No. 1381

Chateaubriand, Colbert Sauce

Chateaubriand Sauce Colbert

Season a Chateaubriand with some salt, brush it over with oil, and broil on a slow, regular fire. Lay it on a dish, and garnish the two ends with potatoes cut olive-shaped and fried in butter, and cover with the following sauce: Reduce half a pint of white wine with a tea-spoonful of meat glaze (No. 402), and half a pint of espagnole (No. 414). When well reduced, strain it through a sieve, boil again, and when ready to serve, incorporate therein a quarter of a pound of butter, some chopped parsley, and the strained juice of a lemon.

← No. 1380 Chateaubriand, Plain Twenty Ounces Beef No. 1382 Chateaubriand Maitre d'Hotel Sauce, Thickene →

For the Modern Kitchen

A thick center-cut tenderloin roast, broiled and served with a reduced brown butter sauce. The cut and the sauce base are the two things that need translating.

The cutRanhofer's preceding entry specifies twenty ounces of beef — a chateaubriand is the thick heart of the tenderloin, cut about 2 to 2 1/2 inches thick and weighing 1 1/4 lb. That serves two generously; ask a butcher for a center-cut tenderloin roast rather than steaks.
Half a pintHalf a pint is one cup in American measure, so the sauce starts from a cup of white wine and a cup of espagnole. Ranhofer says only 'when well reduced' and gives no finished volume — expect enough to coat the meat and no more.
EspagnoleNo. 414 is Ranhofer's brown sauce — a brown roux and brown stock preparation, long simmered and strained. A good reduced veal stock or a well-made demi-glace stands in; jarred brown gravy does not, because the whole sauce is a reduction and any off-flavor concentrates.
Meat glazeNo. 402 is glace de viande — stock boiled down to a syrup that sets firm when cold. A teaspoon of commercial glace de viande or a very reduced homemade stock reduction does the job. It is there for depth and body, not salt, so taste before seasoning further.
Mounting the butterThe quarter pound of butter goes in off the heat, in pieces, swirled or whisked until the sauce is glossy; hard boiling after the butter is in risks breaking it. Add the lemon juice last so the acidity stays bright.
"A slow, regular fire"A thick chateaubriand over a fierce fire chars before the center warms. Use moderate, even heat — medium on a gas grill, or coals spread rather than fierce — and turn it several times. Pull it at 125-130F internal for rare to medium-rare and rest it 10 minutes; the traditional service is carved across the grain in thick slices.
The potatoesPotatoes 'cut olive-shaped and fried in butter' are the turned potatoes of the classic garnish — small barrel or olive shapes, turned with a paring knife and cooked slowly in butter until golden through. Any small even dice will taste the same, though the shape is the point of the garnish.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the restaurant's working repertoire set down in cross-referenced form — hence the constant pointing back to numbered base preparations like espagnole and meat glaze, which a hotel kitchen kept standing all day. The cut is generally traced to the household of the writer and diplomat François-René de Chateaubriand in the 1820s, his chef Montmireil being the name usually attached to it, though the attribution is traditional rather than documented. Colbert, whose name is often said to derive from Louis XIV's finance minister, appears in French kitchens both as this reduced wine-and-espagnole sauce and as the compound beurre Colbert — butter worked with meat glaze, lemon and tarragon; Ranhofer's version is the sauce form, and it carries no tarragon.