No. 2963

Macaroni with Game Puree

Macaroni a la Puree de Gibier

Pound the meats of a cooked partridge, free of skin or bones; add to it six ounces of butter and six gills of meat gravy, prepared the same as in No. 2960. Blanch the macaroni for twelve minutes, drain and dress it in layers--macaroni, grated parmesan and game puree. Serve separately a half-glaze sauce (No. 413) with essence of game (No. 389).

← No. 2962 Macaroni with Cream and Trufffles Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous No. 2964 Macaroni Mezzani Grandi a la Cavallotti →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional brigade with stocks and sauces already standing in the larder, so most of the work here happens in the cross-references. Once you have a dark game gravy and a demi-glace, the assembly is quick.

Six gills of gravyA gill is half a cup, so six gills is three cups. That is a great deal of liquid for one partridge and six ounces of butter; reduce it hard first, to something like a cup of syrupy, well-flavoured game gravy, or the pur ot hhold.
The cross-referencesNo. 2960 is the neighbouring macaroni recipe whose meat gravy this one borrows, No. 413 Ranhofer's half-glaze (demi-glace), No. 389 his essence of game. A good store demi-glace plus the reduced roasting juices of the bird will stand in for all three.
PartridgeGrey or chukar partridge, roasted or braised, then picked clean. One bird yields perhaps 5-6 oz of meat. Pheasant, guinea fowl or the legs of a roast duck work on the same principle; the point is dark, gamy meat with enough flavour to survive being pounded into butter.
Pounding the meatA mortar was the original tool and gives a coarse, fibrous purée. A food processor does it in seconds but will turn the meat to paste if you run it long -- pulse the meat with the cold butter, then loosen with the reduced gravy.
Twelve minutes for the macaroniThe long, thick dried macaroni of Ranhofer's day plausibly wanted that long. Modern dried macaroni is done in 8-11 minutes; stop it a minute short of al dente, since it will sit under hot puree and sauce.
Dressing in layersBuild in a warmed shallow dish: macaroni, grated Parmesan, game pur and repeat, finishing with cheese. It is not baked -- everything goes in hot and is served at once, with the half-glaze passed separately in a sauceboat.
YieldRanhofer gives no quantity of macaroni, so any serving count is a guess: the partridge and gravy would dress enough for roughly four to six as a first course. Ranhofer's quantities assume the macaroni is one dish among many in a long menu.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is arranged as a working system rather than a book of standalone recipes -- hence the string of numbers pointing to gravies, glazes and essences elsewhere in the volume. Game purees of this kind belonged to the classical French repertoire Ranhofer brought with him: a small quantity of highly flavoured meat, pounded with butter and a reduction, used to enrich something bland and starchy. Partridge and other wild birds were restaurant luxuries in the period, and a single bird's worth of meat could dress a dish for a table. The pairing of Italian macaroni and Parmesan with French sauce work reflects Delmonico's kitchen, where the Italian pastes have a section of their own -- the 'Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous' chapter this recipe sits in -- long before pasta was ordinary American food.