Foies-Gras and Chicken Forcemeat for Borders, Bottoms of Dishes and Surtouts

This is not a dish but a construction material: a rich liver forcemeat stiff enough to be molded into rings and plinths that other food is arranged on. Ranhofer assumes you already have No. 89 chicken quenelle forcemeat made and chilled.

• "Raw fat livers" means raw foie grasRanhofer means fattened duck or goose liver, not ordinary poultry livers, which have neither the fat nor the pale texture to carry this. Raw lobes need the large veins removed and the liver brought to cool room temperature so it purees smoothly; a pound is roughly a lobe of a duck liver and rather less of a goose one, though lobe weights vary considerably. Production is restricted in some jurisdictions and sale is banned in a few, so availability varies.
• Keep everything cold, and blend coldThis is the hinge. Foie gras fat melts in the low 90sF, and if the mixture warms while you work it the fat separates and the border weeps grease when cooked. Chill the bowl, work in short bursts, and return the mass to the refrigerator if it starts to look oily rather than satiny.
• Mortar to machineA food processor replaces the pounding. Puree the seasoned liver alone first, add the yolks one at a time as written so the emulsion stays tight, then fold in the quenelle forcemeat by hand or with brief pulses. Passing the liver puree through a fine sieve before adding the forcemeat gives the texture Ranhofer expected.
• Proportions and yieldOne pound liver to three pounds quenelle forcemeat plus eight yolks gives a little over four pounds of finished farce, enough for two large ring borders or several smaller dish bottoms. Halve or quarter it freely; the ratio is what matters.
• The moldsA crown-form mold lightly hollowed on top is a border mold; a savarin or ring mold is the nearest modern equivalent. Butter it heavily, pack the forcemeat with no air pockets, and cover with buttered paper. Ranhofer gives an inch and a half to two inches high for a border, one inch generally for a dish bottom or surtout, and two inches narrower in diameter than the basin of the dish.
• Cooking, which the recipe leaves outThe farce is stored raw on ice and cooked when molded. Poach the filled mold in a bain-marie in a moderate oven, 325 to 350F, with the water held below a simmer, until the center reaches 160F, usually 35 to 50 minutes depending on the mold. It must be cooked through before unmolding; nothing here is meant to be eaten raw.
• Season a test spoonfulSalt, pepper and nutmeg are given without quantity because the farce was tasted. Poach a teaspoonful in simmering water for two minutes, taste it, and adjust before the whole mass goes on ice.
• SurtoutIn this book a surtout is the raised centerpiece or stand set in the middle of the table, so "forcemeat for surtouts" means a low molded base built to sit on it and hold a garnished display.