Chef Juliette
John Dory (St. Pierre)
John Dory has the delicacy of sole and the firmness of turbot. A light flouring, a quick butter sauté, and nut-brown beurre noisette show exactly why looks never mattered.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Crépinettes Truffées
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1410, Crépinettes Truffées, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Eight butter-bronzed crépinettes gathered around glossy Périgueux sauce, their truffled pork kept succulent by melting caul, with cream-rich potato purée alongside. A grand-kitchen composition brought intact to the home table.
Main Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
45 min
Active Time
20 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
Crépinettes truffées (truffled pork patties wrapped in pig's caul) teach one true thing: gentle heat can accomplish what fierce heat ruins. The caul must render slowly enough to baste the forcemeat, nearly disappearing as the pork cooks; scorch it, and the truffle is wasted beneath a bitter crust.
The original assumed brigade quantities, a saucier holding Périgueux sauce, a stockpot never cold, and a salamander whose heat could be judged by an experienced hand. Your honest equivalents are eight precisely weighed crépinettes, finished Périgueux sauce prepared from its own recipe, and a home broiler set low or kept well above the pan. The separate stockmaking and sauce station are brigade scaffolding and needn't be rebuilt here. The eight-to-one ratio of sausage to truffle, the truffle liquor, the 2½-ounce portions, the caul, butter, gentle grilling, sauce in the center, and potato purée alongside are the dish, so they all stay.
Shape the rectangles evenly and wrap them with one thin layer of caul, neither bundled nor bare. That wrapping, followed by patient grilling, is the step that decides everything. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Crépinettes belong to the charcuterie tradition practiced across France and take their name from crépine, the lace-like caul fat used to hold seasoned forcemeat as it cooks. This truffled form turns toward Périgord, where black truffles and Périgueux sauce carried country butchery into the classical dining room, while potato purée kept the composition generous at the table. Caul is not a sausage casing: under gentle heat it nearly disappears, basting the meat and leaving only a delicate browned web.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
very good plain pork sausage meat
Quantity
About 2⅛ cups (505 ml / 490 g)
thoroughly chilled
drained cooked black truffles
Quantity
About ⅓ cup (80 ml / 61 g)
finely chopped
truffle cooking liquor
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon (16 ml / 16 g)
pig's caul
Quantity
8 squares, each about 6 inches (15 cm) wide, about 3½ ounces (100 g) total
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
melted
prepared Périgueux sauce
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 315 g)
prepared potato purée with cream
Quantity
3 cups (720 ml / 680 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very good plain pork sausage meatthoroughly chilled | About 2⅛ cups (505 ml / 490 g) |
| drained cooked black trufflesfinely chopped | About ⅓ cup (80 ml / 61 g) |
| truffle cooking liquor | 1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon (16 ml / 16 g) |
| pig's caul | 8 squares, each about 6 inches (15 cm) wide, about 3½ ounces (100 g) total |
| unsalted buttermelted | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| prepared Périgueux sauce | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 315 g) |
| prepared potato purée with cream | 3 cups (720 ml / 680 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Digital kitchen scale
- •Broiler pan or rimmed baking sheet with a broiler-safe rack
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Two small saucepans
- •Warm round serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the caul
Lay the caul in a bowl of very cold water for 15 minutes, gently separating its folds without pulling. Rinse it once more, spread it on a clean towel, and blot it carefully. Cut eight sound squares about 6 inches (15 cm) wide, keeping the thinner scraps nearby for repairs.
Caul should smell clean and faintly sweet, never sour. Order it from a proper butcher, then keep it very cold until you work. - 2
Mix the forcemeat
Put the cold sausage meat, chopped truffles, and truffle cooking liquor in a chilled bowl. Mix firmly with one hand just until the truffle is evenly distributed and the forcemeat becomes lightly tacky. Stop there. Overworking warms the fat and makes the finished texture tight; if the mixture softens, chill it for 10 minutes before continuing.
- 3
Portion and wrap
Weigh the mixture into eight portions of 2½ ounces (71 g) each. Shape every portion into a compact rectangle about 3 by 2 inches (8 by 5 cm) and ¾ inch (2 cm) thick. Set one on each caul square, fold the caul over in a single snug layer, and place it seam-side down. If the caul tears, don't start again. Ça se rattrape: lay a thin scrap over the opening and press it gently into the surrounding fat. Chill the wrapped crépinettes for 15 minutes so they hold their shape.
- 4
Ready the table
Set the prepared Périgueux sauce over low heat and warm it until it flows thickly from a spoon without boiling. Keep the prepared potato purée with cream covered and warm in a second saucepan. Position an oven rack about 8 inches (20 cm) below the broiler and heat the broiler on low; if yours has only one setting, this generous distance supplies the gentler heat the source intended.
- 5
Grill them gently
Arrange the crépinettes seam-side down on a broiler pan and brush them lightly with half the melted butter. Broil for 6 to 7 minutes, until the caul has turned translucent at the edges and the upper surface is softly bronzed. Turn them carefully, brush with the remaining butter, and cook for another 6 to 8 minutes. They are ready when both sides are deep butter-gold and the centers register 160°F (71°C). If the caul darkens before the centers are cooked, lower the pan and finish them at 375°F (190°C). Ça se rattrape, and the gentler oven will protect the truffle.
- 6
Dish in a circle
Spoon the hot Périgueux sauce into the center of a warm round platter. Arrange the eight crépinettes around it in a close circle, their browned faces uppermost, and carry them to the table at once. Serve the potato purée with cream separately so each person can take a generous spoonful beside the sauce. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Ask a butcher for clean pig's caul, or crépine, and order it in advance. It freezes well in its original folds, but thaw it slowly in the refrigerator so the membrane doesn't tear.
- •Choose plain, finely ground pork sausage meat seasoned with salt and pepper, not breakfast sausage and not a mixture carrying sage, fennel, or chile. The source asks for very good sausage meat because its seasoning supplies the backbone of the forcemeat.
- •Cooked or preserved whole black truffles packed in their own liquor are the classical pantry's honest answer when fresh Périgord truffles aren't in season. Keep both flesh and liquor. Truffle oil supplies perfume without substance and cannot preserve the source's ratio.
- •Serve a supple red Bergerac rather than a heavily tannic bottle. Pork, truffle, and Périgueux sauce want dark fruit and earth, but the sauce should remain the loudest voice.
Advance Preparation
- •The forcemeat can be mixed, portioned, and wrapped up to 24 hours ahead. Cover the crépinettes closely and refrigerate them in a single layer, then brush with butter only when the broiler is ready.
- •Prepare the Périgueux sauce up to 2 days ahead and reheat it very gently. If it has tightened in the cold, loosen it according to its own recipe before serving.
- •The potato purée with cream can be prepared several hours ahead and kept covered over a barely simmering water bath. Stir only enough to restore its smoothness, since vigorous beating can make potatoes gluey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 385g)
Calories
805 calories
Total Fat
62 g
Saturated Fat
26 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
34 g
Cholesterol
140 mg
Sodium
1750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
34 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
28 g
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