No. 1369

Small Sirloin Steak a la Bearnaise

Bifteck de Contrefilet a la Bearnaise

Prepare and cook the beefsteak as for the plain (No. 1368); apart from the cooking described by minutes in that number, the time for broiling depends entirely upon the thickness of the meat, and the intensity of the fire. In order to judge whether the meat be done to the touch when it offers a certain resistance; this can easily be learned after once being accustomed to broiling. Dress the beefsteak over a Bearnaise sauce (No. 433); glaze the top with meat glaze (No. 402) using a brush for the purpose.

← No. 1368 Small Sirloin Steak of Twelve Ounces, Plain Beef No. 1370 Small Sirloin Steak a la Bordelaise →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for cooks who already know the house's cross-referenced sauces, so the whole dish rests on three numbered recipes he does not repeat here. The steak itself is straightforward; the timing is deliberately left to judgement.

What contrefilet isThe contrefilet is the boneless strip loin — what an American butcher sells as New York strip or shell steak. No. 1368 specifies twelve ounces, a single portion; the recipe gives no thickness, and Ranhofer says outright that broiling time depends on it.
"Broiling" means live fireIn 1894 this is a grill over hot coals or a gridiron, not an overhead oven broiler. A charcoal grill or a heavy cast-iron pan gets you closer to the intended crust than an electric broiler element.
Doneness by touch, translatedRanhofer's "certain resistance" is the classic finger test, and it is reliable once calibrated. If you want numbers: 125F at the centre for rare, 130-135F medium rare, 140F medium, pulled a few degrees early and rested five to eight minutes.
Béarnaise (No. 433)Classically a reduction of vinegar, shallot, tarragon and crushed peppercorns, strained, then finished as an emulsion of egg yolks and butter, usually with chopped tarragon and chervil added at the end; see No. 433 for Ranhofer's own version. Hold it barely warm — it will break if it gets too hot.
Meat glaze (No. 402)Glace de viande: brown stock reduced until it coats a spoon and sets firm when cold. A tablespoon of good commercial demi-glace reduced by half is the practical substitute; the point is a thin gloss brushed on, not a sauce.
The sauce goes under, not over"Dress the beefsteak over a Bearnaise sauce" means spoon the sauce onto the hot plate and lay the steak on it, so the glazed top stays glossy and visible. Sauce poured over the meat defeats the glaze entirely.
Rest before saucingIf the steak sits on the béarnaise for long, the released juices thin the emulsion — plate it at the last moment.
YieldOne steak, one serving, as the twelve-ounce weight in No. 1368 implies.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its structure — a numbered dish pointing to a numbered sauce pointing to a numbered stock — reflects a brigade kitchen where the sauces were standing preparations made daily by another cook. Béarnaise is generally traced to the Pavillon Henri IV at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the 1830s, named for the Béarn region that was Henri IV's birthplace rather than for anything in the sauce itself; by Ranhofer's day it was thoroughly naturalised as the standard tarragon-scented emulsion for grilled beef, and it appears here alongside a whole run of steak variations — bordelaise, lyonnaise, and the rest — that let one cut of meat furnish a dozen menu items. The brushed coat of meat glaze is the mark of the period's restaurant cooking: a visual finish, concentrated from bones and trimmings that a home kitchen rarely had in quantity.