Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (125 page)

BOUDIN BLANC

[White-meat Sausages—Chicken and Veal or Chicken and Pork Forcemeat Stuffing]

White-meat sausages abound across the Atlantic, from the German and Swiss
bratwursts
and
weisswursts
to England’s quaintly titled white puddings. It has even been suggested that the French
boudin
and the English pudding sprang from a single etymological root. The
boudin
is more like a
quenelle
than a sausage, delicate in flavor and texture. In France, where a truffled
boudin
is traditional at the midnight
Reveillon
of Christmas and New Year, mashed potatoes is the accompaniment. However, you may treat them like roast chicken or roast veal, adding green vegetables to the platter, such as creamed spinach, broccoli, peas, braised endive, or whatever else you feel appropriate.

For about 6 cups, making 10 to 12 boudins, 5 by 1¼ inches

1)
The sausage mixture

the pork fat:

½ cup (4 ounces) fresh pork leaf fat, outside loin fat, or fatback

A meat grinder with finest blade

An 8-inch frying pan with cover

Put the pork fat through the grinder. Return half to top of grinder. Cook the rest in the frying pan over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes until it has rendered 2 to 3 tablespoons of fat but has not browned at all.

cooking the onions:

3 cups (¾ lb.) sliced onions

(If you wish a mild onion flavor, drop them into 2 quarts of boiling water and boil 4 minutes; drain, rinse in cold water, and thoroughly shake off excess water.) Add onions to pork fat and fat pieces in frying pan, cover and cook very slowly, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes or more; they should be perfectly tender and translucent, but no more than a pale cream in color.

la panade:

½ cup (1½ ounces pressed down) stale white crumbs from unsweetened homemade-type bread

1 cup milk

A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan

A wooden spoon

The large bowl of your electric mixer, or a 3-quart bowl

Meanwhile, bring the bread crumbs and milk to the boil and boil, stirring constantly with wooden spoon to prevent scorching, for several minutes until mixture is thick enough almost to hold its shape on the spoon. (This is now a
panade,
in the true and original sense of the word.)

the final mixture:

½ lb. (1 cup) skinless and boneless raw breast of chicken

½ lb. (1 cup) lean fresh veal or pork from shoulder or loin

2 tsp salt

⅛ tsp each: nutmeg, allspice, and white pepper

1 egg

⅓ cup egg whites (2–3 egg whites)

½ cup heavy cream

Optional: A 1-ounce truffle and juices from the can

When onions are tender, pass them with the remaining pork fat, the chicken, and the veal or pork through grinder twice. Place in mixing bowl, add seasonings, and beat vigorously in the electric mixer or by hand until well blended. Beat in the egg and continue beating for 1 minute, then beat in half the egg whites, and in another minute the remainder of the egg whites. Finally, beat in the cream 2 tablespoons at a time, beating a minute between additions. If you are using a truffle, mince it into ⅛-inch pieces and beat it in along with juices from the can.

To check seasoning, sauté a small spoonful until cooked through, taste, and add more if you feel it is necessary, but remember that the
boudin
is supposed to be rather delicate and mild in flavor.

2)
Forming the boudins

Form either in
small hog casings
or in
cheesecloth
. Sausages will improve in flavor if refrigerated at least 12 hours before cooking.

(*)
STORAGE NOTES
: May be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days, or may be frozen for a month or so.

3)
Preliminary cooking

(If you have formed the
boudins
in sausage casing, prick them in several places with a pin.) Arrange
boudins
in a baking pan, roaster, or large frying pan at least 3 inches deep, and on a rack or grill if you have one that fits. Measure in enough quarts of boiling water or half-and-half boiling water and milk to cover
boudins
by 1½ inches. Add 1½ teaspoons salt for each quart of liquid, and lay 2 imported bay leaves on top. Bring liquid barely to the simmer and poach uncovered at just below the simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from liquid and cool on several thicknesses of paper towels. If you have used cheesecloth casings, cut off the two ends with scissors and peel the sausages while still warm. (Sausage-casing
boudins
are peeled just before final cooking.)

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE
: If the
boudins
are not to have their final cooking promptly, wrap and refrigerate when cool. They will keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, a month or so in the freezer.

4)
Final cooking and serving

Of the several cooking methods available, oven baking is not recommended because it toughens the outside of the
boudins
before they have had time to brown. Dredging in flour and browning slowly in a frying pan in clarified butter or rendered pork fat is preferable, but the best method, we think, is under the broiler as follows: Roll the peeled
boudins
in fresh white bread crumbs, pressing the crumbs in place with your fingers. Arrange in a buttered baking dish and dribble on droplets of melted butter. Broil slowly, turning and basting with fat in pan several times, for 10 to 12 minutes, until
boudins
are nicely browned. Arrange on a hot platter, over a bed of hot mashed potatoes if you wish, and decorate with sprigs of parsley or watercress. Serve as soon as possible.

  
SAUCISSON À CUIRE—Saucisson de Ménage, Saucisson de Toulouse, Saucisson à l’Ail, Saucisson Truffé, Cervelas de Paris