Various Salpicons

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-inch (20 cm) chef's knife with a fine, sharp edge
• •Large stable cutting board
• •Small ruler for establishing the 1/4-inch (6 mm) cut
• •3-quart wide saucier or sauté pan
• •Broad flexible spatula
• •Perforated spoon
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the composition

   For a simple salpicon, choose one cooked product and measure 6 cups after dicing. For a compound salpicon, combine two or more products that support one another, keeping a mild principal ingredient dominant and using foie gras or truffle as an accent unless one of them is deliberately the principal product. Select a finished sauce that agrees with the strongest ingredient: pale and restrained for poultry, fish, or mushrooms; deeper and more reduced for game or butcher's meat. Prepare that sauce fully before beginning the salpicon.

   The ingredient list names alternatives, not one enormous shopping list. Poultry with mushrooms, game with foie gras or truffle, and ham with tongue are sensible compound directions; one beautifully handled product is enough for a simple salpicon.
2. 2

   Chill and dry

   Remove every bone, shell, piece of gristle, heavy skin, and tough membrane. Spread the prepared products on separate trays and chill them until firm, about 30 minutes, then blot away surface moisture. Keep different textures separate while cutting. Foie gras must be very cold, while cooked mushrooms must be especially well drained; either one mishandled will blur the clean dice.

3. 3

   Cut exact dice

   Using a sharp knife, cut each product into even 1/4-inch (6 mm) slices, then batons, then cubes. Work with a straight downward cut rather than sawing or pressing. Measure the first few against a ruler, and let your eye follow that pattern. If the edges begin to smear or the cubes crush, return that ingredient to the cold for 10 minutes before continuing. The trim can enrich another dish; forcing scraps into misshapen cubes only spoils the salpicon.

4. 4

   Correct the sauce

   Bring the finished sauce to a nappant consistency, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon while remaining fluid. For a warm salpicon, heat it gently in a wide pan without boiling. For a cold salpicon, stir the chilled sauce until supple. Test 1 tablespoon of sauce against 3 tablespoons of dice: it should glaze every cube without pooling underneath. If it floods the dice, correct the sauce separately, reducing a warm sauce or retightening a cold one by its own method. If it clumps, loosen it with the liquid prescribed by that sauce's formula. Never scatter flour over the assembled salpicon; it leaves raw paste between the cubes.

5. 5

   Fold without crushing

   Place the 6 cups of dice in a wide bowl or pan. Add the 2 cups of sauce in three additions, folding from the bottom with a broad flexible spatula after each addition. Stirring in circles batters the corners from soft ingredients; folding preserves them. When the sauce has the proper consistency, it will cling as a thin gloss and leave the cubes clearly visible. If sauce gathers on the bottom, lift out the dice with a perforated spoon, correct the sauce alone, and fold everything together again.

6. 6

   Finish for service

   For warm service, set the pan over the lowest heat and fold gently until the salpicon is hot throughout, never letting the sauce boil. If previously cooked poultry, meat, or fish has been chilled, bring the mixture briefly to 165°F (74°C) and serve at once. If the sauce begins to separate, remove the pan from the heat, lift out the dice, repair the sauce by its own method, and return them only when it is smooth. For cold service, transfer the salpicon immediately to a shallow covered container and chill below 40°F (4°C) within 2 hours. Use it as the filling or garnish required by the preparation it accompanies. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The timing begins with cooked constituents and a finished sauce, exactly as the classical method assumes. Cooking poultry, game, tongue, or fish belongs to the preparation that supplies it; the salpicon begins when those products are cold and ready for the knife.
• •A sharp knife matters more than expensive ingredients. Technique first, always. Chill the food, dry it, and cut downward cleanly; a modest chicken in exact dice makes a finer salpicon than foie gras crushed into paste.
• •Use the sauce as a vehicle, not a bath. Three parts dice to one part properly thick sauce is the home working proportion because the source fixes no quantity. For a pastry filling, reduce the sauce slightly further so it cannot soak the shell.
• •Do not assign one of the classical combination names by guesswork. Royal, Financier, Chasseur, Parisien, and Montglas each indicate a particular composition in the canon; an unnamed compound salpicon remains entirely proper.
• •Choose the wine by the principal product: a restrained white with poultry, fish, or mushrooms, and a red with enough freshness for game or butcher's meat. Truffle wants quiet company, not a bottle determined to win an argument.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook, bone, drain, and chill the chosen products up to 1 day ahead. Store each one separately so a damp mushroom or strongly scented truffle does not alter everything beside it.
• •The products may be diced up to 6 hours ahead and kept covered in the cold. Hold the finished sauce separately and bind the salpicon close to service so the cubes retain their edges.
• •A bound poultry, game, ham, or tongue salpicon may be cooled promptly and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Fish and foie gras are more delicate and are best bound and served the same day. Reheat only once, gently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)