Poularde à la Périgord

Poularde à la Périgord (truffle-stuffed pullet in the Périgord manner) teaches containment. Black truffles are warmed in pork fat, folded into silky fresh fatback, and sealed inside the bird. If an opening leaks, the perfume and richness meant to season the flesh escape into the pot. Before touching a pan, know the one true thing: seal every opening first.

The original assumed a banquet-sized poularde, a saucier at the next station, brown veal stock never off the fire, and a tamis (drum sieve) for working the fat. For four servings, its stuffing is halved exactly to four ounces of truffle, one ounce of melted pork fat, and eight ounces of fresh fatback. A food processor replaces repeated tamis-work, a snug cocotte (lidded casserole) replaces the heavy poêling vessel, and one small saucepan reduces the liquor to a demi-glace (half-glaze). The separate hands are brigade scaffolding and can go. The ratio, the sealed bird, the dry covered poêling, and the sauce made from its own liquor are the dish and must stay. The linked Poëlings (No. 250) supplies the foundation. One cook, one stove, one evening.

At the table, the poularde is butter-gold and deeply burnished, its black truffles appearing like polished olives when the cavity is opened. The sauce gleams and pools around each slice, carrying every savour caught beneath the lid. Take your time over the trussing; seal every opening before the bird meets the heat.