Kitsch & Classics

Ballotine de Lapereau aux Blettes
et Graines de Moutarde

Ballotine of Rabbit with Swiss Chard
and Mustard Seed

Second half of the Good Friday rabbit course. Boneless rabbit stuffed with a triptych purée/ground/dice forcemeat of rabbit (trimmings from the forelegs, liver, heart, kidney) pork, my lardo, swiss chard and mustard seeds with the loins inlaid lengthwise. The rabbit was deboned (bones used for the bombine base) in the same method as in for porchetta; the ribs and spine removed in one piece (like in Predator) from the underside as to give a rectangular meat canvas. Forcemeat is mixed, seasoned, wrapped in the meat and chilled to give it a firm shape.

Once chilled and firm, bay leaves and thyme are placed on caul fat and the roulade is wrapped whereupon it can be cooked and offered as either a cold galantine or hot ballotine.



Galantine vs Ballotine?

Galantines and ballotines (ballantine is a brand of scotch whisky) are roulades but roulades are not necessarily galantines or ballotines.Roulade =any meat that is rolled around a stuffing made of vegetable, meat, dairy or whatever.

Ballotine = a galantine served hot.

Galantine = a meat, poultry or fish that is boned, stuffed with a forcemeat of the original protein and traditionally poached in a gelatinous stock and served with decorative aspic made from the stock and served cold or room temperature. Galantine comes from the Old French word for chicken “géline” or “galine” as it was originally made from chickens, though some maintain the word has its origins from the Gothic root “gal” meaning jelly, for the gelatinous stock. Towards the end of the 17th century it came to include other types of poultry, the remarkable Russian Doll Roast making use of 17 birds stuffed within one another being a remarkable example. The Bedouin camel stuffed with lamb, chickens and rice is on the furthest edge of the galantine spectrum, and its authenticity is debated. Zamponga stretches the roulade definition even farther and is the skin of a lamb or goat which is made into a bagpipes by bohemian Italians. Roger Waters used zampogna inspiration for the ubiquitous Pink Floyd pig-prop showmanship.