No. 1386
Grenadins of Tenderloin a la Boniface
Grenadins de Filet de Boeauf a la Boniface
This is an assembly entry rather than a standalone recipe: Ranhofer assumes you have his plain grenadins, his bordelaise, and his marrow fritters already in hand. Everything that matters is in those three cross-references.
- What a grenadin isA grenadin is a thick medallion cut from the tenderloin, larded on top with fine strips of pork fat and then braised in stock rather than grilled. It is closer to a small braised fricandeau than to a modern seared filet. If you skip the larding, baste generously instead, or the surface will dry during braising.
- The braise, not the searThe plain grenadins of No. 1384 are cooked by braising rather than grilling, with the pan liquor reduced and spooned over toward the end so the larding takes on colour. Cooked this way the meat is best kept short of well done; tenderloin braised too far turns dry and mealy regardless of the fat on top.
- Draining on a clothThe instruction is not decorative. Braised meat carries a film of gelatinous liquor that will thin the sauce and dull the glaze. A folded kitchen towel or paper does the job in half a minute.
- Bordelaise with mushroomsBordelaise is a red wine and shallot reduction finished into a brown sauce; the version called for here, No. 436, is the one with mushrooms. If you are building from a modern demi-glace, reduce the wine and shallots almost to a syrup first, then add the base, or the sauce will taste raw and sharp.
- Marrow frittersNo. 682 is the marrow fritter the dish is garnished with, a battered and fried marrow preparation. Working today, buy centre-cut canoe or pipe bones from a butcher and soak them in cold salted water for several hours, changing it, to draw out blood before pushing the marrow out whole. Poach the marrow gently in salted water just until firm, then chill it thoroughly before it goes anywhere near batter, or it will melt out in the fryer.
- Marrow twice overRichness -- Between the brown sauce and the marrow fritters this is a rich plate by any standard. If you are serving more than three courses, count on one grenadin and one fritter per person and keep the rest of the menu lean.
- Yield and serviceThe Epicurean's dishes are sized for a table, not a plate. A whole trimmed tenderloin gives eight to ten grenadins. Serve them overlapped in a ring or a line on a warmed platter, sauce over the meat, fritters set around the edge so they stay crisp.
The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its beef chapter runs through dozens of near-identical tenderloin preparations distinguished only by their garnish and their dedication. Grenadins themselves are an older French form, the same larded, braised, glazed treatment applied to veal since the eighteenth century, borrowed here for beef. The name Boniface is generally traced to the innkeeper in Farquhar's 1707 comedy The Beaux' Stratagem, whose name became a byword in English for a genial host; whether Ranhofer meant that association or a particular patron he does not say, and he almost never does. What the entry really shows is how his book works, as a cross-referenced system of stock preparations that a trained brigade could recombine into a printed menu of apparently limitless variety.