Pike Perch or Wall Eyed Pike a la Financiere

Ranhofer wrote for a brigade with a stockpot already going, so this entry is mostly cross-references to other numbers in The Epicurean. Read it as an assembly instruction and the work becomes clear: a whole braised walleye, glazed, sauced, and ringed with garnish.

• What the numbers hideYou need four preparations before the fish goes in the pan: a white wine mirepoix braising stock, fish glaze, lobster butter, and financiere sauce. Only the mirepoix is strictly necessary; the glaze and lobster butter are cosmetic, and the sauce can be built from the reduced braising liquid plus a well-made velouté.
• White wine mirepoix stockRanhofer's mirepoix stocks are built on diced carrot, onion and celery with a little lean raw ham or bacon, sweated in butter with thyme and bay, then moistened with dry white wine and fish stock; check No. 419 for his exact proportions. The fish sits on this bed and is barely covered — braising here means shallow poaching with frequent basting rather than immersion.
• "Lean" financiereFinancière sauce normally starts from a meat base with Madeira, truffle essence, and mushroom. Lean (maigre) means the fish-day version: no meat stock, so build it on the reduced fish braise with Madeira and truffle liquor. The classic garnish elements of cockscombs and kidneys are dropped for the same reason.
• TammyA tammy is a fine worsted straining cloth, twisted between two people to force sauce through. A fine chinois lined with a double layer of muslin does the same job with less effort.
• Quenelles in a teaspoonThe forcemeat is pounded pike or whiting with panada and cream. Shaping "in a teaspoon" means two wetted teaspoons passed against each other to form small ovals, dropped into barely simmering salted water. They need only a few minutes and are done when just set through; boiling water breaks them.
• Oven and timingTiming -- Braise gently, the liquid barely trembling and the fish basted. A 3-4 lb walleye needs roughly 30-40 minutes; the flesh should just part from the backbone at the thickest point.
• Skinning and glazingThe skin comes off while the fish is still hot, lifted in sheets with the back of a knife. Brush the exposed flesh with fish glaze slackened with lobster butter — a thin coat, applied warm, or it sets in streaks.
• TrufflesWhole truffles appear freely as a garnish throughout The Epicurean. Preserved whole truffles work, if expensive; large glazed mushroom caps alone are a defensible substitution and will not embarrass the dish.
• YieldA whole 3-4 lb walleye presented this way serves six as a fish course, four as a main. Send a third of the sauce over the fish and the rest to table separately, as written.