Pompano a la Mazarin

A Delmonico's shallow-poached fish with a yolk-and-cream enriched veloute, written for a brigade that already had stock, quenelle forcemeat and compound butters standing by. Most of the work is in the cross-references; the cooking itself is quick.

• Do not let the sauce boilOnce the reduced cooking liquid and veloute are finished with egg yolks and cream, the sauce holds only below a simmer. Bring it near boiling and the yolks curdle into grains that no tammy will rescue. The lobster butter goes in off the heat, whisked in a few pieces at a time.
• SautoirA straight-sided shallow pan, roughly what a modern 10- or 12-inch saute pan is. The fillets sit in a single layer with only enough liquid to come partway up, so the basting called for is what actually cooks the top.
• Court bouillon and white wineNo. 39 is the court bouillon Ranhofer cross-references here; the white wine is added separately. A light fish stock or vegetable court bouillon with dry white wine serves the same purpose here; the point is that the poaching liquid becomes the sauce base, so it must taste good on its own before it is reduced.
• TimingRanhofer gives none. Pompano fillets of half an inch are done in five to seven minutes at a bare shiver, and the residual heat while you build the sauce will finish them. Take it out when the center has just turned opaque.
• Veloute thickened with yolks and creamThis is what later kitchens call sauce allemande or sauce parisienne. Equal volumes of reduced cooking liquid and veloute, then the liaison whisked in and gently thickened, never boiled.
• Lobster butterNo. 580: shells and coral pounded with butter, melted, strained and chilled. It is a coloring and flavoring agent, not a thickener. Bottled lobster base is not a substitute in texture, though it will approximate the flavor.
• TammyA tammy cloth is a fine woolen straining cloth, worked by twisting between two people. A chinois lined with a doubled square of muslin, or a fine conical strainer pressed with a ladle, does the job.
• The heart of the oysterMost likely the tough muscle, trimmed away so the breaded oysters fry evenly and stay tender. Fry them at the last moment; they are a garnish, and they go leathery sitting on a hot platter.
• Pike quenellesNo. 90 is a pounded pike forcemeat panade poached in small dumplings. Pike is hard to source; any lean white fish makes a workable quenelle, though pike's binding proteins give the characteristic bounce.
• YieldWritten for a platter service. Figure one 5- to 6-oz fillet per person, three or four quenelles and two oysters each, and the sauce quantity follows from the poaching liquid.