Périgueux Sauce

History

Sauce Périgueux and the related regional "sauce Périgord" take their name from the city of Périgueux, capital of the Périgord region of France, a district noted for its truffles. Truffles and madeira are the defining ingredients of the classic sauces that carry these names. Food-history writing distinguishes a simpler regional "sauce Périgord," made of vegetables, ham or bacon, and mushrooms, sometimes with truffle peelings, from the more elaborate sauce Périgueux. The elaborate version is mentioned frequently in the recipes of Marie-Antoine Carême from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The version printed here, "Salsa Perigord" in the Spanish home-cookery collection La Mejor Cocinera (issued by Editorial Calleja of Madrid; the authorship is anonymous), is far plainer than the haute-cuisine sauce. It simply instructs the cook to prepare a truffle sauce and a mushroom sauce and blend the two together — "Se hace una salsa de trufas, otra de champiñons, se mezclan bien las dos, y se sirve". In relying on mushrooms alongside truffles, and in omitting madeira, this household recipe sits closer to the regional "sauce Périgord" than to the madeira-based restaurant sauce Périgueux. Beyond tying the name to the truffle country of Périgord, the sources consulted here do not document a specific origin narrative, dating, or social meaning for this particular Spanish recipe.

Ingredients

• truffle sauce
• mushroom sauce

Instructions

1. Prepare a truffle sauce. Prepare a mushroom sauce. Mix both sauces together thoroughly. Serve.