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Chau Dfroi D of Quenelles

Quenelles of veal served cold with aspic and white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Chau Dfroi D of Quenelles

Ingredients

Directions

Make the panada

  1. Blend butter and flour in a saucepan.

  2. Add the stock.

  3. Cook until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a smooth paste.

  4. Set the mixture aside to cool.

Shape and poach

  1. Mince the veal.

  2. Pound the veal with the eggs, aromatic seasoning, pepper, salt, and the cooled paste.

  3. Pass the mixture through a wire sieve.

  4. Shape the quenelles using a dessert spoon.

  5. Poach the quenelles until firm.

  6. Place the quenelles on a sieve to cool.

Coat and serve

  1. Combine the white sauce with the gelatine and aspic jelly in a bowl.

  2. When the mixture begins to set, coat the quenelles with the sauce.

  3. Decorate the quenelles with sprigs of chervil, cut chillies, or truffles.

  4. Serve the quenelles on a border of aspic with salad in the center.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sauce + flourtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the main body of the quenelles, giving them their meaty texture once minced and pounded.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when poached, holding the quenelles together in shape.
Flour
Thickens the stock with butter into a paste that lightens and steadies the quenelle mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the paste, improving flavour and tenderness.
Gelatine
Sets the white sauce coating so it clings to the quenelles and gives a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Pass the mixture through a wire sieve. Sieving breaks down fibres and lumps left after pounding, giving a fine, smooth texture. Skipping it leaves the quenelles grainy and uneven.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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