No. 1419

Noisettes of Tenderloin of Beef, Triumvir

Noisettes de Filet de Boeuf Triumvir

From the heart of a small tenderloin of beef beaten until excessively tender, cut some slices which after being flattened and pared should weigh three ounces each, and be three-eighths of an inch thick, and all trimmed to equal size; season with salt and pepper, then cook them on a quick fire for three minutes, turn over, and cook them for three minutes more. Glaze and cover with a white bearnaise sauce (No. 433); place in the center of each noisette a triangle of very black truffle warmed in some good gravy with a few tarragon leaves, and some meat glaze (No. 402). Pour this gravy round the bearnaise.

← No. 1418 Noisettes of Tenderloin of Beef in Surprise Beef No. 1420 Noisettes of Tenderloin of Beef with Puree o →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with stock, glaze and béarnaise already standing by, so the cross-references hide most of the work. The dish itself is three ounces of tenderloin, seared hard and dressed.

The hinge: the meat is thinThree-eighths of an inch is just under a centimetre. Three minutes a side on a fierce fire will take that through to medium-well at best; on a modern gas or induction burner, closer to one minute a side in a very hot pan gives the rare-to-medium-rare centre the cut is worth cooking for. Judge by crust and feel, not the clock.
"Beaten until excessively tender"Ranhofer beats the tenderloin itself before slicing, and the slices are then flattened and pared to size. The finished round still has to weigh three ounces at three-eighths of an inch, so the flattening is light -- more press than pound -- rather than working it out into an escalope.
Noisettes and yieldA noisette is a small trimmed round from the eye of the tenderloin. At three ounces each, allow two or three per person; a whole centre-cut tenderloin will give eight to twelve after paring. Save the trimmings for the gravy.
Glaze (No. 402)Meat glaze is brown stock reduced to a syrup that sets firm when cold. A spoonful melted over the hot noisette gives the shine the recipe calls for. Commercial demi-glace concentrate stands in; use it sparingly, as it is much saltier than a home reduction.
"White béarnaise" (No. 433)Béarnaise is an emulsion of egg yolk and butter over a reduction of vinegar, shallot and tarragon. "White" here most likely signals the pale version, without added glaze or tomato, so it reads against the dark truffle and the gravy. Hold it warm, around 130-140F; much above about 160F it will split, and it will not sit in a warm kitchen for long.
TruffleA "very black truffle" would in this period most likely be the winter black truffle, Tuber melanosporum, cut into a small triangle and warmed, never cooked, in gravy. If fresh is out of reach, a slice of preserved black truffle warmed the same way is closer to the intent than truffle oil, which is usually built on a synthetic aroma compound and will fight the béarnaise.
PlatingThe order matters: glaze the meat, mask it with béarnaise, set the truffle on top, then pour the tarragon gravy around the outside of the sauce, not over it. The two sauces are meant to stay separate on the plate.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of his years cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows the house method: a numbered dish assembled almost entirely from other numbered dishes, so that a line cook needed only the components and the arrangement. Nos. 1418 to 1420 sit side by side as variations on the noisette of tenderloin. The combination of tournedos-sized beef, a truffle set on top and a mounted sauce around it is the signature grammar of late nineteenth-century restaurant service, and it survives largely unchanged in the tournedos Rossini still cooked today.