Sauce Périgueux and its derivativeSauce Périgourdine, named after the city ofPérigueux, capital of thePérigord region of France, are savoury sauces. Their principal ingredients aremadeira andtruffles.
Périgord in western France is noted for itstruffles. A sauce Périgord, made of vegetables, ham or bacon, and mushrooms, sometimes with truffle peelings, is named after the region.[1] The more elaborate sauce Périgueux is mentioned frequently in the recipes ofMarie-Antoine Carême from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Carême calls for the sauce to be served with birds including chicken,[2]thrush,[3] and pheasant,[4] and fish includinglemon sole,[5]whiting,[6] andsalmon.[7]
The authorJames Bentley calls sauce Périgueux, "an essential ingredient of many dishes and part of the repertoire of every French chef". He comments that it is often mistakenly called Dordogne sauce, "which obscures its origins in the capital of Périgord".[8]
InL'art de la cuisine française, Carême's collected recipes, the ingredients of the sauce are not listed, butAuguste Escoffier, in his 1934 bookMa Cuisine, specifies ademi-glace finished withmadeira, and chopped truffles. He recommends the sauce as an accompaniment to eggs; crépinettes ofmutton, lamb or chicken;poussin;boudin blanc; saddle ofhare; young turkey; and pheasant.[9] Alternatives to madeira are mentioned in Gustav Carlin's 1889Le cuisinier moderne, which suggestschampagne,[1] and inJames Bentley's 1986 Life and Food in the Dordogne, which replaces madeira with white wine andcognac.[8]
Sauce Périgueux is the classic accompaniment to aTournedos Rossini.[10] Some modern recipes use tinned truffles: among the writers calling for these areElizabeth David inFrench Provincial Cooking (1960)[11] andSimone Beck,Louisette Bertholle andJulia Child inMastering the Art of French Cooking (1961).[12] Beck and her colleagues recommend the sauce as an accompaniment to fillet of beef, freshfoie gras, ham,veal, egg dishes andtimbales.[12]
Sauce Périgourdine is a derivative of sauce Périgueux and differs only in that the latter is finished with chopped truffles and the former with truffles cut into miniature globes or with whole slices of truffle.[13]