No. 930

Palmettes of Pullet or Capon, Clinton

Palmettes de Poularde ou de Chapon a la Clinton

Prepare the palmette molds as indicated in No.920; fill them only half full, and in the center place a foies-gras puree made from some Strasburg pate of foies-gras pressed through a sieve; finish filling the molds, poach, unmold, bread-crumb and fry them in clarified butter; trim with favor frills (No.10), and serve with a separate sauce-boatful of white Colbert sauce (No.451) with chopped truffles.

← No. 929 Palmettes of Pheasants a la Torrens Hot Side Dishes No. 931 Palmettes of Quails or Partridges, African →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade that already has forcemeat, molds and mother sauces on hand, so this entry is really an assembly note. Everything that matters is in the poaching and the frying.

What is missing from the pageNo. 920 supplies the preparation of the molds, and presumably the forcemeat with them, so this recipe cannot be worked from alone. The filling is most likely a fine chicken quenelle forcemeat — breast meat pounded with panada and cream, seasoned and passed through a sieve — though this page does not say so.
Palmette moldsSmall palm-leaf or fan-shaped tinned molds. Barquette or small oval tartlet molds, buttered and chilled, stand in perfectly; the shape is decoration, not structure.
Poularde and caponA poularde is a fattened young hen and a capon a castrated cockerel, both prized for fat, tender breast meat. Neither is a supermarket item; use the breast of a good 4–5 lb roasting chicken.
The hinge: poach, never boilSet the filled molds in a shallow pan of water held at about 170–175F and cover. Boiling water will make the forcemeat swell, weep its cream and break apart when unmolded.
Chill before breadingThe recipe moves straight from unmolding to crumbing, but warm quenelle is too soft to handle. Cool the poached palmettes completely, then flour, egg and crumb them so the coating sets against a firm surface.
Clarified butterButter with the milk solids removed will take shallow frying at 325–350F without burning, which whole butter will not. The palmettes are already cooked, so you are colouring the crust for two or three minutes a side, no more.
Foie gras puréeStrasbourg pâté de foie gras is a cooked, seasoned terrine, pressed through a sieve here to make a smooth centre. Production and sale are restricted in some jurisdictions; a fine chicken liver parfait gives the same soft, rich core.
Favor frillsNo. 10 is a paper frill, the same article used on lamb cutlets and ham. Purely ornamental, and easily left off.
White Colbert sauceClassic Colbert is a meat glaze finished with butter, lemon and tarragon; Ranhofer's No. 451 is a white version whose composition is not given on this page, here finished with chopped truffle. Serve it separately as directed so the fried crust stays crisp.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its long runs of near-identical entries — palmettes of pheasant à la Torrens, of pullet à la Clinton, of quail African — show how a nineteenth-century kitchen generated a menu: one technique, one mold, and a rotating garnish and sauce to justify a new name. The names themselves are largely New York address book, and Ranhofer gives no explanation of à la Clinton. The dish itself belongs to the great age of forcemeat cookery, when a cook's standing rested on quenelle work fine enough to be poached in a shaped mold and hold its edges, with foie gras hidden at the centre as the expected luxury of a hot side dish.