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Perigueux Sauce
Soak, rinse, and scrub four or five truffles; mince them finely, and put them into a stewpan, with half a pint of good brown sauce, a piece of garlic the size of a pea, and a glassful of sherry or Madeira. Simmer for ten minutes, then add two table-spoonfuls of the gravy from meat, or a tea-spoonful of Bovril dissolved in a little boiling water, and half a tea-spoonful of the essence of anchovy. Serve with roast chicken, etc. When no brown sauce is at hand it may be easily made, as follows. Work equal parts of butter and flour smoothly together. Stir the mixture over a gentle fire for three minutes, until it is brightly coloured, then add, gradually, as much stock as will make it of the consistency of thick cream. Season with pepper and salt, and boil the sauce for a minute or two, when it is ready for use. Time, ten minutes to boil the sauce. Probable cost, varying with the price of the truffles. Sufficient for six or seven persons.
A classic French truffle sauce written for a kitchen with a stockpot always going. The two things to get right are the base and the treatment of the truffles.
- "Brown sauce" means the made sauce, not the bottleThis is a roux-and-stock brown sauce of the kind a Victorian kitchen made itself, not bottled brown sauce. Use a good dark beef or veal stock; a weak stock cube base will taste thin under the wine and truffle.
- QuantitiesHalf a pint in an English book of this date is 10 fl oz, so about 1¼ US cups. A "glassful" of sherry means a wine glass of the period, roughly 2 fl oz. The piece of garlic "the size of a pea" is a tiny fragment of a clove, finely minced.
- The rouxEqual parts butter and flour by weight, roughly 1 oz each for this quantity. Three minutes over gentle heat gives a blond roux at best; cook it until it smells nutty and takes on colour, then add the hot stock gradually to avoid lumps.
- TrufflesFresh black winter truffles are the intent, and their aroma is volatile. Ten minutes of simmering flattens it, so hold back a third of the mince and stir it in off the heat. Preserved truffles in jars are the practical substitute; add their juice to the sauce.
- BovrilStill sold, and still a concentrated beef extract. A teaspoon dissolved in a spoonful of boiling water stands in for the pan gravy. Any beef stock concentrate does the same job; season at the end, as these are salty.
- Essence of anchovyA Victorian bottled anchovy extract, thinner than modern paste and often vinegared. Half a teaspoon of anchovy paste, or one mashed fillet, gives the same background savour without reading as fish.
- Yield and serviceAbout a cup and a half of finished sauce, enough for six or seven as written. Serve it hot with roast chicken, roast beef fillet, or tournedos; it will thicken as it sits, so loosen with a spoonful of stock.
Périgueux is the chief town of Périgord in south-west France, the country of the black winter truffle, and the sauce named for it is one of the standard truffle preparations of the classical repertoire: a demi-glace or brown sauce finished with Madeira and chopped truffle. It is conventionally distinguished from sauce Périgourdine, the difference generally said to turn on the cut of the truffle, which there is used sliced or whole. Cassell's, writing for English households rather than restaurant kitchens, does what it usually does with a French classic — offers a shortcut roux base for cooks with no stockpot of espagnole standing by, and allows Bovril in place of the roasting-pan gravy. That last permission dates the entry neatly: the beef extract was a late-Victorian commercial arrival, and its appearance beside truffles and Madeira shows a book trying to serve both the ambitious dinner table and the cook working alone.