No. 2333

Quenelles of Partridge a la Stuart

Quenelles de Perdreau a la Stuart

Have oval-shaped molds, and decorate them with fanciful cuts of very black truffles and red beef tongue; garnish half of each mold with a delicate partridge cream forcemeat (No. 75); lay in the center some cold cooked fine herbs (No. 385) reduced with veloute sauce (No. 415), and cover with more of the forcemeat; poach them in a slack oven, and serve with a separate sauce-boat of bechamel sauce (No. 409) finished with essence of truffles (No. 395).

← No. 2332 Quenelles of Grouse, Londonderry Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2334 Quenelles of Pheasant—Fried →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer wrote for a brigade with a numbered reference system at hand, so this reads as shorthand for four separate preparations. Everything hinges on the poaching: a cream forcemeat is an emulsion of pounded meat, panada and heavy cream, and it will break and weep if it gets anywhere near a boil.

"Poach in a slack oven"A slack oven is simply a cool one; Ranhofer gives no figures, and any modern equivalent (roughly 275-300F) is an approximation. Molds of this kind are conventionally set in a water bath rather than on a bare rack. Butter them, cover with buttered paper, and cook gently until the forcemeat is set and hot through -- on the order of 20-30 minutes for 2 oz molds. If the water simmers, the forcemeat curdles.
The cross-referenced recipesThe recipe itself names No. 75 as a partridge cream forcemeat, No. 385 as cooked fine herbs, No. 415 velouté, No. 409 béchamel and No. 395 essence of truffles. A cream forcemeat of this period is typically raw game breast pounded to a paste, worked with a panada and let down with cream kept cold; fines herbes usually means shallot, mushroom and parsley; and a truffle essence is generally made by reducing truffle trimmings with wine and stock. The numbered entries themselves should be consulted for the exact method.
Decorating the moldsThe truffle and tongue cuts are laid pattern-side down in the buttered mold before any forcemeat goes in. A brushing of half-set aspic or clarified butter fixes them so they do not drift when the forcemeat is pressed in.
PartridgeFarmed grey or chukar partridge is available from game dealers; two birds give roughly 8 oz of breast meat, enough for the forcemeat. Boneless quail or pheasant breast behaves the same way in a cream forcemeat, though pheasant is milder.
Beef tongueCooked, pressed, cured tongue was a standard larder item for its color. Any deep pink cured meat that slices cleanly will read the same on the plate; use it thin, cut with a small aspic cutter.
Truffle essenceIf you have no truffle trimmings, reduce a few tablespoons of Madeira with mushroom stock and finish the béchamel with a small amount of good truffle paste. Truffle oil is a poor substitute here because there is nothing to hide behind.
The center fillingThe fines herbes must be bound tight with velouté and thoroughly cold before it is spooned in, or the moisture will bleed into the forcemeat and leave a gray seam.
Yield and serviceStandard oval quenelle molds of about 2 oz make eight to ten pieces, an entrée for four. Unmold onto a warm dish and pass the sauce separately, as directed; the quenelles should not sit in it.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of that house's repertoire, which is why this entry is numbered and cross-referenced rather than explained. Quenelles molded, decorated and poached in a bain-marie belong to the ornamental side of nineteenth-century French service, where a forcemeat was as much a surface to be inlaid with truffle and tongue as it was something to eat. The "a la Stuart" tag follows the era's habit of naming garnishes after patrons, houses and public figures; Ranhofer supplies dozens of such names without ever saying whom they honor, and in most cases the reference is now unrecoverable. Partridge on a New York menu of the 1890s came from a wild game trade that already operated under closed seasons and restrictions on sale in New York and other states, and that was closed off more decisively in the following decades through the Lacey Act and state bans on market hunting.