No. 1372

Small Sirloin Steak a la Bordelaise with Marrow and Truffles

Bifteck de Contrefilet a la Bordelaise a la Moelle et aux Truffes

After cooking the steak the same as a plain one (No. 1368) lay it on a very hot dish and cover with the following sauce: Cut three ounces of marrow into quarter inch thick slices, and one ounce of truffles in thin slices. Parboil the marrow and drain it off; heat the truffles in a little Madeira and half-glaze (No. 400). Over the steak arrange the marrow and truffles one intercalated with the other; cover with Bordelaise sauce (No. 436) and serve.

← No. 1371 Small Sirloin Steak a la Bordelaise with Mar Beef No. 1373 Small Sirloin Steak, Ancient Style →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in cross-references, so the page only makes sense with three other numbers in hand: the plain steak (1368), half-glaze (400) and Bordelaise sauce (436). What is here is essentially a garnish and assembly note.

ContrefiletThe contrefilet is the strip loin — the muscle sold today as New York strip, shell steak or sirloin steak in British usage.
Marrow, and where to get itThree ounces of marrow takes several centre-cut beef femur sections; ask a butcher to cut them crosswise, or buy canoe-cut bones and lift the marrow out whole. Soaking the bones in cold water for a few hours loosens the marrow and draws out blood.
Parboil means barelyMarrow slices go into salted water just under a simmer for about a minute, until they turn from pink to opaque ivory, then drain. At a rolling boil they melt and you lose them.
Half-glazeNo. 400 is demi-glace — brown sauce reduced with stock until it coats a spoon. Good jarred demi-glace or a hard-reduced veal stock works for the small quantity needed to warm the truffles.
TrufflesAn ounce of black truffle is a substantial amount at today's prices; the period sold them tinned and cooked. Warm the slices gently in Madeira and demi-glace off the boil, since prolonged heat drives off the aroma that justifies the expense.
IntercalatedIt simply means alternating — overlap the marrow and truffle slices in a single row down the steak so each disc of marrow sits between two of truffle.
BordelaiseNo. 436 is Ranhofer's Bordelaise, a red-wine reduction finished with brown sauce. Poured over the marrow it should be hot enough to gloss but not so hot or so heavy that the marrow slides off; a few tablespoons per steak.
Serve at onceThe "very hot dish" is not decoration. Marrow sets and turns waxy as it cools, so the plate should be warmed and the steak carried straight to table.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, where he was chef for over thirty years, and it is organised as a professional reference rather than a domestic cookbook — hence the numbered cross-references that make a single entry like this one nearly unusable on its own. The à la bordelaise family takes its name from Bordeaux and its red wine; the version with poached marrow arranged over the meat is the form that spread through nineteenth-century restaurant cooking and is still the standard reading of the term. Ranhofer runs several consecutive steak entries that differ only in garnish. The recipe is also a reminder that truffles arrived in tins from France as a matter of routine.