Chef Juliette
Smelt (Éperlans)
Tiny éperlans, lightly floured and fried until their tails stand crisp, arrive in a generous heap on a napkin with fried parsley and grooved lemon, a weeknight lesson in heat and restraint.
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Lucile Toast
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 324, Lucile Toast, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Toast Lucile turns five ingredients into a lesson in precision: crisp oval bread, ochre mustard butter, a ruby tongue border, white chicken at its heart, and black truffle set squarely in the centre.
Appetizers & Snacks
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
30 min
Active Time
10 min cook•40 min total
Yield8 toasts (4 appetizer servings)
Toast Lucile (oval toast with mustard butter, tongue, chicken, and truffle) teaches that arrangement can be part of flavour. Each bite moves from sharp mustard butter through salty cured tongue, mild chicken, and earthy truffle, but the contrasts work only when the three colours remain distinct. Chop finely, keep everything dry, and use a steady hand.
The original assumed a garde-manger with cooked tongue, white chicken meat, and truffle already waiting, plus enough hands to cut and dress a banquet tray of identical ovals. Your honest equivalent is eight oven-toasted pieces, a few slices of tongue from the delicatessen, and one cooked chicken breast. The brigade quantities and advance preparation are scaffolding, so they can go. The oval shape, mustard butter, red border, white centre, and black final pinch are the dish, and they stay exactly where the recipe puts them.
No saucier, stockpot, or salamander belongs here. The foundation is beurre de moutarde (mustard butter), spread over toast that has cooled completely. That cooling is the step that matters most: warm bread melts the butter, loosens the chopped garnishes, and blurs the clean geometry before the tray reaches the table.
Toast Lucile belongs to the Parisian repertoire of named canapés, small cold hors-d'oeuvre assembled for reception trays and formal dinners. Unlike a regional tartine, it is defined by geometry and colour: red tongue surrounding white chicken, with black truffle marking the centre. Such toasts also gave domestic cooks an elegant use for small remnants of cooked meats and costly truffle, each needed only by the spoonful.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
pain de mie (fine-crumb white sandwich bread)
Quantity
8 slices (about 8 oz / 225 g)
each at least 4 by 3 inches
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g)
softened
smooth Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
cooked cured red beef tongue
Quantity
1/2 cup (120 ml / 75 g)
chilled and finely chopped
cooked skinless chicken breast
Quantity
3/4 cup (180 ml / 105 g)
chilled and finely chopped
fresh black truffle or well-drained preserved black truffle
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 6 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| pain de mie (fine-crumb white sandwich bread)each at least 4 by 3 inches | 8 slices (about 8 oz / 225 g) |
| unsalted buttersoftened | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) |
| smooth Dijon mustard | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| cooked cured red beef tonguechilled and finely chopped | 1/2 cup (120 ml / 75 g) |
| cooked skinless chicken breastchilled and finely chopped | 3/4 cup (180 ml / 105 g) |
| fresh black truffle or well-drained preserved black trufflefinely chopped | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 6 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •3 1/2-inch oval cutter or paper oval template
- •Small sharp knife
- •Rimmed baking sheet
- •Wire cooling rack
- •Small offset spatula or butter knife
Instructions
- 1
Cut and toast
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Cut one neat oval, about 3 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches, from each bread slice with an oval cutter or a paper template and a small sharp knife. Set the ovals on a baking sheet and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until dry, crisp, and pale gold rather than deeply browned. Transfer them to a rack and let them cool completely.
Dark toast overwhelms the mild chicken and makes the red, white, and black arrangement look muddy. Aim for crispness with only a light golden edge. - 2
Make beurre de moutarde
Beat the softened butter and Dijon together until the beurre de moutarde is smooth, creamy, and evenly ochre. If it turns shiny and greasy, the butter is too warm; chill it for 5 minutes, then beat again until it holds soft ridges.
- 3
Prepare three colours
Keep the tongue, chicken, and truffle in separate bowls. Chop each by hand into fine, distinct pieces, about 1/8 inch, without working the meat into paste. Blot the tongue and chicken before assembly because moisture loosens the butter and makes the coloured fields run together. If either looks damp after chopping, spread it over a clean towel for 5 minutes. Ça se rattrape.
- 4
Butter the ovals
Spread each cooled toast with an even layer of beurre de moutarde, reaching cleanly to the edge. Use about 1 1/2 teaspoons per toast. If the toast is still warm enough to melt the butter, stop and cool it longer; if one has already melted, chill that toast briefly and spread it again.
- 5
Arrange the colours
Form a narrow, continuous border of chopped red tongue around each oval, using the mustard butter to hold it in place. Fill the open middle with white chicken, keeping the layer level and the tongue border visible. Drop a compact pinch of chopped truffle precisely in the centre, then use the tip of a small knife to tidy any wandering pieces. Press only enough to secure the garnish, not enough to flatten it into paste.
- 6
Serve at once
Arrange the Toasts Lucile on a platter with enough room for their oval outlines to show. Serve promptly, while the bread is crisp and the beurre de moutarde is soft enough to release its flavour. Cooking well is not cooking fancy. Here, it is simply cutting cleanly and stopping when the three colours are in place. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Ask the delicatessen to slice cooked cured beef tongue from its reddest interior. Fresh uncured tongue cooks grey-brown and cannot provide the border the source requires.
- •Poached chicken breast gives the cleanest white meat. If using roasted chicken, remove the skin, browned exterior, and any dark meat before chopping; the colour contrast is part of the preparation, not idle decoration.
- •A small preserved black truffle is an honest classical-pantry choice when fresh truffle is unavailable. Drain and blot it well. Truffle paste changes both the texture and the sharp black centre, so it isn't an equal replacement.
- •Serve with brut Champagne or a lean, mineral Chablis. Both refresh the butter and cured tongue without burying the small amount of truffle.
- •Do not stack the finished toasts. Their toppings are deliberately loose and precise, and a second layer will turn the whole careful business into rubble.
Advance Preparation
- •The bread ovals can be toasted up to 6 hours ahead, cooled completely, and kept airtight at room temperature.
- •The tongue and chicken can be chopped up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated in separate covered containers. Blot them again before assembly if moisture gathers.
- •The beurre de moutarde keeps for 3 days in the refrigerator. Let it soften until spreadable, but not greasy, before using.
- •Assemble the toasts no more than 30 minutes before serving. Hold them loosely covered in the refrigerator, then let them stand for 10 minutes so the butter loses its chill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 115g)
Calories
350 calories
Total Fat
19 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
490 mg
Total Carbohydrates
28 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
17 g
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