Jambon de Prague à la Metternich

Jambon de Prague à la Metternich (Prague ham in a paste crust with foie gras, truffle, asparagus tips, and Madeira sauce) teaches the discipline of orchestration: the ham may wait, the foie gras may not. Before you touch a pan, know this one true thing. Every component must arrive hot, but only the sauce and asparagus can be held.

The classical entry assumed a full ham, a saucier beside a stock never off the fire, an ash hearth for the cuisson sous la cendre (cooking under the ashes), a salamander for last-minute heat, and a waiter assembling each plate. Your equivalent is a small fully cooked smoked ham sealed in flour paste and baked in an ordinary oven, a brown roux and stock reduction made in one saucepan, and one hot skillet used at the final moment. The brigade quantity has become four generous servings. One cook, one stove, one evening.

The separate sauce station and waiter service were brigade scaffolding, so they go. The sealed paste crust, one foie gras collop and truffle slice per diner, the timbale of asparagus heads, and the truffle-scented Madeira sauce are the dish, so they stay. Build the sauce early, but sauté the foie gras last. That brief turn in butter is the step that decides the plate.