No. 1206

Mullets with d'Antin Sauce

Mulets a la Sauce d'Antin

Raise the fillets from the mullets and suppress the skin; cut them each lengthwise in two and season with salt, mignonette, thyme, bay leaf, sliced onions, branches of parsley, tarragon, vinegar and oil; let marinate for one hour, turning them over frequently, then drain and roll them in flour; form them crescent-shaped on a wire basket and fry in hot fat till a fine color. Serve in a sauce-boat a d'Antin sauce (No. 458).

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For the Modern Kitchen

A short entry that assumes a professional larder: the fish is filleted, briefly marinated in an oil-and-vinegar herb mixture, floured and deep fried, with a sauce sent separately. Two things carry it — drying the fillets after the marinade, and hot enough fat.

Which mulletThe recipe specifies only "mullets"; red mullet (rouget) or the striped/gray mullet of the New York markets would both suit. Either works; the fish gives two fillets, each cut lengthwise into two strips, as the recipe directs.
MignonetteCoarsely cracked white peppercorns, not the shallot-vinegar relish served with oysters today. Cracked black pepper is an acceptable stand-in.
The marinadeOil, vinegar, sliced onion and herbs for one hour, with frequent turning as the recipe directs. Do not extend it: the acid firms and eventually opaques thin fillets.
Drain and dry, then flourThis is the hinge. Fillets straight from an oily, vinegary marinade will not take flour evenly and will spit violently in the fat. Blot them thoroughly on cloth or paper before dredging, and flour them at the last moment so the coating stays dry.
The wire basketA frying basket, lowered into deep fat. Curving the strips against the mesh sets the crescent shape as the coating stiffens; without a basket, hold the curve with a cocktail stick for the first few seconds in the oil.
"Hot fat"The book gives no temperature. In modern terms deep frying at 350-375F answers the description: below that the flour coating absorbs oil and the fish steams; above it the thin strips color before they are cooked.
Sauce d'Antin (No. 458)A cross-reference the book expects you to follow. Look up the numbered entry rather than guessing, since the base determines whether it comes out pale or brown.
ServingSent to table with the sauce in a boat, as the recipe directs, not poured over; the point of the dish is the crisp exterior.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its structure — thousands of numbered recipes cross-referencing a bank of numbered sauces — is lifted straight from the French professional tradition Ranhofer trained in. The sauce name points back to that tradition: garnishes and sauces called d'Antin are generally traced to the ducs d'Antin, whose household, like those of the other great French names attached to sauces (Soubise, Mornay, Colbert), lent its title to a preparation long after the family itself had ceased to matter to cooks. The dish itself is a standard French treatment of small fish — marinate, flour, deep fry, sauce apart — dressed up for an American dining room where a French name on the menu was worth a good deal.