Escalopes de Foie Gras à la Périgueux

Escalopes de Foie Gras à la Périgueux (truffle-crusted foie gras with Madeira sauce) teaches one severe, useful truth: cold liver and hot clarified butter must meet for only a moment. The egg and chopped-truffle coat needs enough heat to set before the foie gras begins surrendering its fat. Hesitate over a lukewarm pan and the escalope melts instead of sautéing. Clarified butter only, because its milk solids are gone and the truffle can darken gently without the pan turning bitter.

The old entry assumed a saucier beside the stove, a veal stockpot never off the fire, and enough hands to coat and sauté brigade portions to order. It needed no salamander, because this dish lives entirely in the sauté pan. At home, use a sound prepared veal demi-glace, reduce it with Madeira, scent it with natural truffle juice, and cook four 2½-ounce escalopes in two small batches. The separate sauce station and service crew are scaffolding, so they go; the egg, chopped truffle, clarified butter, circular arrangement, and sauce in the well are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Have the sauce finished and the platter warm before the foie gras meets the pan. The coated slices must go in refrigerator-cold, and you must leave them untouched until the first crust sets. That brief, decisive sauté is the step that matters.