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Giblet Sauce
Split gizzards of a chicken in two, remove skin and sandy part, then cut in exceedingly small square pieces. Cut in same shape two chicken livers freed from galls, place both in a saucepan with a half gill white wine and gill broth then let reduce on open fire to a glaze. Pour over one and a quarter gills demi-glace with a half teaspoon freshly chopped parsley and saltspoon cayenne, lightly mix, then gently boil for eight minutes and use as directed. N. B. When this sauce is for any other article except eggs, prepare in same manner, adding four peeled and very finely chopped medium shallots smothered in butter at beginning of operation.
A classical giblet sauce built on demi-glace, written for a cook who already has stock reductions on hand. The measurements are in gills and saltspoons and the base sauce is assumed rather than explained.
- Gills and saltspoonsA gill is a half cup (4 fl oz). So: 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) white wine, 1/2 cup broth, and 5 fl oz demi-glace. A saltspoon is about 1/4 teaspoon, which is a great deal of cayenne for this volume; try half that and taste.
- Demi-glaceThe sauce depends entirely on it. Traditional demi-glace is equal parts brown veal stock and espagnole, reduced by half. Good jarred or frozen demi-glace works; a thin stock will not, and the sauce will taste watery and loose.
- Cleaning the gizzardThe "sandy part" is the tough interior lining of the grinding chamber. Split the gizzard, rinse out the grit, and peel off the yellow-green membrane, then trim the silverskin from the outside. What remains is dense muscle.
- The gallThe bile sac sits against one lobe of the liver. If it breaks, everything it touches turns bitter beyond rescue. Cut the lobe away generously rather than trying to trim close.
- Gizzard and liver do not cook alikeThe gizzard is tough and wants time; the liver goes grainy in a few minutes. Cooking them together as written means the liver overcooks. Cutting both truly small, as instructed, is what makes it work — if you go larger, give the gizzard a head start.
- Reduce to a glazeThe wine and broth should cook down until the pan is nearly dry and the liquid coats the giblets in a syrupy film. This is the flavor base; going too fast will scorch it.
- The shallot variation"Smothered in butter" means sweated gently in butter until soft and translucent, not browned. This goes in before the giblets, at the start.
- YieldAbout three quarters of a cup — enough for four to six portions as an accompaniment to poached eggs, roast poultry, or sliced turkey.
Giblet sauce belongs to the thrift at the heart of classical French cookery: the neck, gizzard, liver and heart of a bird were never discarded, and a kitchen roasting poultry in quantity had giblets to spare every day. This version is a small compound sauce in the escoffier mold: a garnish bound in demi-glace, itself a derivative of espagnole. The recipe directs that the shallots be omitted when the sauce goes to eggs, though it gives no reason for the change. When cookbooks like this one appeared, demi-glace was made in-house over days; the modern cook buying it in a jar is skipping the part the original author would have considered the actual work.