No. 1394

Grenadins of Tenderloin with Sweet Peppers

Grenadins de Filet de Boeuf aux Piments Doux

Proceed and cook the grenadins as for plain (No. 1384), glaze and lay them on a dish, garnishing it with sauted sweet peppers prepared as follows: Plunge the peppers in hot frying fat, remove the peel covering the outside by rubbing with a dry cloth; cut them in two lengthwise, and fry them in oil, turning them over carefully while cooking. When done season with salt, pepper and a clove of garlic crushed, drain them from the oil, and finish with a little meat glaze (No. 402), butter, lemon juice and fine herbs. Preserved sweet peppers can always be obtained; it is only necessary to drain them, fry them in butter or oil, adding a little garlic, lemon juice and fine herbs.

← No. 1393 Grenadins of Tenderloin with Round Potatoes,Beef No. 1395 Minced Tenderloin of Beef a la Andrews →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in shorthand: the beef is handled at No. 1384 and the meat glaze at No. 402, so what is actually on this page is a pepper garnish and an assembly note. The points below fill in what the cross-references assume.

What a grenadin isA grenadin is a thick slice cut from the tenderloin, trimmed to an even oval or rectangle roughly 1 to 1.5 inches deep, traditionally larded with strips of fat pork through the surface and then braised in a shallow pan with mirepoix and stock. It is not a grilled steak; the technique is closer to a small braise finished uncovered so the reduced liquid coats the meat.
"Glaze" means two things hereGlazing the grenadins means basting them with their reducing braising liquid over heat until the surface takes a mahogany shine. The meat glaze of No. 402 is a separate item: stock reduced to a syrup that sets firm when cold, essentially what is sold today as glace de viande. A teaspoon of good reduced stock or a scant amount of concentrate does the same job in the peppers.
Peeling peppers in frying fatPlunging whole peppers into hot fat blisters the skin in seconds so it can be rubbed off with a cloth. It works, but it spatters violently if the peppers are at all damp. Dry them thoroughly first, or use the modern equivalent, charring over a flame or under a broiler and steaming them covered for ten minutes.
Which peppers"Sweet peppers" covered a range of types in the period, thin-walled Italian and Spanish frying peppers as well as thicker bell sorts. Cubanelle, Italian long sweets or ripe red bell all work; thin-walled ones peel and fry faster and hold their shape better.
The garlicOne crushed clove is added at the end of frying, not the start. Given a hot oiled pan it needs well under a minute before it turns bitter. Ranhofer means it to perfume the oil, not to cook through.
Fines herbesThe classic mix is equal parts chervil, tarragon, chives and parsley, chopped fine and added off the heat. If chervil is unavailable, more parsley plus a little tarragon is the usual substitute; dried herbs are not a stand-in here.
The tinned shortcutThe "preserved sweet peppers" of the last sentence are jarred pimientos or roasted peppers. Drain them well and pat dry before they meet hot oil, or they will steam rather than fry.
YieldThe Epicurean assumes restaurant service and gives none. Figure one grenadin of 5 to 6 oz per person, with half a large pepper or a whole small one alongside.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of what he cooked during roughly three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its numbering system is the book's defining feature: nearly every dish points elsewhere, so that a single base preparation of braised, larded tenderloin supports dozens of numbered variations distinguished only by garnish. This one — to use a label of one's own, since the book supplies none — is the Basque or Provencal option in that sequence, sweet peppers fried in oil with garlic and lemon, sitting immediately after the same beef with round potatoes. The line about preserved peppers being "always" obtainable is worth noticing: Ranhofer, who was writing for professional kitchens and ambitious households alike, was matter-of-fact about using them, at a date when large-scale pimiento canning is generally dated later than his book.