Sauce Périgueux facts for kids
Sauce Périgueux and its special version, Sauce Périgourdine, are tasty sauces from France. They are named after the city of Périgueux, which is the main city of the Périgord region. The most important ingredients in these sauces are a type of wine called madeira and rare mushrooms known as truffles.
What is Sauce Périgueux?
The Périgord region in western France is famous for its amazing truffles. These are special mushrooms that grow underground. There is a simpler sauce called Sauce Périgord. It is made with vegetables, ham, and mushrooms. Sometimes it even has truffle bits.
The more complex Sauce Périgueux is a very old recipe. It was often mentioned by a famous chef named Marie-Antoine Carême. He lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Carême suggested serving this sauce with different meats. These included chicken, thrush (a type of bird), and pheasant. He also used it with fish like lemon sole, whiting, and salmon.
A writer named James Bentley said Sauce Périgueux is very important. He called it "an essential ingredient of many dishes." He also said it is a sauce that "every French chef" should know how to make. He noted that people sometimes mistakenly call it Dordogne sauce. This hides its true origin in Périgord, the capital city.
Ingredients and How It's Used
The famous chef Carême did not list the ingredients for Sauce Périgueux in his recipe book. However, another well-known chef, Auguste Escoffier, did. In his 1934 book Ma Cuisine, he said the sauce should be made with a rich brown sauce called demi-glace. Then, it is finished with madeira and chopped truffles.
Escoffier suggested serving this sauce with many foods. These included eggs and different types of meat. He recommended it with crépinettes (small sausages) made from lamb, mutton, or chicken. It also goes well with poussin (young chicken) and boudin blanc (a white sausage). Other dishes include saddle of hare (a type of rabbit), young turkey, and pheasant.
Some chefs have tried different ingredients. In 1889, Gustav Carlin suggested using champagne instead of madeira. Later, in 1986, James Bentley wrote about using white wine and cognac instead of madeira.
Sauce Périgueux is the classic sauce for a dish called Tournedos Rossini. This is a fancy beef dish. Today, some recipes use truffles from a can. Writers like Elizabeth David in her book French Provincial Cooking (1960) used them. Also, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, and Julia Child used them in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). These authors suggested the sauce for beef fillet, fresh foie gras, ham, veal, egg dishes, and timbales (small baked dishes).
Sauce Périgourdine is very similar to Sauce Périgueux. The main difference is how the truffles are cut. In Sauce Périgueux, the truffles are chopped into small pieces. In Sauce Périgourdine, the truffles are cut into tiny balls or thin slices.
See also
In Spanish: Salsa Périgueux para niños
