No. 1442

Tenderloin of Beef a la Bareda—Whole

Filet de Boeuf a la Bareda--Entier

Trim nicely a fine tenderloin weighing about six pounds. After it is pared the same as Bernardi (No. 1444), lard the top of it with medium sized lardings (No. 2, Fig. 52) and raw ham; lay in an earthen dish, season with salt and mignonette, and sprinkle it over with sweet oil. Cut in slices two medium onions and one lemon, add them to the tenderloin with a few sprigs of parsley, two bay leaves, some thyme, and a clove of garlic; let remain in this for two hours, turning the meat constantly while in the marinade. Two hours before ready to serve place the tenderloin in an oval saucepan with the ingredients around it, moisten it with half a pint of Madeira wine, and one pint of beef stock (No. 194a); let it reduce slowly and when the liquor comes to a glaze, moisten again with more stock to half the heighth of the meat; boil up, then cover the saucepan and set it in the oven. When the tenderloin is nearly done strain the gravy, free it from its fat, and reduce it to a half-glaze; trim the tenderloin, lay it on a pan, and glaze it, then dress the meat on a bed of risot a la Piemontaise (No. 2981), set around the fillets a fine garnishing made of sixteen artichoke bottoms two and a quarter inches in diameter, eight of which to be filled with tongue cut in three-sixteenths inch squares, and mixed with half-glaze sauce (No. 413), the other eight to be garnished with chicken breast cut in three-sixteenths inch squares and mixed with veloute sauce (No. 415). Place over the garnishing sixteen small grooved mushroom heads (No. 118), and decorate the tenderloin with five truffle and Villeroi quenelle skewers. Serve in a separate sauce-boat a veloute (No. 415) and espagnole sauce (No. 414), half of each reduced with the stock from the meat, and a little tomato puree (No. 730) added to it.

← No. 1441 Tenderloin of Beef a l'Ambassade—Whole Beef No. 1443 Tenderloin of Beef a la Bayonnaise—Whole →

For the Modern Kitchen

A full Ranhofer set piece: a larded whole tenderloin braised in Madeira, set on risotto and ringed with filled artichoke bottoms. The cross-references send you to half a dozen other numbered recipes, but the meat itself is straightforward once you decide how far to trust the timing.

The timing is the hingeRanhofer starts the dish two hours before serving, and that much time in a covered pan will take a whole tenderloin far past anything a modern cook wants. Tenderloin has almost no connective tissue to break down, so braising only dries it: sear it, build the Madeira-and-stock liquid in the pan, and pull the meat at 125-130F internally, which on a fillet this size is well under an hour in the oven -- go by the thermometer. Finish reducing the liquid after the meat is out.
Oven heatRanhofer assumes a coal range and gives no number. For a covered pan of this kind, 325F is the working equivalent; the liquid should barely tremble, not boil.
MignonetteCoarsely cracked white peppercorns. Cracked black pepper is an acceptable substitute; the point is the coarse grind, not the color.
LardingThe larding needle and the strips of raw ham are optional in a modern kitchen and hard to do well on tenderloin without tearing it. Barding the top with thin sheets of fatback or prosciutto, tied on, gives the same basting effect and comes off before glazing.
The marinadeTwo hours with oil, onion, lemon and herbs is fine, but do it refrigerated rather than on the counter, and turn the meat two or three times rather than "constantly." Pat it dry before searing or it will steam instead of browning.
Vessels and quantitiesAn "oval saucepan" is a braising pan or oval Dutch oven just larger than the meat. Half a pint of Madeira is one cup; a pint of stock is two cups. Use a dry or medium Madeira, not a sweet one, since it reduces to a glaze.
The garnish, honestlySixteen artichoke bottoms of two and a quarter inches, tongue and chicken breast in three-sixteenths-inch dice, sixteen grooved mushroom caps and five decorated skewers are banquet display. Fresh artichoke bottoms are a long job; good tinned or frozen ones warmed in butter are the practical route, and eight rather than sixteen still reads as a border.
Quenelle skewersThe five "truffle and Villeroi quenelle skewers" are hâtelets, ornamental metal skewers pushed into the meat for presentation only and removed at table. They have no culinary function and can be left out entirely.
Sauces and yieldThe velouté and espagnole are classical mother sauces from elsewhere in the book; a reduction of the braising liquid with a spoonful of tomato and a little butter carries the dish. A tenderloin of about six pounds as bought serves twelve to sixteen at this scale of garnish.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades as chef of Delmonico's in New York, and the book is essentially the restaurant's working repertoire written out in full, with more than 3,000 numbered recipes cross-referencing one another. Dishes like this one belong to the grande cuisine tradition Ranhofer brought from France: a plainly cooked centerpiece, then an elaborate border of garnishes built from separately prepared components, each with its own number in the book. The suffix names—Bareda, Bernardi, Ambassade, Bayonnaise—distinguish otherwise similar whole tenderloins by their garnish and sauce, and many honor patrons, occasions or Delmonico's regulars; "à la Bareda" is generally taken to be one of these personal dedications, though the individual behind it is not documented. The heavy use of Madeira is characteristic of nineteenth-century American fine dining, where the wine was a fixture of the cellar long before it became a specialty item.