by Julia Child
5) Assembling and serving
The following assembly method is informal: the meat is packed into a bowl, and slices are cut and served directly from it. If you want a dressier presentation, line the bowl with aspic before filling it, and unmold onto a platter for serving.
A 2½- to 3-quart serving bowl, casserole, or crock (this can be of clear glass through which you can see the design of the ham and parsley)
The parsley and aspic mixture
The cooked and cut ham
A rack and/or plate that will fit into the bowl
A weight of some sort
The remaining aspic, cool but not set
Chill the bowl and spread a layer of parsley-aspic in the bottom. Then pack with layers of ham and of parsley-aspic. When filled, cover with rack and/or plate and weight, and chill for an hour or so, until set. (If you do not weight down the ham, it will be difficult to cut into slices later.) Remove the rack and so forth, scumble the top a bit with a fork (to disguise plate or rack marks), and pour on the cool aspic. Cover and chill until serving time.
To serve, cut into slices, like a large pie.
(*) STORAGE NOTE: Jambon persillé will keep nicely for a week under refrigeration. It may be frozen, but will lose character after 2 to 3 weeks.
PRESERVED GOOSE
Confit d’Oie
(And the Disjointing of Fowl and the Rendering of Fat)
Like the salting of pork, the preserving of goose is an age-old method for keeping meats during the winter months, and is typical of the foie gras regions in France, where geese are raised to produce those magnificent livers. The goose for confit is given a brief preliminary salting, then is slowly simmered in its own fat, a process that not only cooks it but also renders out most of the heavy layer of fat under the skin, just as most of the fat is rendered out of bacon when you cook it. Traditionally, the cooked pieces of goose are then packed in crocks and sealed in the fat for storage. The taste of preserved goose, like the taste of salted pork, has a very special quality quite unlike fresh goose or pork, and it is an easy process as well as an interesting one to do. Besides having goose to eat in the numerous ways described at the end of the recipe, you will have its big carcass for soup and, during the weeks to come, a goodly supply of the best cooking fat imaginable, which is marvelous for browning meats and sautéing potatoes, for basting roasts, frying eggs, and broiling chickens, as well as for flavoring vegetables like cabbage and sauerkraut.
HOW TO DISJOINT POULTRY, AS ILLUSTRATED WITH A GOOSE
In the following directions, the goose is cut so that each wing makes a serving portion, the breast is halved lengthwise, and the drumstick-second-joint pieces are left intact for separation before serving.
Preliminaries
Pull all fat out of cavity; you will have about 2 cups from a ready-to-cook store-bought goose, 4 or more from a farm goose. Cut off wings at elbows and save for the stock pot, along with the neck and gizzard; save the heart and liver for the sausage suggestion at the end of the confit recipe. As a preliminary to disjointing the goose, slit skin the length of the back, going down to the bone from neck opening to beginning of tail piece. Then place goose in front of you, its legs to your left.
Removing the wing section
So that the wing will make an adequate serving, you want to include the lower third of the breast with it as follows. Starting an inch to the right of where second joint is attached to hip, in the drawing, cut through breast meat to bone in a shallow semicircle reaching up to the joint where wing is attached to shoulder. Bend wing at a right angle away from breast and then down toward back, to break open the joint; cut through joint to free wing, and scrape breast meat off carcass from initial cut down toward backbone to free the entire section.
Removing drumstick-second-joint section
Follow end of drumstick with your finger to find knee. Holding knee in your left hand, slit around it from vent to ribs (where wing section was removed). Again with your finger, follow second joint (thigh) from knee to hip, to locate ball joint attaching it to the hip bone. At either side of this joint along the hip are two nuggets of meat, the oysters, which should come off as part of the drumstick-second-joint section: scrape this meat from hip bone up to and around joint. Then bend knee away from carcass at a right angle and down toward backbone to break open ball joint at hip. Cut through joint to detach it, then cut drumstick-second-joint from carcass. Remove wing-breast piece and drumstick-second-joint from other side of goose.
The breast
You now have only the upper two thirds of the breast meat left on the carcass. Cut through ribs just below breast meat on either side. Then, grasping tail end (at left in drawing), lift breast structure up at right angles and bend it toward neck end, to break it free at shoulder. Chop off the 2 tusk-shaped shoulder-blade bones at neck end and trim off excess skin.
Locate ridge of breastbone with your finger, then slit down through skin to bone close along one side of ridge. With cleaver and mallet, chop the breastbone in half along this slit. (You may then wish to chop each piece in half, crosswise, if you are serving the goose in a ragoût rather than a confit.)
Trim fatty edges of skin from each piece of goose; feel with your fingers for any knobs of fat buried under the flesh at edges of breast, wings, second joints, and remove them. You will have 3 or more cups of fatty skin pieces to add to the fat from inside the goose. Cut into ½-inch pieces with shears, and reserve all of this for rendering, Step 2 in the recipe.
A NOTE ON COOKING-FAT
Ideally the goose is cooked in goose fat and fresh pork leaf fat (also called fresh leaf lard), which comes from around the pork kidneys. This is very difficult to find unless there is a pork-slaughtering business in your area: substitute fresh pork fatback or the fat from a loin roast. If you have no success in finding this, render only the fresh fat and skin from the goose, and after you have strained it, add store-bought leaf lard, which you can usually buy in 1-pound packages. Failing this, use white vegetable shortening.
CONFIT D’OIE
[Preserved Goose—Disjointed and Salted Goose Cooked in Its Own Fat—Also for Pork, Small Game, Duck, and Turkey]
Modern refrigerators and freezers have made changes in the confit traditions. In the old days you had to simmer the goose for at least 2½ hours, until every bit of moisture had evaporated and a straw would pierce the meat with ease; you then were sure it would keep through the winter, packed in its jars of fat in your cold-room or cellar. For our purposes, since we are more interested in taste than tradition, the goose is cooked only until done, and is stored in its fat in the refrigerator, or is wrapped and frozen.
NOTE: Pork, small game, duck, and turkey are done exactly the same way after being cut into serving pieces. Use pork fat only for the rendering and cooking.
For a 10- to 12-pound ready-to-cook roasting goose (thaw if frozen, and disjoint as described and illustrated in preceding directions; you will have 5 to 6 pounds of goose)
1) Salting the goose—24 hours
Half the ingredients for the dry-salt cure, or add goose to the cure along with the pork you are doing
Follow directions for salt curing but leave goose in the cure for 24 hours only. (If you have to leave it longer, you may desalt the meat by soaking the goose pieces several hours in cold water before cooking.)
2) Rendering fat—45 minutes
6 lbs., or about 12 cups, fresh fat (goose fat and fatty skin pieces, plus fresh pork leaf fat, other fresh pork fat, or see notes preceding recipe)
A heavy 6-quart kettle or casserole (which may also serve to cook the goose)
1¼ cups water
A deep-fat-frying thermometer
Pull papery filaments from pork leaf fat if you are using it, and chop all fat into ¼-inch pieces. Place in kettle with water, cover loosely, and set over low heat so that fat liquefies slowly. When it reaches 212 degrees it will crackle and spit as water content evaporates. When it stops spitting, in about 25 minutes, remove cover an
d raise heat slightly to 250 degrees. (Do not ever allow fat to go over 325 degrees or it will lose its clear, pale-yellow color.) In 20 to 30 minutes more, the fat pieces will be lightly golden brown, and the fat may be considered rendered. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing liquid fat out of browned residue. (Save residue for frittons, at end of recipe.) Return fat to kettle. Cover when cool, and set in a cool place or refrigerate.
3) Cooking the goose—1¼ to 1½ hours for a roaster goose
The kettle of rendered fat
The salted goose
More fat if needed
The thermometer
Set kettle over low heat to liquefy fat. Meanwhile, wipe off salt and dry the goose with paper towels; place goose in kettle. (Fat should cover goose pieces by at least an inch.) Start timing when fat begins to bubble quietly and temperature is between 200 and 205, where it should remain throughout cooking.
Goose is done when meat is tender if pierced with a knife and when juices run clear yellow; meat and skin should color no more than a deep golden yellow and fat should remain pale yellow. Remove goose. Raise heat slightly and cook fat for 5 to 6 minutes (but not over 325 degrees) until it stops crackling, which indicates all liquid has evaporated and fat has clarified. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing fat out of residue. Save residue for frittons.
4) Storing of goose and of fat
You may serve the goose as is, hot or cold, and it is delicious when freshly cooked. It will keep 4 to 5 days in a covered dish in the refrigerator, or you may wrap it airtight and freeze for 6 to 8 weeks. However, it seems to retain its best flavor, if you wish to preserve the meat for some time, when you pack it into a bowl and cover completely with the liquid fat in which it cooked; when fat has cooled and congealed, cover airtight with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. It will keep 2 to 3 months at least. To remove pieces of goose, set bowl at room temperature for several hours so that fat will soften enough for you to remove as many pieces of goose as you wish with a wooden spoon. Be sure the remaining pieces are completely covered with fat when you cover and refrigerate them again.
Any fat not being used to preserve the goose will keep for a month or more in covered jars in the refrigerator.
Serving suggestions
Besides the cabbage soup of Béarn, garbure, and the baked beans of Toulouse and Castelnaudary, cassoulet, you may add the goose to warm up in a casserole of lentils or beans, or in the braised sauerkraut or red cabbage in Volume I, pages 496 and 498. Another idea is to warm the goose in a covered dish in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until it is hot and tender, then roll it in bread crumbs, sprinkle with goose fat and brown under a hot broiler; serve with the purée of beans and squash, the turnip and rice purée, the garlic mashed potatoes or rice and onion soubise in Volume I, pages 520 and 485, or with sliced potatoes sautéed in goose fat. Accompany with Brussels sprouts or broccoli and a light red wine or a rosé.
Arrange cold goose on a platter garnished with lettuce, watercress, or parsley, and accompany with French potato salad, cold mixed vegetables, or a tossed green salad, and beer or chilled dry white wine.
Frittons—Grattons
[Cracklings]
All the residue from rendering the fat and cooking the goose goes into this spread for toast or crackers, which you can serve with cocktails or accompanying a green salad and cold meats.
The fat-rendering and goose-cooking residue
Salt, pepper, and épices fines or allspice to taste
An attractive jar or pot
Melted goose fat
Pound the cracklings in a mortar or put through a meat grinder, then warm briefly in a frying pan. Season to taste and pack tightly into jar or pot. Chill, and when cold, pour on a ¼-inch layer of melted goose fat. Cover and refrigerate. Will keep for a month or so.
Cou d’Oie Farci
[Goose-Neck Sausage]
If you have a farm goose, you can ask that the whole neck from head to backbone be saved for you intact and as is. Pluck and singe skin thoroughly, then peel it off the neck in one piece, turning skin inside out as you go. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, turn it skin side out, and it is ready to be a sausage casing. Use the truffled pork, veal, and liver formula, substituting goose liver and heart for chicken liver. Tie or sew the two ends, and poach the sausage in fat along with the goose.
PTÉS AND TERRINES
The French are famous for the splendor of their pâtés and terrines, those glorious looking, intoxicating smelling, rich, and unforgettable mixtures of pork, veal, chicken, duck, truffles, liver, foie gras, wines, and spices that are packed into long earthen dishes in the charcuterie, or in great round bowls, or are formed in cunningly decorated brown crusts. No other cuisine has developed the art quite like the French, and no other formulas are quite as delicious and subtle. However, if you have done some of the recipes in Volume I beginning on page 564, you will know how easy it is to make a terrine: it is only a matter of grinding up meat, seasoning it, slicing or dicing a garniture, and packing everything into a fat-lined dish before setting it in the oven. You know also that your own is almost invariably better than anything you can buy because you are using the best ingredients rather than scraps, and that most pâtés and terrines are expensive to buy and just as expensive to make. They come in the category of necessary luxuries.
An excellent pork-liver pâté starts off this new series in a fairly economical manner. This is followed by a pâté de campagne, then a pâté baked in bread dough, and an unusual porkless terrine. The section closes with fully illustrated directions on how to form and bake pâtés en croûte.
A NOTE ON LIAISONS AND BINDERS
Almost all pâté mixtures have something in addition to meat to bind them together, preventing the meat from crumbling when the pâté is sliced. Eggs are usually present, sometimes bread crumbs, and rice can also serve. The following panade is an alternative to the bread-crumb type of panade used for the boudin sausages.
Panade au Riz
For about 1 cup
⅓ cup plain raw white rice
1 cup or more of meat stock or bouillon
3 Tb butter
A heavy-bottomed 6-cup saucepan (no-stick recommended)
Simmer the rice in the liquid and butter for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it is very tender. Add a little more bouillon if necessary, to keep rice from sticking, but liquid should be entirely absorbed when rice is done.
To use the panade
Purée in an electric blender, food mill, or meat grinder along with any liquids or egg you are using. (Your recipe will direct you.) Any leftover panade may be frozen.
A NOTE ON PORK FAT, BAKING DISHES, AND OTHER MATTERS
Full notes on what to bake a pâté in, and so forth, are discussed in Volume I, pages 564–5, and in the Master Recipe for terrine de porc, veau, et jambon, also in Volume I, starting on page 566. Our only additional comment here is on pork fat. Except in the case of the porkless pâté, which uses suet or chicken fat, all of the following recipes call for fresh pork as part of the meat mixture as well as a liner for the baking dish. We realize how difficult it is to find fresh pork fatback (lard gras). For the fat in the meat mixture itself, you can use fat-and-lean pork from the fresh shoulder butt, or fat from the outside of a loin roast; outside fresh ham- and shoulder-fat are less satisfactory because softer, but perfectly possible. Although you can line the mold with blanched salt pork or bacon, fresh pork fat is very much better both in taste and appearance. Lacking fresh fatback, you can pound strips of fresh outside loin fat between 2 sheets of waxed paper, to reduce them to ⅛ inch thickness and to weld them together.
THREE LIVER PTÉS
Pâté de Foie—Pâté de Campagne
Down on the farm, you naturally use every bit of the hog for something, and some of the very best pâtés contain pork liver, either as the main ingredient or combined with other meat. These have far more character than the chicken-liver pâtés so popular in this country, and your own homemade mixture is always surprisi
ngly better than anything you seem to be able to buy, even in the best French charcuterie.
LIVER NOTE
You may substitute beef liver for pork liver; we have not found any significant difference in effect. Calf’s liver is lovely but insanely expensive for this type of dish.
TERRINE DE FOIE DE PORC
[Pork-liver Pâté]
To translate a terrine de foie de porc into familiar language, it is like the very best liverwurst; you could easily mistake it for pâté de foie gras. Simple to make, it consists only of liver, pork fat, flavorings, plus an egg and either rice or bread crumbs to bind everything together. Of all the mixtures, this necessarily contains the most fat; if you used any less you would not achieve perfection. Serve slices of pâté and French bread or toast as a first course; it is also delicious as a spread for sandwiches or cocktail appetizers.
For a 6-cup baking dish (18 to 20 slices)
The pâté dish: a 6-cup terrine or baking dish (rectangular, round, oval) or bread pan
A pan of water