Palmettes of Quails or Partridges, African

A late nineteenth-century restaurant side dish built from three cross-references, so the short paragraph hides most of the work. The whole thing hinges on how far you take the initial poaching.

• The hinge: poach only to setThe forcemeat is poached just enough to firm the outside so the shape survives egging and crumbing. If you poach it through, the later frying dries it and the mousseline turns spongy. Aim for a barely set exterior with a soft centre, chill it thoroughly, then bread and fry.
• Mousseline forcemeatNo. 87 is Ranhofer's mousseline: broadly, raw bird flesh pounded to a paste with egg white, seasoned, sieved, then let down with cold heavy cream, and in the period worked over ice. A food processor does the pounding; keep everything refrigerator-cold or the cream will break out of the emulsion.
• Quail and partridgeFarmed quail are easy to buy and give roughly 2 oz of usable breast and thigh meat each; because the mousseline is lightened with an equal-ish weight of cream, about half a pound of meat -- four or so birds -- goes into a pound of forcemeat. Partridge is a game bird with seasonal availability in most places; farmed guinea fowl or pheasant behaves similarly if you cannot get it.
• Foies-grasCut in one-eighth inch dice, as written, and keep it very cold so it does not smear into the forcemeat. Foie gras is banned or restricted in some jurisdictions; a coarse chicken-liver parfait, chilled hard and diced, sits in the same place on the plate.
• Heart-shaped moldsThe recipe sends you back to No. 920 for the molds; check it there for size and preparation. Tartlet tins, silicone shapes or simply cutting the set forcemeat with a cutter all work; the point is a uniform piece that fries evenly.
• Frying and donenessFry in fat at 350 to 360F, about three minutes, until deep gold. Because the interior went into the pan barely cooked, take it to 165F at the centre before serving; a thin instant-read probe tells you in seconds.
• Favor frillsNo. 10 is cut paper frills, purely decorative, clipped to the trimmed end of a garnish. Skip them without loss, or use them if you are serving the crown arrangement the recipe describes.
• African sauceNo. 424 is a separate brown sauce, in this period generally a highly seasoned espagnole worked with tomato, onion and cayenne rather than anything resembling a modern curry. Look it up in the book and make it first; the palmettes must go to table straight from the fat.
• YieldAs a hot side dish in the Epicurean sense, two small palmettes per person. A pound of forcemeat gives eight to ten pieces, enough for four or five as a first course.