duxelles

noun

dux·​elles ˌdük-ˈsel 

(ˌ)dü-ˈsel

: a garnish or stuffing made especially of finely chopped sautéed mushrooms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Menu items include beets with white asparagus, caracara, carrot and yogurt, quail with duxelles, pommes paolo and pomegranate, lamb with langoustine and bisque, and milk chocolate mousse torte. —Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 9 Feb. 2023

Spread about 1⁄2 cup of duxelles evenly over the crepes from edge to edge, about 1/8-inch thick. —Gavin Kaysen, Robb Report, 30 Nov. 2022

Dishes might include toro sashimi with baked Macallan yeast seasoning and wasabi zuki, as well as wagyu filet Wellington with mushroom duxelles, prosciutto and Macallan demi-glace. —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 13 Dec. 2022

This one is deconstructed, with the filet sitting on top of the pastry and mushroom duxelles. —Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 12 Aug. 2022

The duxelles, while cooked until almost dry, can also throw some moisture, as will the pâté and mustard, so each step must be done perfectly or the meat will taste boiled. —Gordon Hamersley, BostonGlobe.com, 14 June 2022

Tender beef slathered in Dijon mustard with mushroom duxelles and either pâté or prosciutto, all wrapped up first in a crepe and then in puff pastry, it is cooked in the oven until golden-brown. —Gordon Hamersley, BostonGlobe.com, 14 June 2022

An indulgent, new entree is the $74 beef Wellington, which is an 8-ounce filet coated with mushroom duxelles and encased in puff pastry. —Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, 13 Sep. 2021

The entree on everyone’s lips is salmon coulibiac, basically a fish version of beef Wellington in which a band of puff pastry and mushroom duxelles form a frame around the salmon and rice tinted with parsley puree. —Washington Post, 27 July 2021

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Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, perhaps after Louis Chalon du Blé, Marquis d'Uxelles †1658 French nobleman and general

Note: Though the association with the Marquis d'Uxelles may be correct, the history of the word is obscure. It is attributed by popular sources (such as online cooking blogs) to the chef François Pierre de la Varenne (1615-78), who wrote an influential early cookbook, Le cuisinier françois (Paris, 1651); the mushrooom preparation is described in the book (p. 113), but called champignons à l'olivier (literally, "mushrooms in the style of the olive tree"). The word is not entered in André Viard's culinary encyclopedia Le cuisinier impérial (Paris, 1806). In the restaurateur Antoine Beauvilliers's L'art de cuisinier, tome 1 (Paris, 1814), p. 73, the preparation is called la ducelle, in a later edition (Le bon et parfait cuisinier universel, Paris, 1837, p. 67) à la Durcelle.

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above