Quenelles de Brochet

The Method for Quenelles de Brochet

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1. Make the panade: boil the milk with the butter and salt, tip in the flour, beat to a ball, then beat over the heat 2 minutes. Cool, beat in the eggs one at a time, and chill until cold.

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2. Blitz the fish to a fine paste, then add the cold panade, the softened butter, egg whites, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Blitz again.

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3. Set the bowl over ice and beat in the very cold cream a little at a time. Stop as soon as it is smooth — it splits if it warms.

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4. Chill the mixture 60 minutes.

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5. Shape into ovals between two wet spoons and lower them into a wide pan of barely shivering salted water.

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6. Poach 12 minutes, turning once, until firm. Lift out onto a cloth to drain.

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7. For the sauce, make a roux with the butter and flour, add the stock and cream, then the tomato purée, brandy and salt. Simmer 8 minutes, add the crayfish. Sit the quenelles in a buttered dish with room to swell, pour the sauce over, and bake 20 minutes at 200°C / 390°F until puffed and browned.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Things to Watch For

1. Everything cold, and the bowl over ice. Warmth splits it.
2. A shiver, not a simmer, for the poaching.
3. They double in the oven. Leave space.

Changing the Recipe

• In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.

The Short Version

Everything is beaten cold over ice, because the mixture is an emulsion of fish protein, butter and cream and it will split the moment it warms. Bowl over ice, ingredients from the fridge, and stop the moment it comes together. The poaching water must not boil either — a shiver, no more — or the quenelles disintegrate. They double in size in the oven, so leave real space between them in the dish.

On the Table Alongside

A glass of white Burgundy · Green salad · Rice

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Fougasse, French Lentils, Pain aux Noix.

Leftovers

Poached quenelles keep 2 days refrigerated and freeze for a month. Sauce and bake to order.

Questions People Ask

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. The calories include 2 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.

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