Consomme a la Laguipierre

This entry is a garnish only — Ranhofer assumes you already have a finished clarified consommé from earlier in the chapter, and here supplies the three things served with it. Read it as an assembly plan rather than a standalone dish.

• What is missingNo. 236 gives you no broth. You need a strong, well-clarified consommé (game or chicken) ready separately; the mousse ovals, quenelles and pastry squares are all passed at table, not cooked in the soup.
• "Slack" and "very slow" ovensRanhofer distinguishes slack, slow and very slow without giving temperatures; modern equivalents are usually placed somewhere between about 225F and 300F, with "very slow" the coolest. Aim low for the mousse molds so the forcemeat sets without souffleing, and lower still for the pastry squares so they dry and stay pale rather than colouring.
• Poach in a water bathPoaching -- the text says only to set the molds on tin sheets and poach in a slack oven; it does not specify a water bath, though standing them in a pan of hot water reaching halfway up is the usual modern way to keep the forcemeat from curdling. Cover loosely and cook until the centres are just firm; 160F internal is a safe finishing point.
• Game mousseA period mousse here means raw game flesh pounded and sieved, seasoned, then bound with egg white and cream — closer to a fine quenelle mixture than to a modern cold mousse. Partridge, pheasant or venison all work; keep everything cold, and taste-test a spoonful poached in water before filling the molds, since seasoning cannot be corrected later.
• Molds and shape"Small half pigeon's eggs" means shallow ovals about an inch long — modern small silicone half-sphere or barquette molds, or simply two teaspoons used to form quenelles, give the same effect. Butter them well; unmolding a set mousse is the step most likely to fail.
• Quenelles through a bagPipe small ovals onto a buttered tray, then flood with water and finish in the low oven. Ranhofer says boiling water; modern practice is to keep the liquid just below a simmer so the quenelles do not swell and burst. They are done when they roll over and feel springy.
• Twelve turns of puff pasteTwelve is more than modern puff pastry usually gets (about six). The likely intent is a fine, tight lamination that puffs little; bought all-butter puff, given two or three extra folds, is a reasonable substitute. Cut into quarter-inch squares before baking, not after, and note that Ranhofer passes them separately rather than in the soup.
• Yield and serviceThe recipe specifies no quantities; judge the number of mousse ovals and quenelles per person yourself, with a small dish of the pastry squares passed separately. Everything is best made the day of service; the pastry squares alone will hold overnight in a tin.