No. 1332

Ribs of Beef, Old Style

Cotes de Boeuf a la Vieille Mode

Cut a rib of beef with the bone, one rib to the piece, the same as a veal or mutton cutlet, lard the lean part of the meat with small strips of fat pork; season with salt, pepper, spices and chopped parsley. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a saucepan on the fire; when the butter is hot set in the rib of beef and let it color on one side then on the other. When half done place the lid on the saucepan, and push into the oven; as soon as cooked dish up the rib, strain and skim off the fat from the gravy in the saucepan, then pour it over the meat garnished around with potatoes a la Francaise.

← No. 1331 Ribs of Beef of Thirty-Two Pounds, American Beef No. 1333 Deviled Spare Ribs of Beef →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a single thick bone-in rib steak, browned in butter and finished in a covered pan in the oven — closer to a braise-roast than to a modern grilled cote de boeuf. Ranhofer assumes a cook who can judge doneness by feel; a thermometer does the same job.

The cut"One rib to the piece" means a bone-in rib steak roughly 1.5 to 2 inches thick, 1.5 to 2 lb with the bone. A butcher will cut this from a standing rib roast; ask for it French-trimmed if you want the tidy Victorian look.
LardingThreading strips of pork fat through the lean with a larding needle was a common treatment for beef in this period. With well-marbled modern rib it is optional; if you skip it, the pan drippings will be thinner and you may want to mount the gravy with a little butter.
"Spices"In a nineteenth-century French kitchen this generally meant a fine mixed spice of the épices fines or quatre épices type, leaning on nutmeg, clove, pepper and ginger. A pinch is enough; it is a background note, not a rub.
Butter quantityA quarter pound of butter for one steak is generous by modern habit and will brown hard at searing heat. Clarified butter, or butter cut with a spoonful of neutral oil, holds up better; whole butter over high heat will blacken before the crust forms.
The ovenRanhofer gives no temperature. A moderate oven, around 350F, suits a covered pan of this size; the lid traps steam, so the meat finishes gently rather than roasting.
Doneness"As soon as cooked" was left to the cook. For a two-inch rib, pull at 125-130F internal for rare to medium-rare, and rest ten minutes before serving — the covered pan carries the temperature up several degrees after it leaves the oven.
The gravyStraining and skimming is the whole of the sauce; there is no thickener. Deglaze the pan with a splash of stock or water to lift the fond before you strain, or most of the flavour stays stuck to the saucepan.
Pommes a la FrancaiseThis is a shaped potato garnish rather than french fries in the modern sense. Small turned or thickly sliced potatoes finished in the pan drippings serve the same purpose.
YieldOne rib feeds two people generously.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York across two spells spanning some three decades, and The Epicurean (1894) is his attempt to set down the whole of that repertoire — by the figure usually repeated, some 3,500 numbered entries, French technique applied to American produce. The "vieille mode" of the title signals an older, homelier French treatment: larded, seasoned with spice mixture and parsley, browned in butter and stewed covered rather than spit-roasted or grilled. Its neighbours in the book are telling — the entry immediately before it is a thirty-two-pound rib roast of American beef, and the one after is deviled spare ribs. American beef was the thing Delmonico's was famous for, and Ranhofer works through it here rib by rib, from the banquet joint down to the single cutlet-sized portion for a table of two.