Jockey-Club Salad

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan
• •Large bowl for an ice-water bath
• •Soft truffle brush
• •Very sharp chef's knife or truffle slicer and paring knife
• •Small whisk and narrow mixing bowl
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Chilled shallow serving dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Blanch the asparagus

   Bring the water and blanching salt to a full boil. Add the asparagus heads and cook for 90 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on thickness, until they are vivid green and a knife enters the cut end with slight resistance. Transfer them immediately to a bowl of ice water. If they have gone softer than intended, chill them at once and handle them as little as possible; they cannot become crisp again, but cold stops further cooking and preserves their shape.

   Only the tender heads belong in this salad. Save the stalks for a potage or an asparagus purée; thrift and precision are perfectly good companions.
2. 2

   Dry and cut

   Drain the asparagus and spread it on a clean towel until completely dry. Water clinging to the tips will loosen the mayonnaise later. Cut the scrubbed raw truffle julienne-fashion, first into thin slices and then into slim match-shaped rods about 1½ inches (4 cm) long. Keep the truffle raw. Heat would soften its clean texture and carry away the perfume this salad is built to protect.

3. 3

   Season them separately

   Place the asparagus and truffle in separate nonreactive bowls. Season the asparagus with ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2.5 g) vinegar, 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / 7 g) oil, ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) seasoning salt, and a small pinch of white pepper. Season the truffle separately with the same amounts of vinegar and oil, ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.75 g) salt, and another small pinch of pepper. Turn each gently, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This separate rest is not ceremony: it lets both ingredients taste complete before the mayonnaise joins them.

4. 4

   Whisk the mayonnaise

   Whisk the egg yolk with the Dijon mustard, the remaining 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 10 g) vinegar, and the remaining salt and white pepper until smooth. Add the remaining oil first drop by drop, then in a thin thread once the emulsion thickens, whisking constantly. The mayonnaise should taste distinctly sharp and well seasoned because very little will reach each bite. If it splits, stop. Ça se rattrape: put the cold water in a clean bowl and whisk the broken mayonnaise into it one teaspoon at a time until smooth. Cover and keep cold.

5. 5

   Bind with restraint

   Drain the asparagus and truffle separately for 1 minute so no loose seasoning follows them into the bowl. Combine them gently, then fold in 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) mayonnaise. Add the third tablespoon only if dry pieces refuse to hold together. Stop as soon as everything carries a thin sheen. If mayonnaise begins pooling underneath, lift the solids with a slotted spoon into a clean chilled bowl and fold once with 1 teaspoon fresh mayonnaise, leaving the excess sauce behind. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Dish and serve

   Spoon the Salade Jockey-Club loosely into a chilled shallow serving dish, leaving the asparagus heads whole and the dark truffle julienne visible throughout. Serve at once, cool but not numb from the refrigerator. It needs no decorative garnish and no further sauce. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Fresh black truffle is the dish, not a decorative extra. Choose a firm, ripe truffle with a deep woodland fragrance and avoid bottled truffle oil or preserved peelings; neither supplies the raw texture or clear perfume the formula requires.
• •Excellent asparagus and ripe black truffle share only a narrow season. If they do not meet at your market, wait rather than forcing the salad. Asperges vinaigrette is the honest cousin for fine asparagus alone, while an omelette aux truffes gives a solitary truffle the attention it deserves.
• •The equal proportion is measured after trimming. Weigh 90 g of asparagus heads against 90 g of julienned truffle because bunch sizes and loosely packed cups vary; this preserves the book's ratio without asking a home cook to judge two brigade pans by sight.
• •The mayonnaise should taste almost too assertive by itself. Its mustard, vinegar, salt, and white pepper must season the whole composition through a very thin coating. Mild mayonnaise invites you to add more, and more is precisely what buries the truffle.
• •Serve with a dry blanc de blancs Champagne or a restrained white Burgundy. Keep the wine cool rather than icy so it does not flatten the truffle's fragrance.

Advance Preparation

• •The mayonnaise may be made a day ahead, covered directly on its surface, and refrigerated. Because it contains pasteurized raw yolk, keep it cold and use it within two days.
• •Blanch and dry the asparagus up to 6 hours ahead, then refrigerate it in a towel-lined container. Cut the truffle and begin the separate seasoning only 30 to 60 minutes before serving so its perfume remains vivid.
• •Do not bind the salad ahead. Once mayonnaise joins the seasoned ingredients, the asparagus begins releasing water and the truffle aroma starts to soften; combine and dish it immediately before the guests sit down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 75g)