No. 2962

Macaroni with Cream and Trufffles

Macaroni a la Creme aux Truffes

After cooking and blanching the macaroni the same as for the Parisian, drain and lay it in a saucepan to season with salt and nutmeg; add a pint of cream and let simmer until this is reduced, then transfer it to a vegetable dish in layers, alternating each one with grated parmesan and some finely shredded truffles, finishing with the chopped truffles. Pour over melted butter and serve.

← No. 2961 Macaroni, Parisian Style Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous No. 2963 Macaroni with Game Puree →

For the Modern Kitchen

A stovetop dish, not a baked one: the macaroni is finished in reduced cream and layered with cheese and truffle in the serving dish. The whole thing takes about as long as it takes to boil the pasta, so have the truffle shaved and the cheese grated before you start.

The hinge: reduce the cream, don't drown the pastaThe pint of cream (2 cups) must simmer down until it clings to the macaroni; if you plate it while it is still loose, the layers slump into soup. Reduce until a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a track.
"Cooking and blanching the same as for the Parisian"Ranhofer is cross-referring to the preceding recipe for the boiling method; "blanching" in this period generally implies draining and rinsing the cooked macaroni. Modern practice would keep a little starch for the cream, so drain well but skip the cold rinse unless you are holding the pasta.
The macaroni itselfIn 1894 this meant long, straight, hollow tubes, not the small elbows sold under the name now. Bucatini or ziti gives the right effect; count on about 1 lb for a pint of cream.
Cook it shortNineteenth-century pasta directions often run 20 minutes or more, and this recipe then simmers it again in the cream. Boil to just under al dente so it can finish in the pan without collapsing.
TrufflesThe recipe does not say which truffle or how much; fresh black truffle is the likely intent, shaved thin on the layers and chopped on top. 1 to 2 oz is generous for a pound of pasta. Jarred or brined truffle contributes little here, and truffle oil is a different flavour altogether.
Parmesan and nutmegGrate the cheese finely so it melts into the layers rather than sitting in strands, and use a light hand with the nutmeg "em it is there to lift the cream, not to announce itself.
The "vegetable dish"A serving dish brought to the table, not a casserole for the oven. Warm whatever you use, since the layers of cold cheese and butter will otherwise pull the heat straight out.
YieldNo yield is given. As a course on its own it would serve roughly four to six.

A Little History

This comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the vast compendium he assembled after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it sits in a run of macaroni recipes -- the neighbouring numbers are Parisian style and macaroni with game puree -- that show how thoroughly the dish had been absorbed into French restaurant cooking by then. Much macaroni cookery reached American tables through a French filter, which may be why the seasoning here is cream, nutmeg and Parmesan rather than tomato, and why the name is given in French. The truffles mark it as a luxury version, for a house where fresh truffle was a purchasable commodity in season. Layering macaroni with cheese is an older European way of dressing the dish, and it survives in baked timballi and in the Piedmontese habit of finishing a dish with truffle shaved at the last moment so none of its aroma is cooked away.