Cailles

Cailles (Quail, very small, can go in an apple or an potato:)

>>> Not something I cook often but tonight we will be having one each
>>> stuffed with a mix of sausagemeat and fresh herbs. There will not be
>>> very much jus, if any from these, anyone got any tips on making a
>>> simple gravy, I thought of shallot, red wine and thickening it with
>>> creme fraiche but I think that will be a bit bland?
>>
>>
>> Whisky sauce? deglaze the cooking pan with brandy & stock & add a bit of
>> orange zest? use the calvados if you have it? Madeira is often used
>> with quail, a good brandy and very ripe quince? quails with cherries is
>> not uncommon but involves poaching the cherries and adding red currant
>> jelly and port wine as well as veal stock.
>> --
>> JL
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> Brilliant, Calvados it is as I love apples. I don't have any oranges
> in the house but I do have lemons so I'll use that. I have a big
> bottle of cherries in eau de vie, they are now ready to eat, so I will
> incorporate a few in the jus, thank you Joseph.


Just FYI

Cailles aux Cerises

For 4 Quails: Truss the quails en Entree and cook them en Casserole with butter.

Deglaze the casserole with a little brandy and 2 fl. oz or 1/4 cup Port wine in which a piece of orange peel has been soaked.

Add 3 tbs. good veal stock, 1 tbs. red currant jelly and 40 stoned MOrello cherries, poached in a syrup of about 18 degree on the saccharometer and cooled in the syrup. Drain these cherries before adding to the quails.

If the sauce is too sweet, acidulate it with a few drops of lemon juice.

I can see using your brandied cherries in this dish just by draining them and adding to a pan sauce made from the pan juices & any basting liquids of the roasted quail.

Perhaps cook the quails on a bed of veggies with some water or stock and baste with butter? afterwards reserving the pan juices for the sauce to which the cherries could be added. Add the calvados at the last moment and serve 'flambe"?

Im not so big on fruit and meat dishes (chicken ala proust being an exception) but i occasionally make a plumb & asparagus or broccoli beef for an elderly relative, i don't do it often because a really ripe plumb is hard to find in the city without going way out of my way. But i used to use me mums home canned plums, and then it was about as good as fruit and meat gets:)

And here's Escoffiers Apple & quail recipe.

Cailles a la Normande

"Select nice even shaped pippin apples; cut off the top third horizontally and empty them out to form cases; hollow out the tops of the apples as well.

Place 1/2 ounce of butter in each quail then colour them in butter; place one quail in each of the apples, sprinkle with a little Calvados and cover with the tops of the apples.

Enclose each apple with its quail in a layer of short paste as one would a Rabotte de Pomme. Place on a baking tray, brush with beaten egg and place in a hot oven for approximately 30 minutes."

There is a similar recipe using a potato shell (no short paste) rather than apples and a whisky sauce and just cause im thinking about it, i often bake apples & pork chops together with butter & a bit of calvados and finish with cream, cotes de porc a la Normande iirc?
--
JL