No. 1017

Frogs' Legs a la d'Antin

Cuisses de Grenouilles a la d'Antin

Have a pound of very fresh frogs' legs, season them with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then fry them in butter with a teaspoonful of finely chopped onions; add some chives, minced mushrooms, capers, and chopped truffles; moisten with half a pint of white wine, reduce till dry, then pour in a little espagnole sauce (No. 414), dress and dredge over chopped parsley, chervil, and a few tarragon leaves.

← No. 1016 Edible Snails, Provencal, and with Provencal Frogs No. 1018 Frogs' Legs a la Osborn →

For the Modern Kitchen

A fast sauté in the classic Delmonico's manner: everything happens in one pan, and the sauce is built on a spoonful of espagnole rather than cream. Read the whole thing before lighting the burner, because the cooking time is measured in minutes.

Do not overcook the legsA pound of frogs' legs is done in three to five minutes over brisk heat — the flesh turns opaque white and pulls easily from the fine bones. Ranhofer assumes you know this; held longer they go stringy and dry, and the reduction step will finish them if you are not watching.
Half a pint of wineIn this book that is one cup (8 fl oz). "Reduce till dry" means until the pan is nearly syrupy and the wine no longer pools — lift the legs out with tongs while the liquid finishes if the pan is crowded, then return them to coat.
Espagnole sauceNo. 414 is the classic brown mother sauce: a brown roux moistened with veal stock and mirepoix, simmered and skimmed for hours. "A little" here means a few tablespoons, enough to bind and gloss. A good reduced brown veal or beef stock, thickened lightly, stands in without embarrassment; canned brown gravy does not.
Sourcing the legsFrogs' legs are sold frozen at Asian and Cajun markets and by mail, graded by size; a pound is roughly six to twelve pairs depending on size. Thaw fully, then dry them hard on towels — wet legs will steam rather than fry, and the wine step will not reduce properly.
Truffles and capersTruffles were a standing luxury in a Delmonico's kitchen, though in New York they would generally have been preserved rather than fresh, and they are not in most home larders. A teaspoon of chopped preserved truffle or truffle peelings is the honest substitute; leave them out entirely rather than reaching for truffle oil, which will bully the frog. Rinse and chop the capers so they season rather than punctuate.
Pan and butterUse a wide skillet that holds the legs in one layer, and enough butter to film it generously — two to three tablespoons. The onion and mushrooms go in with the legs, so keep the heat just under the point where butter browns.
The finishing herbsParsley, chervil and tarragon are added raw off the heat, essentially a fines herbes minus the chives already in the pan. Chervil wilts to nothing if it hits hot fat; scatter it at the table.
YieldA pound serves two as a main course or four as a first course. Serve it with something plain — rice, croutons fried in butter, or nothing at all but bread for the sauce.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its frog section is a small monument to the moment when American diners were persuaded that frogs were French rather than merely swampy. Nineteenth-century American frogs were taken from wild marshes and sold live at market; frogs' legs sold today are largely imported. The dish name follows the standard practice of the period — a garnish or treatment attached to a noble house, in this case usually said to be the d'Antin name, though the connection is traditional rather than documented. What the recipe actually shows is house method rather than aristocracy: the mise en place of chopped onion, mushroom, caper and truffle, the deglazing wine reduced to nothing, and the ladle of espagnole from the stockpot at the back of the range. Take away the espagnole and the recipe collapses, which is precisely why Ranhofer numbered his sauces and expected you to have made No. 414 yesterday.