Sauce Financière — Madeira, Truffle, and Quenelle Garnish

Ingredients

• For the sauce
• 500 ml demi-glace
• 100 ml Madeira wine
• 3 tbsp truffle cooking liquid (jus de truffe)
• 30 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• For the chicken quenelles
• 200 g chicken breast, sinew removed, passed through a tamis
• 150 ml double cream, cold
• 1 egg white
• For the garnish
• 8 champignons tournés, mushroom caps turned to a barrel shape
• 8 cockscombs and kidneys, cleaned; substitute julienne of poached chicken breast if unavailable
• 16 green olives, pitted, blanched to remove brine
• 20 g black truffle, sliced thin, added at last moment

Method

1. 1
   Prepare the chicken mousseline: pass the chilled chicken breast through a tamis into a bowl set over ice. Work in the egg white, then incorporate the cold cream gradually, beating until the mixture is smooth and holds its shape. Season. The mousseline is ready when a small quenelle poached in simmering salted water holds together cleanly and is silky and light — not dense or rubbery.
2. 2
   Shape the mousseline into quenelles using two wet spoons and poach in gently simmering salted water until just set through, approximately 8–10 minutes. Remove and reserve in warm salted water. The quenelles are done when they feel yielding but spring back lightly to the touch and show no raw centre when one is broken open.
3. 3
   Turn the mushroom caps, sauté in butter until just tender and golden at the edges. Blanch the pitted green olives in two changes of boiling water to remove their brine; reserve warm. Prepare the cockscombs and kidneys according to their own standard, or poach a julienne of chicken breast as substitute; reserve warm. Each garnish component must arrive at the pass at the same moment — this coordination is the real technique of the saucier, and it is here that the dish lives or dies.
4. 4
   Combine the demi-glace and Madeira in a wide saucepan. Reduce over moderate heat, skimming as needed, until the Madeira's alcohol has cooked off and its characteristic nuttiness concentrates without bitterness. Add the truffle cooking liquid and reduce briefly. The sauce is ready when it coats a spoon in a dark, glossy film and the aroma is full and round — stop before any acrid note from the Madeira appears.
5. 5
   Remove the sauce from the heat. Mount with the cold butter, swirling the pan until the butter is fully absorbed and the surface carries a visible sheen. Do not return to a boil. Taste for seasoning.
6. 6
   Arrange the warm garnish components — quenelles, turned mushrooms, cockscombs or chicken julienne, blanched olives — in or around the sauce in the serving vessel. Lay the thin truffle slices over the surface at the very last moment before service; their aroma fades rapidly in hot sauce. The finished dish presents as a mosaic of textures and shapes in a dark, gleaming sauce.