Estrées Salad (1903)
Reader ratingsEscoffier’s Estrées salad of 1903: curled white celery and black truffle in equal parts, cut in matchsticks and dressed with a mustard mayonnaise and cayenne.
- Recipe makes
- 4 small servings, as a side to roast birds
- Prep
- Total
The celery curls in iced water for about 20 minutes. Dress the salad only when the birds come out of the oven to rest, so the celery stays crisp.
Celery and black truffle matchsticks in mustard mayonnaise in a porcelain bowl.
The story behind the recipe
Half celery and half truffle by measure: that is the salade d’Estrées in Auguste Escoffier’s Guide culinaire of 1903, among the composed salads in his chapter of cold dishes. The first Nobel Prize banquet, at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm on December 10, 1901, paired a salade d’Estrée with its roast hazel grouse.
How much truffle went into it?
As much as celery. Escoffier asks for “parties égales,” equal parts, of curled white celery and raw truffles, cut in a julienne that is not too fine, and dressed with a mayonnaise flavored with mustard and sharpened with cayenne. The same two pages show how freely his salads used truffle: a Demi-Deuil, or half-mourning, of potatoes and truffles in equal parts, and a Jockey-Club of asparagus tips and raw truffle. The Nobel menu gives only the name; the recipe here is Escoffier’s, published in 1903, and nothing shows that the Grand Hôtel’s cook followed it or used as much truffle. The menu also spells the name without the final s.
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
Black winter truffles are in season from early winter, which suits a December dinner, and a small fresh one of about 50 grams makes this salad for four. A jar of whole preserved black truffles is the other choice: they have been cooked in the jar, so they are softer than Escoffier’s raw ones, but they keep the proportion. Truffle oil is a later product and no part of this salad. Weighing celery and truffle to the same weight is our reading of his equal parts. So is curling the celery matchsticks in iced water, which is how we understand his céleri frisé. A good bought mayonnaise stands in for one made at home.
Serve it beside the Roast Hazel Grouse (1903), as the menu did. A celery dish from a later and less formal table is the Stuffed Celery with Roquefort (1922). What Was Served at the First Nobel Dinner in 1901? follows the whole Nobel menu, from the brill to the wines.
Estrées (d’). — Parties égales de céleri blanc frisé et truffes crues en julienne pas trop fine. — Assaisonnement de mayonnaise moutardée relevée au Cayenne.
Recipe makes: 4 small servings, as a side to roast birds
Ingredients
For 4 small servings, as a side to roast birds. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 4 small servings, as a side to roast birds.
- Pale inner celery stalks, from the heart50 g
- Black truffle, fresh or jarred whole50 g
- Mayonnaise3 tbsp
- Dijon mustard1 tsp
- Cayenne pepper1 pinch
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 50 g pale inner celery stalks, from the heart
- 50 g black truffle, fresh or jarred whole
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
Equipment
Kitchen scale- Sharp knife or mandoline with a julienne blade
- Bowl of iced water
- Soft brush, for a fresh truffle
- Clean dish towel
- Small mixing bowl
- Salad bowl
Instructions
Wash the celery under cold running water. Cut it into matchsticks about 2 inches long and ⅛ inch thick, and drop them into the bowl of iced water for about 20 minutes, until they crisp and curl a little.
If the black truffle is fresh, scrub it gently with the soft brush under cold running water and pat it dry. If it is from a jar, drain it and pat it dry. Cut it into matchsticks about the same size as the celery, no thinner.
Stir the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and cayenne pepper together in the small bowl.
Drain the celery and dry it well in the dish towel.
Just before serving, put the celery and truffle in the salad bowl and fold in the mustard mayonnaise until every piece is coated. Serve it cold, with the roast birds.
Nutrition
80calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 4 small servings, as a side to roast birds
- Servings
- 4
Estimated per serving (4) from USDA FoodData Central values for celery, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, with black truffle counted as mushroom.
Recipe notes
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Escoffier gives the proportion and nothing else, so we chose the 50 grams of each, the dressing amounts, the size of the matchsticks and the iced water. He doesn’t say whether his equal parts are by weight or by volume. A homemade mayonnaise is closer to his kitchen; make it with pasteurized egg yolks, since the salad is not cooked. Keep the salad chilled and eat it the day it is made. Contains egg, mustard and celery.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After A. Escoffier, Le Guide culinaire (Paris, 1903), Salades composées, Estrées (d’); the dish as named on the Nobel banquet menu of December 10, 1901
Recipe details
- Course
- Side dish
- Dish family
- Vegetables & Sides
- Region
- French
- Era
- Edwardian
- Source decade
- 1900s
- Main ingredient
- Vegetables
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Dinner partyState banquet
- Season
- Winter