No. 81

Baking Forcemeat for Ordinary Use

Farce a Gratin Ordinaire

Fry in four ounces of melted lard, one bayleaf, two ounces of carrots and two ounces of celery, both cut in dice, one shallot and two ounces of onions, both finely chopped, also one ounce of truffles, the same of mushrooms and one tablespoonful of chopped parsley; add its equal quantity of calf's liver and two gills of espagnole sauce (No. 414). When the meats are cooked, let the preparation first get cold, then pound and rub it through a sieve; lay this forcemeat into a bowl, cover it with buttered paper and keep it in a cool place; mix with this three tablespoonfuls of raw quenelle forcemeat, either of veal, chicken or game, in order to thicken it, but only just when ready to use. The liver may be replace by the same quantity of cooked or raw meat, either lamb, veal, chicken or game chopped up very fine and seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

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For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

A classic farce à gratin: a liver-based forcemeat used to line pâté moulds, spread on croûtons under roast game, or stuff birds. It is a component, not a dish, and Ranhofer assumes you know what to do with it.

The ambiguous quantity"Add its equal quantity of calf's liver" gives no clear referent. The usual reading is an amount of liver equal to the combined weight of the vegetables and aromatics already in the pan, which comes to roughly 8 to 9 oz. Treat it as an estimate rather than a conversion.
GillsA gill is half a cup, so two gills of espagnole is one cup. A good demi-glace or reduced brown sauce stands in for the No. 414 espagnole without harming the result.
Cook the liver just throughThis is the hinge. Calf's liver held past medium turns grainy and chalky, and no amount of pounding or sieving will bring the texture back. Brown it in the hot fat and pull it while the centre is still rosy; it will firm as the mixture cools.
Pounding and sievingThe mortar and tamis are a food processor and a drum sieve. Process cold, then push through a fine sieve with a plastic scraper to catch the connective tissue and any vegetable fibre the machine leaves behind.
Quenelle forcemeatThe three tablespoons of raw quenelle forcemeat are veal, chicken or game, typically pounded with a panada and egg, added as a binder. It is stirred in at the last moment because it contains raw meat; whatever the farce goes into must then be cooked through.
FatFour ounces of lard is generous by modern standards and much of it is there to carry flavour. Butter or clarified butter works, and three ounces is usually enough.
Truffles and mushroomsAn ounce of truffle is a garnish-level amount here, not the point of the dish; a teaspoon of truffle paste or simply an extra ounce of well-browned cremini keeps the balance without the expense.
StorageThe buttered paper is there to exclude air. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface instead, refrigerate, and use within two days — liver forcemeats grey and sour quickly.
YieldAround a pound and a half of finished farce, depending on how far the mixture reduces; enough to line a pâté mould or to spread on croûtons for a number of servings of roast game.

A Little History

Farce à gratin is one of the workhorse preparations of nineteenth-century professional cookery: a liver forcemeat, cooked and sieved smooth, kept on hand to line raised pies and terrine moulds, to stuff small game birds, and above all to spread on the fried bread croûtons set beneath roast woodcock, snipe and partridge. Charles Ranhofer, who ran the Delmonico's kitchens in New York across two separate spells, compiled The Epicurean (1894) as a complete working reference in the manner of Carême and Gouffé, which is why entries like this one live in the "Elementary Methods" section and cross-reference numbered sauces rather than standing alone. The instruction to hold back the raw quenelle binder until service may reflect kitchen convenience, though the recipe itself says only to keep the preparation in a cool place. The casual note that lamb, veal, chicken or game may replace the liver shows how these preparations were understood — not as fixed recipes but as ratios a cook adjusted to whatever the larder held.