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Ragout a LA Fiuanciere

A ragout of ham, herbs, mushrooms, wine, stock, and foie gras, served alone or as a garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,900 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, combine the ham, herbs, mushroom, white wine, stock, and pepper.

  2. Boil until reduced to half its original quantity, then strain through a sieve.

  3. In another saucepan, blend flour and butter, then add a little stock and cook until reduced by half.

Finish and serve

  1. Combine the two sauces and warm in the foie gras, cocks' combs, truffles, mushrooms, and fonds d'artichauts.

  2. Serve alone or as a garnish for fricasseed fowls or wild pheasants.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mushroom + truffletop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Mushroom + white winetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,704 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together12,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. White wine + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Butter + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Raw ham
Gives the ragout its savoury, meaty flavour as it simmers into the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the second sauce with butter, giving it body.
Butter
Enriches the sauce with fat, adding smoothness and rich flavour.
Foie gras
Melts into the warm sauce, adding richness and a silky texture.
Truffles
Adds a strong earthy aroma that defines the luxurious character of the dish.
White wine
Adds acidity and depth as it reduces, balancing the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Reducing the ham and wine mixture by half. Reducing concentrates flavour and thickens the liquid. Stopping too early leaves a thin, watery sauce, while over-reducing can make it salty and sticky once the ham's saltiness concentrates.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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