Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
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Cèpes à la Rossini
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2071, Cèpes à la Rossini, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Cèpes and raw black truffle stew together in butter and cream, then pale meat glaze gives the sauce its final gleam. The truffle cooks from the beginning, because that shared perfume is the whole dish.
Side Dishes
French
Special Occasion
Dinner Party
Celebration
20 min
Active Time
30 min cook•50 min total
Yield4 side-dish servings
Cèpes à la Rossini (porcini mushrooms with truffle and cream) teaches one uncompromising thing: the truffle goes into the pan raw, beside the cèpes, and stews with them. It is not a shaving added for show at the end. Shared cooking makes the woodland depth of cèpes, the perfume of truffle, and the sweetness of reduced cream taste like one dish rather than three expensive ingredients standing apart.
The original assumes that Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069) is already part of the cook's repertoire, with a saucier tending the reduction and pale meat glaze waiting beside a stockpot that never leaves the fire. At home, make one batch based on 1 pound of cèpes, add exactly one-third that weight in truffle, work in a broad sauté pan, and serve from a warmed deep bowl. The separate brigade hands are scaffolding and can go. The ratio, the simultaneous stewing, the complete cream reduction, and the final glaze are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Before touching the pan, slice the truffle thickly, about 1/8 inch. Thin shavings surrender their perfume too quickly and disappear into the cream. Watch the reduction most closely: the cream must cling to the mushrooms without leaving a milky puddle, and if it tightens too far, a reserved spoonful of thin cream brings it back. Ça se rattrape.
Cèpes à la Rossini belongs to the Parisian classical table, where the name Rossini signaled the generous use of truffle associated with the composer and celebrated gourmand Gioachino Rossini. This formula is unusually exact: its richness comes not from foie gras, as the name may suggest elsewhere, but from raw truffle at one-third the weight of the cèpes, cooked alongside them so their aromas mingle in the cream. It passed from the grand-kitchen repertoire to dinner-party tables by reducing the quantity while preserving the proportion and sequence.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069)
Quantity
1 home-scale batch, based on 1 lb (450 g) fresh cèpes
begin as directed, adding the truffle when the cèpes start stewing
fresh raw black truffle
Quantity
5⅓ oz (150 g)
brushed clean and sliced 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick
pale meat glaze
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g)
melted
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069)begin as directed, adding the truffle when the cèpes start stewing | 1 home-scale batch, based on 1 lb (450 g) fresh cèpes |
| fresh raw black trufflebrushed clean and sliced 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick | 5⅓ oz (150 g) |
| pale meat glazemelted | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan
- •Soft mushroom brush and small paring knife
- •Small saucepan for melting the meat glaze
- •Warmed 1-quart (1-liter) deep serving bowl or timbale
Instructions
- 1
Slice the truffle
Brush the truffle carefully, trimming away only damaged or stubbornly gritty spots, then cut it into slices about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Keep the slices broad and substantial. Their thickness lets them soften with the cèpes while retaining enough body to be found under the teeth.
- 2
Stew them together
Begin the Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069). At the precise moment its cèpes are put to stew, add the raw truffle slices and keep the original one-third-weight proportion intact. Turn everything gently over moderate heat until the cèpes are tender and the truffle has softened slightly, then drain as the referenced preparation directs. If the pan fills with mushroom liquid, do not drain prematurely. Raise the heat one notch until the excess liquid cooks away and butter shows again around the edges, then return to moderate heat. Ça se rattrape.
Use a broad pan. Crowding traps the water released by the cèpes and delays the moment when mushroom, butter, and truffle begin tasting of one another. - 3
Reduce the cream
Complete the Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069), keeping the truffle with the cèpes through its boiling-cream reduction and final thin-cream finish. The reduced cream should cling thickly to every slice, with no pale liquid running across the pan when you draw a spoon through it. If the cream looks oily, catches at the edge, or becomes too tight, lift the pan from the heat and stir in a reserved spoonful of the thin finishing cream. Return it to low heat only long enough to restore a smooth coating.
- 4
Fold in the glaze
Melt the pale meat glaze over the lowest heat in a small saucepan, without letting it boil. Fold it into the hot cèpes at the last moment, turning just enough to distribute it. The glaze should deepen the savory finish and give the cream a quiet gleam without making the sauce brown, salty, or sticky. If the mixture tightens after the glaze enters, loosen it with one teaspoon of the reserved thin cream.
- 5
Dish and serve
Spoon the cèpes, truffle, and every trace of sauce into a warmed deep serving bowl or small timbale. Arrange the slices generously rather than decorating them, with several pieces of truffle visible among the cèpes. Serve immediately beside roast veal, poularde, or another simply cooked centerpiece. À table!
Chef Tips
- •The one-third ratio is the formula: 150 g truffle for 450 g cèpes. Reducing the proportion produces pleasant creamed mushrooms with a truffle accent, but not Cèpes à la Rossini.
- •Fresh raw truffle matters because it must surrender its aroma during cooking. Preserved slices and truffle oil cannot reproduce that exchange. If fresh truffle is unavailable, make Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069) and save Rossini for the season.
- •Choose firm cèpes with clean, pale pores and a forest smell. Brush or wipe them rather than soaking them, since waterlogged mushrooms cannot stew properly in butter.
- •The home equivalent of a stockpot kept constantly on the fire is a small quantity of pale, unsalted veal glaze prepared in advance. Avoid a dark commercial demi-glace heavy with wine, tomato, or salt; it will bury the truffle and stain the cream.
- •Serve this beside plain roast veal or poularde, where the sauce can do the ornamenting. A mature white Burgundy has enough breadth for the cream and enough restraint to leave the truffle alone.
Advance Preparation
- •The pale meat glaze may be made up to 3 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, or frozen in tablespoon portions for up to 2 months.
- •Clean the cèpes and truffle up to 4 hours ahead, keeping them covered in separate containers in the refrigerator. Slice the truffle shortly before cooking so its perfume remains in the dish rather than on the cutting board.
- •Do not complete the Cèpes à la Crème (No. 2069) in advance and add the truffle later. The simultaneous stewing is the defining sequence. The finished dish may wait over the gentlest heat for about 10 minutes, but reserve a little thin cream because the sauce continues to tighten.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 165g)
Calories
280 calories
Total Fat
24 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
65 mg
Sodium
360 mg
Total Carbohydrates
12 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
8 g
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