No. 967

Harlequin Timbales

Timbales a l'Arlequin

Prepare a salpicon of artichoke bottoms cut into three-sixteenth inch squares; mix them in with a well buttered cold supreme sauce (No. 547). Decorate the timbale molds (No. 2, Fig. 137) by placing a ring cut from a truffle in the center of the bottom, one-eighth of an inch narrower than the bottom itself, and in the center of this ring lay a round piece of tongue; ornament the sides with alternate lozenges of truffles, red beef tongue, and some royal (No. 241) cut thin; also lozenges of forcemeat prepared as follows: Have two ounces of quenelle forcemeat (No. 89) with chopped truffles added, and the same quantity of forcemeat with chopped pistachios; spread a layer one-sixteenth of an inch of each preparation of forcemeat on sheets of paper; poach till firm to the touch, let cool and cut in lozenges to use for decorating the timbales. Cover the decoration with a coating of chicken quenelle forcemeat (No. 89), place in the center a half inch diameter ball of the prepared salpicon, cover over with more forcemeat, then poach and unmold the timbales as described in No. 959. Serve separately a veloute sauce (No. 415), reduced with a puree of onions (No. 723) and cream, and thicken it at the last moment with a piece of fresh butter.

← No. 966 Timbales for Gourmets Hot Side Dishes No. 968 Imperial Timbales →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a decorated forcemeat timbale from Ranhofer's chapter of hot entremets, and almost all of it is assembly rather than cooking. The cross-referenced numbers are separate recipes elsewhere in The Epicurean, so the components have to be sourced or improvised before you begin.

The hinge: poach gently, never boilThe molds go into a water bath kept below a simmer (the recipe refers the method to No. 959 and gives no temperature). Forcemeat bound with egg and cream curdles and weeps if the bath simmers, and the decoration slides off the wall of the mold.
What the cross-references areNo. 547 supreme is a rich white chicken sauce finished with cream and butter; No. 89 is a pounded chicken quenelle forcemeat; No. 241 royal is a savoury unsweetened custard set firm in a mold, then cut; No. 415 velout oux is stock thickened with white roux. A fine modern chicken mousseline and a firm savoury custard stand in for the last two without loss.
Salpicon and its binderA salpicon is simply small even dice, here about 5 mm. "Well buttered cold supreme" means the sauce has been mounted with butter and then chilled so it sets stiff enough to roll into a half-inch ball that will not leak into the surrounding forcemeat.
Truffle, tongue, pistachioFresh black truffle is the intended article; preserved truffle peelings give the colour if not the perfume. "Red beef tongue" is brined, cooked tongue, sliced thin — a good delicatessen will slice it. Pistachios must be unsalted and skinned to keep the green clean.
Timbale moldsStraight-sided metal dariole or timbale molds; the recipe specifies only mold No. 2, Fig. 137, and the half-inch salpicon ball implies a small one. Butter them well and cold, set the decoration into the butter, then chill hard before lining with forcemeat so the pattern does not shift.
Lozenge sheetsSpreading the two forcemeats 1/16 inch thick on paper and poaching them till firm to the touch is a practical trick: use parchment on a sheet pan, poach gently below a simmer until just set, cool completely, then cut diamonds with a small knife or cutter.
UnmoldingRest the poached timbales five minutes before turning out; the forcemeat firms as it settles and comes away cleanly. Run a thin knife round the top edge only.
The sauceVelouté reduced with onion purée and cream, then finished off the heat with cold butter. Once the butter goes in the sauce must not return to a boil or it breaks — hence "at the last moment."
YieldThe original gives none. Four ounces of decorating forcemeat plus the lining suggests six to eight small timbales, one or two per person as a hot side dish.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York for more than thirty years, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a compendium of the restaurant's repertoire, and this timbale belongs to the most ornamental corner of it. The name points to Harlequin of the commedia dell'arte, whose costume is patterned in coloured diamonds — hence the lozenges of black truffle, red tongue, pale royal and green pistachio forcemeat set into the wall of the mold. Decorating the inside of a buttered mold so that the pattern appears on the finished surface is the same logic as the chaud-froid and aspic work of the period, applied to something served hot, and it explains why the recipe is mostly geometry: the cooking is a quiet water bath, and the labour is in the cutting. Dishes like this were the visible justification of a large brigade, and they are the first things to vanish from restaurant cooking once kitchens shrink.