No. 338

Partridge Soup a la Royale

Potage de Perdreau a la Royale

Put to boil on the side of the fire, two quarts of thickened game stock (No. 195). Pound the meat taken from the breasts of two cooked and cold partridges; press them forcibly through a sieve, and put this puree into a bowl to dilute with seven or eight egg-yolks, and a few spoonfuls of raw cream; season it to taste. Fill small buttered timbale molds (No. 2, Fig. 137) with this preparation, poach them (No. 152). Break up the partridge bones, add them to the soup, also a bunch of aromatic herbs, and some mushroom parings. Twenty minutes later skim off the fat, season and strain the soup through a tammy, and return it again to the saucepan; boil it up twice, and then stir in four spoonfuls of Madeira wine, meanwhile keeping it very hot. At the last moment unmold the small poached timbales; put in the soup tureen, and gently pour the soup over them.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A clear game consommé, lightly thickened, poured over a savory partridge custard. Everything hangs on the custard, which is a classic royale and will curdle if it ever simmers.

The hinge: poach, never boilSet the filled molds in a water bath and hold the water at 170-180F, or bake in a 300F oven with the pan half full of hot water, until the centers are just set (roughly 20-30 minutes for 2-3 oz molds). At a simmer the yolks tighten and weep and the royale turns granular instead of slicing cleanly.
"Thickened game stock"The recipe sends you to Ranhofer's No. 195; in this book thickened stocks are generally bound with a roux rather than reduced. Two quarts of well-made game or dark poultry stock, lightly thickened with butter and flour, gives similar body; it should coat a spoon faintly, not resemble gravy.
Timbale moldsSmall dariole molds, about 2-3 oz. Buttered ramekins, espresso cups or a silicone mini-muffin tray all work. Butter them well and let the poached custards rest five minutes before turning out.
"Raw cream" and "spoonfuls"Raw cream here means unwhipped, uncooked cream, a couple of tablespoons. A spoonful in books of this period is generally taken as a tablespoon, which would make four spoonfuls of Madeira about a quarter cup.
TammyA tammy is a fine worsted cloth the soup was wrung through. A double layer of dampened muslin or a fine chinois lined with a coffee filter does the same job; press the solids gently rather than forcing them, or the soup clouds.
Aromatic herbs and mushroom paringsA bouquet garni — parsley stems, thyme, a bay leaf, tied — plus the trimmings and stems left from cleaning mushrooms. Both are for perfume only and are strained out; do not let the bones and herbs steep much beyond the twenty minutes given or the stock turns bitter.
The birdsTwo roasted partridges yield only a few ounces of breast meat, enough for six to eight small royales. Farmed partridge is sold frozen by game dealers; quail (you will need several, as they are much smaller) or one small Cornish hen give pale, mild meat, though less of the gamey note the soup is built on.
Madeira at the endStir it in off the boil and serve at once. Held over heat the wine loses its aroma and the flour-bound stock develops a pasty taste.
ServingYields about six to eight cups, so six first-course servings. Warm the tureen, set the unmolded custards in it, and pour the soup down the side so they are not broken.

A Little History

Royale is the classical French term for a set savory custard cut into shapes or molded and used as a consommé garnish, and by the late nineteenth century it was one of the standard marks of a formal soup course — a way of returning the flavor of the bird to the bowl in a second, richer form. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a full record of that kitchen's repertoire, complete with cross-referenced base preparations, which is why this recipe reads as a set of instructions to a cook who already has the game stock and the poaching method at hand. Partridge was a staple of American restaurant and market game lists in the period, when wild birds were sold commercially in quantity; the practice was curtailed in the United States by early twentieth-century game laws, and partridge on a menu today almost always means a farmed bird.