Purée or Coulis à la Reine

History

"Coulis de Volaille, otherwise à la Reine" is recipe No. 670 in Auguste Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire, whose first edition was printed in French in 1903; the English rendering above follows his own formula as translated in A Guide to Modern Cookery (London: William Heinemann, 1907). Escoffier's method is a poultry purée: a cleaned fowl and previously blanched rice are poached in white consommé; the boned meat is pounded to a smooth paste with the well-cooked rice, let down with more consommé, passed through a fine strainer, brought to the boil, and finished at service with a liaison of egg yolks, cream, and butter, the reserved breast fillets being diced for garnish. Escoffier notes the same preparation "may also be prepared as a velouté or a cream".

The name is not evidence that a queen ate the dish. Within Escoffier's own nomenclature "à la Reine" designates a recognised grade of chicken — one of the four qualities of fowl he lists, "of medium size, very fleshy, and tender," used chiefly for sautés and roasts — which is precisely the poultry this purée is built on; "Coulis de Volaille" (poultry cullis) is his primary title, with "à la Reine" given as its alternate label.

Escoffier developed the recipes collected in the Guide while working at the Savoy, Ritz, and Carlton hotel restaurants from the late 1880s up to publication — turn-of-the-20th-century professional kitchens, not a royal or court table. The historical record I was able to open does not document who ate this dish or that any element of it signalled wealth, status, or class; such claims are omitted.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken (poultry)
• 1.5 liters white consommé (clear cooking stock)
• 125 grams rice
• 80 grams chicken breast fillet (suprême)
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 deciliters cream
• 200 grams butter

Instructions

1. Cook the chicken (750–800 grams) with the white consommé and rice. After cooking, the net meat weight should be 550–600 grams.
2. Remove 80 grams of breast fillet, setting it aside for the garnish.
3. Bone the remaining meat. Pound the meat together with the rice and a little of the remaining consommé until smooth.
4. Pass through a fine sieve (étamine). Return to the heat and bring to a single boil.
5. Finish the purée just before service with a liaison made from the egg yolks diluted with cream and butter, stirring gently to incorporate.
6. For the garnish, dice the reserved breast fillet into small cubes.
7. Note: This may also be prepared as a cream sauce (Crème) or as a velouté (silky sauce).