No. 1232

Red Snapper a la Cherot

Raise the fillets from the fish, pare them into half hearts, lard half of them with anchovies, and the other half with lardons of eel; put them in a buttered sautoir and moisten to their height with a mirepoix stock (No. 419) and champagne wine; baste frequently, and when the fish is done, drain it off and reduce the stock. Fry a finely chopped onion in butter, dilute it with the stock and a tomato puree (No. 730), boil, despumate, and just when ready to serve work in a piece of fresh butter, a little sugar, and some chopped parsley. Dress the fish crown-shaped, pour some of the sauce over and garnish the center with some villeroi quenelles; serve the rest of the sauce separate.

← No. 1231 Porgies with Chablis Wine Pompano, Snapper & Other Fish No. 1233 Red Snapper a la Crequy →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Delmonico's braised-fish preparation from Ranhofer, written for a brigade that already had stock, tomato purée and quenelle forcemeat standing by. Stripped of the cross-references it is a shallow braise in wine and stock, with the cooking liquid finished into the sauce.

The hinge: do not overcook the braiseSnapper fillets of about 3/4 inch cook through quickly in barely simmering liquid, a matter of minutes rather than a long braise. Ranhofer's "when the fish is done" assumes a cook watching the pan; pull the fillets the moment they lose translucency, since all the reduction happens after they come out.
SautoirA straight-sided shallow pan, not a deep casserole. Any wide skillet or braiser that holds the fillets in one layer will do; the fish should be crowded enough that "moisten to their height" does not require a quart of liquid.
Larding the filletsCut narrow strips of anchovy fillet and of skinned smoked or fresh eel and thread them through the flesh with a larding needle, or simply cut shallow slits with a paring knife and press the strips in. Anchovies are salty however they are packed, so hold back on seasoning the sauce.
EelFresh eel is difficult to buy in much of North America and American eel stocks are depleted. Smoked eel from a good fishmonger works, or omit the eel lardons and lard all the fillets with anchovy.
Mirepoix stock, No. 419Ranhofer's mirepoix is broadly diced root vegetables and aromatics with ham or salt pork sweated in butter and moistened with stock; check No. 419 for his exact version. A light fish or chicken stock simmered with those aromatics and strained gives much the same result. The recipe gives no proportion of stock to champagne, only that the fish is moistened to its height with both.
DespumateTo skim. As the sauce boils, protein and fat rise as grey foam; lift it off with a ladle so the finished sauce stays clear and clean-tasting. The butter, sugar and parsley go in at the last moment, as Ranhofer says, and are best worked in with the sauce off the boil so the butter does not break.
Villeroi quenellesPoached fish quenelles chilled, coated in a very thick reduced velouté (sauce Villeroi), crumbed and fried. This is a full second recipe; a bowl of small plain poached quenelles, or nothing at all, will not damage the dish.
Half hearts and dressingEach fillet is pared into a rounded wedge so that the pieces overlap into a ring on the platter; you need enough pieces to make the ring, half larded with anchovy and half with eel. The sauce boat is passed separately, as written.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the house method for a New World fish: take red snapper up from the Gulf, then treat it exactly as a Parisian kitchen would treat sole or turbot. The larding with anchovy and eel is an old French device for adding fat and savour to lean white flesh, and the champagne-and-mirepoix braise with tomato belongs squarely to the late nineteenth-century repertoire. Dish names of this period were conventionally said to honour patrons, artists and places; the dedicatee of "à la Cherot" is no longer identifiable, and it sits between snapper "à la Créquy" and porgies with Chablis in a chapter that runs through the same handful of American fish in a long series of French dress. The garnish of Villeroi quenelles is a reminder that these recipes were written for a staffed kitchen: a single line here assumes a forcemeat, a velouté and a deep-fryer already in play.