No. 1429

Tenderloin Steak with Truffles

Filet de Boeuf aux Truffes

Prepare the tenderloin and cook it the same as for tenderloin with olives (No. 1428). For each ten ounce tenderloin, have about one ounces of truffles, peeled and cooked in Madeira wine. Mince them, that is cut them into very thin slices, and arrange them either over the tenderloin or else around it, crown-shaped one overlapping the other. Cover the whole with a half-glaze sauce (No. 413) and Madeira.

← No. 1428 Tenderloin Steak with Olives Beef No. 1430 Tournedos of Tenderloin of Beef, Plain →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in cross-references, so this entry is really three recipes stacked: the steak from No. 1428, the demi-glace from No. 413, and the truffle garnish given here. The truffles are the only part with quantities, and they are the part worth getting right.

"Mince them" does not mean minceRanhofer defines the word for you in the same sentence: cut into very thin slices. A truffle shaver or a steady mandoline gives the overlapping crown he describes; anything chopped will read as dirt on the plate.
One ounce of truffle per ten-ounce steakThat ratio is the whole dish. A 10 oz trimmed tenderloin is a single large restaurant portion, so figure one steak and 25-30 g of truffle per person. With fresh black truffle at current prices this is a two-person dish at most.
Truffles "cooked in Madeira"Ranhofer says only that the peeled truffles are cooked in Madeira; he does not give a time, and the sauce is separately finished with half-glaze and Madeira. Preserved truffles in tins or jars are already cooked; warm them through in the Madeira rather than boiling, or the aroma goes off into the air.
Half-glaze is demi-glaceNo. 413 is a brown Espagnole reduced with stock until it coats. A modern reduced veal stock stands in for it. Add the Madeira at the end and off the heat, not at the start; the point is the wine's aroma, and a long boil strips it.
How No. 1428 cooks the steakThe method is not repeated here, so work from the olive version. Cook the tenderloin as you would any trimmed steak, to the rare-to-medium-rare usual for the cut, and rest it before slicing or plating.
Trim and tieIf you buy an untrimmed piece you will be removing silverskin and the chain yourself. Tie a center-cut portion so it holds a round shape, which is what makes the crown of truffle slices sit properly.
Order of workSauce first, truffles in Madeira second, steak last. The garnish is arranged on a hot plate and napped, so nothing can wait.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially that restaurant's working repertoire set down in numbered order, which is why so many entries are one line long and point elsewhere for the method. The pattern here is classical French service: a plainly cooked cut, a single luxury garnish, a brown sauce keyed to that garnish, and a name that announces the garnish rather than the cooking. Filet with truffles, filet with olives and the neighbouring tenderloin entries are the same steak wearing different hats. Truffles reaching New York in this period were largely imported, tinned as well as fresh, and their presence on a bill of fare said something about the house's supply as well as the cook's skill. Truffle with Madeira was a familiar pairing in the era's grand cookery, and fortified wines kept their place in professional saucework.