No. 1426

Tenderloin Steak with Marrow

Filet de Boeuf a la Moelle

Cook the steak, after preparing it the same as for plain (No. 1423). Have four ounces of marrow for each steak, cut in quarter of an inch thick slices, plunge them into boiling water for one minute, drain, and then arrange them symmetrically over the tenderloin, covering the whole with a Madeira sauce (No. 492), sprinkle some chopped parsley on top.

← No. 1425 Tenderloin Steak with Madeira, half-Glaze Beef No. 1427 Tenderloin Steak with Mushrooms →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in shorthand for a professional brigade: the steak is grilled or pan-seared as in his plain preparation (No. 1423), and the sauce is a house demi-glace finished with Madeira (No. 492). Everything that makes the dish is in the marrow.

The hinge: poach the marrow gentlyHeld in boiling water the fat begins to render, so the safer route is to bring salted water to a bare simmer, slide the slices in off the heat for 60-90 seconds until they turn opaque and firm, then lift them out on a slotted spoon. They should hold their round shape on the steak. Ranhofer's brisk one-minute plunge is short enough that it often passes, but a bare simmer is more forgiving.
Sourcing the marrowAsk a butcher for centre-cut beef femur, cut crosswise into 3-inch lengths, and push the marrow out whole; chilling the bones makes it release cleanly. Soaking the marrow in cold salted water for several hours in the refrigerator draws out blood and keeps the slices pale.
Four ounces per steakThat is a nineteenth-century restaurant portion and will cover the whole surface of the steak. Two ounces per person reads as generous today, and the dish is easier to eat.
What No. 492 meansRanhofer's Madeira sauce is built on a reduced brown sauce -- espagnole or demi-glace -- with Madeira; he does not specify which Madeira. A modern equivalent is a reduction of beef stock and Madeira mounted with butter; it should coat a spoon, not pool.
Cooking the steakTenderloin has almost no fat to protect it. Sear hard and pull it at 125-130F internal for medium rare, then rest it while you poach the marrow -- the marrow takes a minute and should go on hot.
Order of assemblySteak on the hot plate, marrow slices overlapping in a neat line down the top, sauce over, parsley last. Sauce poured before the marrow will slide it off the meat.
ServingAs written this is one steak per person, and it is rich. A plain starch and something sharp -- watercress, or a salad with vinegar in the dressing -- keeps it in balance.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house repertoire written down, which is why so many entries are a line or two of instruction hanging off a cross-reference: the cooks already knew how to grill a tenderloin. The tenderloin sequence here runs through a series of garnishes in numbered order, the classical French practice of treating a cut as a base and the garnish as the name of the dish. Marrow was a standard luxury garnish in that tradition, used for bordelaise and for the various a la moelle preparations, valued for a texture and a beefy sweetness that no amount of butter reproduces. It is often said to have receded from American restaurant cooking for much of the twentieth century before returning in recent decades, usually roasted in the bone rather than poached in slices as Ranhofer has it.