No. 1305

Canadian Turbot a la Houston

Turbot Canadien a la Houston

Pare the fillets cut from a turbot into half hearts; range them in a buttered sautoir seasoning with salt, pepper, nutmeg, finely chopped shallots and butter; moisten with white wine, then cook in a slow oven, drain the stock, reduce and add it to a reduced veloute sauce (No. 415) thickened with egg-yolks, cream and butter. Dress the fish on a buttered baking dish, pour over the sauce and dredge over grated Swiss cheese; besprinkle with melted butter and brown in a brisk oven, then serve.

← No. 1304 Canadian Turbot a la d'Orleans Sole, Flounder & Turbot No. 1306 Canadian Turbot a la Mercier →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional brigade with a stock pot already going, so the quantities are left to judgement. The technique is straightforward: shallow-braise the fillets in wine, build a rich sauce from the braising liquor, glaze under high heat.

The hinge: never boil the finished sauceOnce the reduced velouté is thickened with egg yolks and cream, it must be held below a simmer or the yolks curdle and the sauce breaks into grains. Take the pan off the heat before the liaison goes in and finish the butter off heat as well.
Oven temperaturesIn period terms a "slow oven" is roughly 300-325F and a "brisk oven" roughly 400-450F; the fillets are done as soon as they turn opaque, usually 8-12 minutes for a half-inch fillet. An overhead broiler will also do the glazing.
SautoirA straight-sided shallow pan, wide enough to hold the fillets in one layer. Butter it well and cover loosely with buttered paper or foil so the fish steams rather than dries.
Canadian turbotThere is no true turbot (the European Channel fish) in the North-West Atlantic, so the name must cover some North American flatfish; Greenland halibut is still sold as turbot in parts of Canada. Halibut, or any firm flatfish fillet, behaves the same way here.
Half heartsA presentation cut: trim each fillet to a half-heart shape. Purely visual, and skipping it costs nothing but the plating.
Velouté No. 415Ranhofer's velouté is a white roux slackened with white stock and cooked down. For this dish a fish velouté made with the trimmings gives the truest flavour; a well-reduced fish stock thickened with a blond roux is the same thing.
Swiss cheeseRead this as Gruyère, grated fine. It browns and stays cohesive under high heat where a young cheese would slick out oil.
Proportions and yieldNone are given. For four servings: about 1 1/2 lb fillet, a scant cup of dry white wine, two large shallots, roughly a cup of finished sauce, two yolks, a quarter cup of cream, and 2 oz cheese. The nutmeg wants a grating at most.

A Little History

This is one of a long run of numbered turbot preparations in Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the compendium he assembled from more than three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York. The "a la" names in the book are often said to be house dedications to patrons, officials and occasions rather than inherited dish names, which would explain why so many appear nowhere else in the culinary record; the technique underneath, however, is standard French practice of the period — a shallow wine braise whose liquor is reduced into the sauce, finished with an egg-and-cream liaison and glazed.