No. 908

Kulibiac, Russian

Coulibiac a la Russe

Dilute in a pint of warm milk, the third of an ounce of yeast; fill it up with half a pound of flour, and beat well with a spatula to form a very smooth leaven; let it rise to double in a mild temperature, then add to it half a pound of flour, half a pound of butter, six eggs, some cream and a little salt; beat it well with the spatula to obtain a smooth paste, then lay it on the table, make a hole in the middle and fill this with sufficient sifted flour that when mixing it with the hands it does not adhere, and set it away in a warm place for one hour. Break up the paste and bring it together again, and lay it aside in the ice-box. Roll it out to three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, set this layer on a floured cloth, and place on it one inch and a quarter apart, round balls, an inch in diameter, made of the following preparation: Have a pound of salmon and bass cut in quarter inch squares; half a pound of mushrooms in three-sixteenth inch squares, fry them in butter and moisten with Madeira, then add the fish and some espagnole sauce (No. 414), two chopped hard boiled eggs, and four ounces of rice cooked in consommé (No. 189), salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chives. Dampen slightly with a brush around the forcemeat, and cover over with another layer of paste. Prepare a buttered baking sheet, cut out the kulibiacs with a small wheel if for squares, or else with a pastry cutter if for rounds, turn them over and lay them on a baking sheet and set them aside in a warm temperature, egg the surfaces twice, dredge a little bread-crumbs over, besprinkle with butter and cook. They can be made in one entire piece, turning it over on a buttered sheet, egg the surface, dredge bread-crumbs over, besprinkle with butter, and when done cut them out with a knife; in either case dress them on folded napkins.

← No. 907 Fontage Croustades a la Flavignan Hot Side Dishes No. 909 Kulibiac Smolenska →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's coulibiac is really two recipes stacked: an enriched brioche-type yeast dough and a cooked fish-and-rice filling. The version here is unusual in that it is scaled down into individual turnovers, though he allows the single large loaf as well.

The hinge: chill everythingThe filling must be completely cold before it touches the dough, and the dough itself goes to the ice-box before rolling. Warm filling melts the butter out of the paste and you get a grey, sodden base rather than a layered crust.
The yeastA third of an ounce is roughly 9 g of the compressed cake yeast of the period — about a tablespoon of fresh yeast, or a scant teaspoon of instant dry. The sponge with a pint of milk and half a pound of flour is very slack; expect a batter, not a dough, until the second addition of flour goes in.
Flour by weightHalf a pound is about 1¾ cups of all-purpose. The additional flour worked in on the table is deliberately unmeasured — add only enough to stop the paste sticking, since every extra ounce toughens it.
Oven temperatureNo heat is given; the recipe says only 'cook'. An enriched egg-and-butter dough of this kind wants a moderately hot oven, in the region of 375–400°F. Timing will depend entirely on size — individual pieces bake far faster than a single large loaf — and the filling has already been through the pan, so you are essentially baking the crust.
Espagnole and consomméBoth are cross-references to Ranhofer's own foundation recipes. A good reduced brown sauce or demi-glace stands in for the espagnole, and any decent unsalted stock will cook the rice. Use only enough sauce to bind — a wet filling will burst the seams.
The fishA pound of salmon and bass, cut in quarter-inch dice, is added to the pan with the mushrooms, Madeira and espagnole sauce; Ranhofer does not say how long it stays there, and it will finish in the oven. Skin and pin-bone both. Bass was common on New York menus of the period; any firm white fish works.
Rolling and assemblyThree-sixteenths of an inch is just under 5 mm — thin. Spacing the balls of filling an inch and a quarter apart and cutting after covering is the same method used for ravioli; press the air out around each mound before you cut.
"Besprinkle with butter"Melted butter, brushed or flicked over the crumbed surface. With the double egg wash beneath, it gives a burnished, slightly sandy top.

A Little History

Coulibiac (kulebyaka) is a Russian pie of enriched dough wrapped around fish, rice, egg and mushroom, traditionally served in one long loaf and cut at the table. It is generally said to have reached Paris with Russian cooks and Russian fashion in the nineteenth century, and it was absorbed into the grand restaurant repertoire, which is how it turns up in Ranhofer's Delmonico's book among the hot side dishes rather than the fish course. Classic Russian versions often include vesiga, the dried spinal marrow of the sturgeon, and layer the filling with pancakes to absorb juices; Ranhofer keeps neither, and his method of sealing individual mounds between two sheets of paste is closer to French pastry practice than to anything served in St. Petersburg. Serving on a folded napkin, mentioned here almost in passing, was standard practice.