, a second garnish of the animal's own fillets, and a third of fried brains. The name honors Francoise d'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon, the second wife of Louis XIV; French cookery attached her name to a family of preparations - most famously cotelettes a la Maintenon, cooked in paper with a mushroom and onion stuffing - though the association is traditional rather than documented to anything she cooked or ordered. The pain itself belongs to the older repertoire of pounded, sieved and poached forcemeats that also produced quenelles and mousselines - a technique well suited to small animals with a lot of bone and not much meat per carcass.