Roulade, Galantine & Ballotine

[legant]

What's the difference between a ballotine and a roulade? Other than the latter is rolled. Does the ballotine retain the shape of the original meat?

[zoramargolis]

What's the difference between a ballotine and a roulade? Other than the latter is rolled. Does the ballotine retain the shape of the original meat?

Sort of. A ballotine is a whole bird that has had the bones removed, but remains in a single piece with the skin on. It is stuffed and trussed--a terducken is a complicated type of ballotine--it can resemble the original bird or look something like a soccer ball. A roulade can be a small portion of boneless meat, chicken or fish that is rolled around a filling. A large roulade, made with boneless breast of veal or a flank steak can resemble a pinwheel. I'm not sure what the leg of pork in the pictures should be called, other than gigot du porc farcie.

[Poivrot Farci]

gigot du porc farcie

What's the difference between a ballotine and a roulade? Other than the latter is rolled. Does the ballotine retain the shape of the original meat?

a slice of a whole suckling pig which had been boned out and stuffed with forcemeat and then roasted.

Epaule de Porcelet Farcie.

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.

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 Galantine comes from the Old French word for chicken “géline” or “galine” as it was originally made from chickens, though some maintain the word has its origins from the Gothic root “gal” meaning jelly, for the gelatinous stock.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.

Ballotine = a galantine served hot.

Traditionalish porchetta.(not mine). No forcemeat. Would fall into the roulade taxonomy.

Ballotine. Stuffed with forcemeat made from the legs, tenderloin, scraps, offal, bing cherries and pistachios.

[Karen Resta]

"Roulade taxonomy".

Love it, Poivrot Farci.

...................................

Great definition of both (or of all, if we are looking at the category as one taxonomable group) but I'd just like to add one more thing.

In terms of the process of making one or the other, you have to think about what you are going to end up with. Will it be eaten hot or will it be eaten cold? In this sense a ballontine is not 'just' a galantine served hot (without the glaze and little fussy cube-y decorations of course for if you stuck the galantine in the oven that would be a sad day) but a thing unto itself. They look and feel similar. They are related, particularly in the French eye. Of the beholder. But the cook must think of the taste and the texture and proceed for hot or for cold, adding seasonings (and timing too sometimes) to fit.

Am I quibbling? Of course. But that little bit of thyme or nutmeg, that half-egg or extra two minutes in the oven, can matter.

I hate/love these meaty things.

[chef4cook]

I enjoy making a Galantine of duck using forcemeat with pistachios, dried cherries or cranberries plumped and strips of foie gras. I poach this in a poultry stock with aromatics. I serve it as an appetizer.

[MsDiPesto]

Am I the only one creeped out by those pictures?

[mdt]

Am I the only one creeped out by those pictures?

Um, yes.

[Waitman]

I made chicken galantine and/ballotine for the last Rockwell picnic. No doubt most of you (save my wife) are still marvelling at its fabulousness. Time- consuming but relatively simple and tasty way to make a chicken look special.

I think that porchetta has a place in my future.

[legant]

So that's what that was! I was too busy monitoring my pork consumption; anything other meat product escaped my attention. My friends raved about it and forced me to take a bite. It was fantastic!

Regarding the pictures: I get light-headed each time I look at them. Oh. My. Goodness.

[agm]

I've been contemplating porchetta recently, having seen awesome pictures elsewhere (and, as it happens, I have a small pig in the freezer). But the head-on version does have a somewhat disturbing visual impact - I probably would not go that route.

Does anyone have a good forcemeat recipe?

[Mark Slater]

But the head-on version does have a somewhat disturbing visual impact - I probably would not go that route.

Yeah, it looks like a cross between a pig and a worm.

[DonRocks]

Am I the only one creeped out by those pictures?

About as appetizing as downing a balut.

[DameEdna]

"Roulade taxonomy" ... I thought "taxidermy". Taxidermy is "skin arrangement", so I

give myself half credit.

[Poivrot Farci]

Galantine de Volaille: Edition Spéciale “ma sœur me manque; diagrammes de Venn par l'intermédiaire de « Joie de Vivre », de Robert Delaunay”.

Chicken Galantine: Special “I miss my sister; Venn diagrams channeled through Robert Delaunay’s “Joie de Vivre” edition”.

Chicken opus stuffed with fig, pistachio, fatback and foie & truffle mousse. Coated in chaud-froid, covered with peppers and shellacked with clear aspic. Golden booties.

Garnish of fluted mushrooms, whittled turnips, carrots and glazed radishes.

Stanley Kubrick's Bird-Day Afternoon.

Gestation study.

Fowl bondage.

Dr. Pepper will see you now.

Its what's inside that counts.

[Banco]

Galantine de Volaille: Edition Spéciale “ma sœur me manque; diagrammes de Venn par l'intermédiaire de « Joie de Vivre », de Robert Delaunay”.

Chicken Galantine: Special “I miss my sister; Venn diagrams channeled through Robert Delaunay’s “Joie de Vivre” edition”.

Chicken opus stuffed with fig, pistachio, fatback and foie & truffle mousse. Coated in chaud-froid, covered with peppers and shellacked with clear aspic. Golden booties.

Garnish of fluted mushrooms, whittled turnips, carrots and glazed radishes.

Stanley Kubrick's Bird-Day Afternoon.

Gestation study.

Fowl bondage.

Dr. Pepper will see you now.

Its what's inside that counts.

As always, sir, I am in awe.

[Poivrot Farci]

Forcemeat binoculars.

Chicken galantine. Bobo chicken garnished with strips of the breast, fatback, brandy-drenched currants, pistachios and an inlay of liver mousse. Soon to be added to the Hooter’s hooterstizers menu

Pleasant fabrication of pheasant.

Pheasant ballotine. Marinated in gin. Garnished with confit gizzards, chestnuts and sage. Slightly seared and heated through with the poaching juices.