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Quenelles of Partridge, with ‘fumet’

Quenelles of partridge made with panada, butter, egg yolks, and served with a clarified fumet sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Quenelles of Partridge, with ‘fumet’

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quenelle mixture

  1. Trim and cut the fillets of the partridges into pieces, then pound them.

  2. Add ½ cup panada and ½ cup butter to the pounded partridge and mix until smooth.

  3. Incorporate 2 or 3 egg yolks, season with salt and nutmeg, and pass through a sieve.

  4. Work the mixture with a spoon, gradually mixing in melted glaze.

  5. Poach a small part of the mixture to test its consistency.

  6. Mould 15 to 18 quenelles using tablespoons and place them in a buttered flat stewpan.

Make the stock

  1. In another stewpan, combine the legs and backs of the partridge with bacon, ham, minced vegetables, parsley, aromatics, and peppercorns.

  2. Sauté the mixture until browned, then moisten with ½ cup white wine and ½ cup broth.

  3. Skim the stock, cover, and simmer for 35 minutes.

  4. Strain the cooking stock into a bowl, skim off the fat, and let it cool.

  5. Clarify the stock with 5 ounces of lean veal, ½ glass of Madeira, and 1 egg, following the method for a consommé.

  6. Once clear, boil the stock and thicken slightly with diluted arrow-root.

  7. Keep the sauce hot until serving.

Serve

  1. Plunge the quenelles into salted boiling water, drain on a cloth, and serve in a pyramid, masking with the fumet.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Nutmeg + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Thyme + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,503 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridge fillets
Provide the main lean meat that forms the body of the quenelles.
Panada
Adds starch and binding so the mixture holds together and stays light.
Butter
Adds fat, which gives the quenelles a softer, richer texture.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set gently when poached.
Lean veal
Clarifies the stock, collecting particles to leave it clear.
Arrow-root
Thickens the sauce slightly to give it a light body.

The step that matters

Poach a test piece before moulding. Poaching a small part of the mixture shows whether it is firm enough to hold its shape. A mixture that is too loose will break apart in the water, and one that is too stiff will be dense, so the test lets the cook adjust before shaping all the quenelles.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, ham, parsley, thyme, white wine, veal):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, ham, parsley, thyme, white wine, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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