A lie spread by turkeys who don't want to be stuffed

March 2, 2015 5:02 AM

Perhaps no other classical composer was as obsessed with good food and wine as Gioachino Rossini, who claimed he would only visit America if his close friend, legendary chef Antonin Carême, accompanied him. Because of his culinary devotion, many dishes are named "alla Rossini." One of the most decadent is Tournedos Rossini, a heart-stopping combination of beef filet, fois gras, butter, black truffle, and Madeira. In honor of Signor Crescendo's birthday on February 29, here is a recipe for that infamous dish. And while it’s cooking, how about some bel canto?

Armida
The Siege of Corinth
The Barber of Seville
Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant
Le Comte Ory
The Lady of the Lake
The Thieving Magpie
William Tell
The Italian Girl in Algiers
Opportunity Makes a Thief, or The Exchanged Suitcase
Semiramide
Tancredi
Il Turco in Italia
(obligatory Bugs Bunny)

posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide (14 comments total)

Our local Italian restaurant has Tournedos Rossini on its specials board, and I've never been able to get past my aversion to all things liver to order it, but am assured by both my husband and father-in-law that is exactly as overwhelmingly decadent as it sounds.
posted by skybluepink at 5:37 AM on March 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

In Baltimore, the finest Tournedos Rossini are said to be those served by Aldo's in Little Italy, although it appears that the requisite black truffles have been replaced by far more proletarian "wild mushrooms." The entrée will cost you $46.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:46 AM on March 2, 2015

Much better than Weird Al's sandwich!
posted by spitbull at 6:07 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

The entrée will cost you $46.

I guess the main will be more like $75, then. Seems a lot for an appetiser.

Yeah, I know, local usage and all, but it still strikes me as strange.
posted by Wolof at 6:15 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I had that as a burger in Vegas at Mandalay Bay. It was goooood.
posted by jonmc at 6:16 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Maybe a pop/Rossini mashup would go with that burger, jonmc. Not your style of pop, I know, but perhaps you can make allowances in Vegas.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:38 AM on March 2, 2015

Gimme a mess o'truffles. I'm all over this puppy.
posted by drhydro at 7:21 AM on March 2, 2015

Sounds overwhelmingly fatty. Needs some acid and spice to break it up. Maybe lemon juice and hot paprika added to the stock, and definitely throw some thyme sprigs in the pan when you brown the tournedos.
posted by dis_integration at 7:31 AM on March 2, 2015

Oooh, I had a really nice version near Annecy in the Savoie - in autumn of course. Little cuts of filet de biche, melting foe gras on top and then savoie truffle resting on top. It was served with a Chignin Mondeuse which like many wines of the region have this nice herbal taste. Decadent but not disastrously so.
posted by vacapinta at 8:07 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

This strikes me as a far better explanation of Tournedos Rossini. Needless to say, we don't eat like this nowadays. But a modernized and scaled-down version could be a great finish to a fancy multi-course dinner.
posted by slkinsey at 8:13 AM on March 2, 2015

It's linked in the post, slkinsey, as "Tournedos Rossini".
posted by benito.strauss at 9:22 AM on March 2, 2015

The burger in question. Oh man.
posted by jonmc at 9:31 AM on March 2, 2015

Yeah, I know, local usage and all, but it still strikes me as strange.

Interestingly, the American usage of "entree" for a main course is actually closer to the French usage with the longest historical duration. The modern French usage of "entrée" to mean a light first course only dates from the early C20th. And while it did originally refer to a "first" course, it did so back in the days when all the courses were brought out to the table simultaneously and the first of these would be brought to the table with great fanfare--making an "entrée"). From the C17th to the early C20th, the "entrée" in France was a course served after the initial soup course. One can't exactly compare C18th and C19th usage with C20th/21st usage, of course, because the modern pattern of starter/main/dessert would be seen as bizarrely truncated by sophisticated diners of that period.

In any event, though, the knee jerk "stoopid Americans, can't understand what an entree obviously refers to" is historically uninformed. Source 1. Source 2.
posted by yoink at 9:47 AM on March 2, 2015

I've never been able to get past my aversion to all things liver

Foie tastes basically nothing like liver. Try thinking of it as meat-flavoured butter.

Tournedos Rossini hits so many of my culinary pleasure buttons: beef! foie! truffle! YUM!

Haven't been able to afford it in years, alas.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:40 PM on March 2, 2015