Ingredients for the Known Ground reconstruction
Ingredient amounts shown for 8 servings.
Known Ground reconstruction
- 1 lbboneless wild duck meat, fully cooked and chilled
- 1 cupunsalted duck or chicken stock
- 2 tspunflavored gelatin
- 1 cupheavy cream, lightly whipped
- 1 tbsplemon juice
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 1/4 tspcayenne pepper
- 1 cupclear Bigarrade sauce, for serving
- 2oranges, peeled and sectioned
Known Ground reconstruction — not personally tested
Escoffier's historical formula specifies Rouen duckling. The practical version below is a Known Ground wild-waterfowl reconstruction; it is not presented as Escoffier's wild-duck formula.
Escoffier refers to the chicken-mousse proportions and restricts Rouen duck mousse to Rouennaise or Bigarrade sauce with orange, cherry, or vegetable garnishes. A loaf mold and powdered gelatin make the cold form practical.
Instructions
1. Cook the duck meat to 165°F (74°C), chill it promptly, and cut it small.
2. Bloom gelatin in 1/4 cup cold stock. Heat the remaining stock, dissolve the gelatin, and cool until just beginning to thicken.
3. Blend duck meat, stock-gelatin mixture, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne until very smooth; pass through a fine sieve and fold in whipped cream.
4. Pack into a chilled loaf or ring mold and refrigerate until firm. Unmold and serve cold with orange sections and clear Bigarrade sauce.
Historical formula
Escoffier states that Rouen duckling mousse uses the same preparation, quantities, and molding as chicken mousse. His accompanying note limits its sauces to Rouennaise or Bigarrade and its garnishes to orange sections, cherries, vegetable purées, or creams.
Source note
Source-preserving summary from Auguste Escoffier, *A Guide to Modern Cookery* (1907), a public-domain English edition. Source location: Nos. 1769–1770, p. 545; 1903 pp. 878 and 881.
Published after editorial review
Last revised 8/21/2026. Evidence and limitations should be interpreted as described in the article.
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