No. 678

Livers a la Vincelas Garnishing

Garniture de Foies-Gras a la Vincelas

For this garnishing use fat duck or geese livers, weighing from a half pound to a pound. Perigueux foies-gras preserved plain may be substituted in case no fresh livers are on hand, but when the latter can be procured, then blanch and braise them in a mirepoix with Madeira stock (No. 419), let them get cold in it, then cut them up into quarter inch slices, and trim them either round shaped or into ovals or hearts. In the meanwhile prepare four ounces of peeled truffles. eight ounces of salt, unsmoked red beef tongue, and six ounces of cooked mushrooms, cut all these three into eighth of an inch squares, and lay them in a Madeira sauce reduced with some good white wine, and after the preparation is cooked, let it get cold, and with it cover one side of the livers, and over this lay chicken cream forcemeat (No. 75); dredge finely chopped pistachios over the top. Garnish the bottom of a dish with slices of fat pork, lay the livers on top, and cover the whole with buttered paper, set it into a moderate oven for ten minutes, and serve separately a champagne sauce (No. 445).

← No. 677 Jardinière Garnishing Garnishings No. 679 Chicken Liver Garnishing in Cases or Crousta →

For the Modern Kitchen

A composed garnish from the Delmonico's kitchen, built as a component rather than a dish: slices of braised foie gras masked with a salpicon, piped over with mousseline, and warmed through at the last minute. Everything can be done a day ahead except the final ten minutes in the oven.

The hinge: the final heatingThe chicken cream forcemeat goes on raw, so the ten minutes in the oven is a cooking step, not just a reheat. Keep the forcemeat layer thin and even, and check that it reaches 165F at the centre; a thick or uneven coat will still be raw when the foie gras below has begun to render and slump.
"Moderate oven"Read as roughly 325-350F. The buttered paper and the bed of pork fat plausibly serve to stop the surface drying and to keep the livers from taking colour, so do not be tempted to raise the heat.
Sourcing the liversA half-pound to one-pound liver is a duck or goose foie gras. Production is banned in a number of European countries and California restricts in-state production and sale; canned or jarred foie gras or mi-cuit is the nearest modern stand-in for Ranhofer's "Perigueux foies-gras preserved plain" and needs no braising, only chilling and slicing.
Braising in a mirepoixBlanch, then braise gently in diced carrot, onion and celery moistened with his Madeira stock (No. 419). Cool the liver in the liquid so it firms; slicing it warm will tear it. Quarter-inch slices cut clean with a hot, wet knife.
"Salt, unsmoked red beef tongue"Brined beef tongue, the kind sold as pickled or corned tongue, not smoked tongue. The pink colour comes from the cure. Peel it after cooking and dice it small; eighth-inch dice means a genuine brunoise, and the salpicon looks wrong if it is coarser.
Chicken cream forcemeatHis No. 75 is a cream forcemeat of the mousseline type: raw chicken pounded and sieved, seasoned, then worked with cream over ice. A food processor does it in a minute, but keep everything cold or the emulsion breaks and weeps fat in the oven.
Slices of fat porkFresh unsmoked fatback or barding fat, sliced thin, lining the dish so the livers do not stick or scorch. Salt pork rinsed of its cure will do; bacon will not, as the smoke overwhelms everything.
Buttered paperParchment cut to the dish and buttered, covering the pieces as directed.
Yield and useThe number of trimmed slices from a lobe will vary with trimming; note that the 18 ounces of truffle, tongue and mushroom in the salpicon suggests rather more than one pound of liver. As a course in its own right, count two or three slices a person and serve the champagne sauce separately, as directed, so the forcemeat stays dry on top.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry sits in the Garnishings chapter, a catalogue of modular components meant to be cross-referenced by number into larger dishes rather than cooked on their own. The construction is pure grande cuisine of the period: a salpicon of truffle, tongue and mushroom bound in reduced Madeira, a mousseline masking, chopped pistachio for colour, and a separate sauce. Names like "a la Vincelas" were the working currency of such kitchens, some commemorating patrons or places and many simply invented to distinguish one arrangement of foie gras from the next; no fixed origin for this one is documented. The reference to "Perigueux foies-gras preserved plain" is worth noting as a permitted substitution, the recipe itself treating fresh livers as the preferred default.