No. 1407

Minions of Tenderloin of Beef a la Vernon

Mignons de Filet de Boeuf a la Vernon

To be prepared and cooked the same as for plain (No. 1399). Set them on a dish on top of slices of bread cut the same size, and fried in butter. Garnish around with cucumbers cut into olive-shaped pieces, blanched, drained, and put in a saucepan with some veloute (No. 415), and quarter inch squares of celery, blanched until nearly cooked. Boil slowly till the cucumbers are done, and when ready to serve, stir into it a piece of fresh butter, spread this over each minion, and on each one lay a slice of crawfish butter (No. 573) or lobster butter (No. 580), seasoned with a little cayenne pepper; throw a little chopped parsley over the red butter.

← No. 1406 Minions of Tenderloin of Beef a la Stanley Beef No. 1408 Minions of Tenderloin of Beef with Cepes a l →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in cross-references, so the page reads as a garnish rather than a recipe. Everything hinges on three components you assemble at the last minute: the sautéed medallions, a cucumber-and-celery ragout bound with velouté, and a slice of shellfish butter that melts over the meat as it reaches the table.

What a mignon isMignons de filet are medallions cut from the tenderloin, typically around 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick. "Prepared and cooked the same as for plain" sends you to No. 1399, not given here; in practice this means seasoned and sautéed in butter and served on the rare side. The shellfish butter on top will not survive a long rest, so cook them last.
The croutonsCut the bread the same size as the medallions and fry in butter until crisp and golden on both sides. Frying them firm rather than leaving them soft keeps them from going to pieces under the meat and sauce.
Olive-shaped cucumbersPeel, seed and turn the cucumber into small barrel or olive shapes. The recipe gives no size, count or blanching time: blanch briefly, drain well, then finish in the sauce.
VelouteNo. 415 is Ranhofer's velouté, a white stock thickened with a blond roux; a modern light chicken or veal velouté substitutes without complaint. The recipe gives no quantity — use only enough to coat the cucumbers, not pool around them.
Two blanchings, two texturesThe celery is cut in quarter-inch squares and blanched "until nearly cooked" before it joins the pan; the cucumbers are only blanched and drained, so they finish cooking in the sauce. Simmer slowly only until the cucumbers are done — cucumber collapses to water if pushed further.
The butter off the heatThe butter to finish -- "Stir into it a piece of fresh butter" is the enrichment that finishes the sauce; the recipe gives no quantity. Add it at the last moment and keep the sauce off the boil afterwards.
Crawfish and lobster butterThese are compound butters made by pounding cooked shells and coral with butter, then straining. Chilled and cut into thin coins, a slice sits on each medallion and melts into the sauce. A modern shellfish butter made from shrimp or lobster shells works; a plain butter with paprika does not, since the flavor is the point of the dish.
Yield and order of serviceOrder of service -- The recipe gives no yield. Have the croutons fried, the ragout finished and the shellfish butter sliced and cold before the steaks hit the pan, then plate meat on crouton, sauce over, butter on top, parsley over the butter.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York for over three decades and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a full record of that repertoire, which is why the book is written in cross-references: the reader is assumed to have the plain preparation, the velouté and the compound butters already at hand on a working brigade line. The garnish names in this section — Stanley, Vernon, with cèpes — are the standard nineteenth-century French practice of naming a dish for its garnish rather than its method, so a dozen tenderloin recipes differ only in what surrounds the meat. The pairing of beef with a shellfish butter looks odd now but was entirely ordinary in the period, and the same logic survives in steak with anchovy or maître d'hôtel butter. Cucumber as a hot cooked vegetable, turned into olive shapes and simmered in a white sauce, was likewise common in grand-restaurant cooking of the 1890s and has largely fallen out of American kitchens since.