No. 752

Turbigo Salpicon

Salpicon a la Turbigo

Have eight ounces of artichoke bottoms cut in one-quarter inch squares and the same of braised ducks' livers cut the same size, and cooked in a mirepoix (No. 419) with four ounces of three-sixteenth inch squares of truffles. A fine strained tomato sauce (No. 549) mixed with twice its quantity of veloute (No. 415) and thickened with cream and egg-yolks.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A salpicon is a filling, not a dish: uniform small dice bound in a rich sauce, meant for vol-au-vent, bouchées, croustades or timbales. Ranhofer assumes you have his other numbered preparations at hand, so the work is mostly in the sauce.

The hinge: never boil the liaisonThe sauce is finished with cream and egg yolks, which will curdle and break if the pan comes to a simmer. Bring the tomato-velouté mixture just below boiling, temper the yolk and cream into it off the heat, and return it only long enough to thicken to a coating consistency.
The sauce proportionsOne part fine strained tomato sauce to two parts velouté, thickened as above — close to what other books call a sauce aurore. Ranhofer gives no volume; for the 1 1/4 lb of diced solids here, roughly 1 1/2 cups of finished sauce binds them without drowning them.
The cross-referencesNo. 419 is a mirepoix (diced carrot, onion, celery, herbs, often with ham or salt pork and a little wine or stock); No. 415 is velouté, a white roux sauce made with veal or chicken stock; No. 549 is tomato sauce. Any competent version of the three will serve.
Dice size is the pointA quarter inch for the artichoke and liver, three-sixteenths for the truffle. The smaller truffle dice presumably distributes the aroma evenly and keeps the most expensive ingredient from reading as a lump. Cut by hand and cut carefully — irregular dice makes the filling look like leftovers.
Artichoke bottomsEight ounces of trimmed bottoms means a good many fresh globe artichokes, pared to the fond and cooked in acidulated water or a blanc. Jarred or frozen artichoke bottoms are an honest substitute; drain and dry them well or they will thin the sauce.
Ducks' liversRanhofer means ordinary duck liver, braised in the mirepoix, not raw foie gras. Chicken livers work and are far easier to buy. Braise them through — livers should be firm and rosy at most, not raw in the centre — then cool before dicing, or they will crumble.
TrufflesFour ounces of fresh black truffle is a serious outlay today. Preserved truffle peelings with a little of their juice, or a smaller quantity of fresh truffle grated at the end, will carry the flavour; sautéed cremini give the colour and texture but not the perfume.
YieldAbout 1 1/4 lb of solids, which once bound should fill something in the order of 8 to 10 individual bouchées or one large vol-au-vent. Fill the pastry at the last moment so the shells stay crisp.

A Little History

French cookery named a run of garnishes after Napoleon III's victories in the 1859 Italian campaign, and Turbigo — a battle fought that June on the Ticino, west of Milan — is one of them. The classical definition of à la Turbigo is chipolata sausages and mushrooms, usually with kidneys; Ranhofer's version for The Epicurean (1894) keeps the name and substitutes the luxuries of a Delmonico's larder, artichoke bottoms, braised duck liver and truffle. That it appears under "Garnishings" rather than among the entrées is characteristic of the book: Ranhofer catalogues components by number so that a cook can assemble a menu from parts, and a salpicon like this one was a building block, spooned into pastry cases or used to stuff a bird, rather than a plate of its own.