No. 1443

Tenderloin of Beef a la Bayonnaise—Whole

Filet de Boeuf a la Bayonnaise--Entier

Select a fine tenderloin of beef, pare it as for a la Bernardi (No. 1444); lard it with small pieces of larding pork (No. 2, Fig. 52). Lay the tenderloin on an oval dish, pour over a gill of olive oil, one sliced onion, a few sprigs of parsley, one bay leaf broken into several pieces, and twelve pounded whole peppers. After three hours, drain the meat from the marinade, then roast it either on the spit or in the oven, and glaze it a fine color. Fry in butter some thin slices an eighth of an inch thick of ham, cutting them half heart-shaped; arrange them on each end of the tenderloin, garnishing the sides with macaroni prepared as follows: Blanch some macaroni, drain, and return it to the saucepan with some stock (No. 194a); let boil, and reduce for twenty minutes, so that the stock is entirely evaporated, then season with pepper, nutmeg, and grated parmesan. Toss the macaroni and cheese in the saucepan so that it will be thoroughly stirred without using a spoon. Serve separately a half-glaze (No. 413) and tomato sauce (No. 549), not too thick.

← No. 1442 Tenderloin of Beef a la Bareda—Whole Beef No. 1444 Tenderloin of Beef a la Bernardi—Whole →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a professional larder and a battery of numbered base preparations. Stripped of the cross-references, this is a marinated, larded whole tenderloin with ham points and stock-braised macaroni.

A gillHalf a cup, so 4 fl oz of olive oil poured over the meat. "Twelve pounded whole peppers" means twelve peppercorns cracked in a mortar, not ground pepper.
Marinate coldThree hours in oil and aromatics would have taken place in a cool larder. Do it covered in the refrigerator and let the meat come back toward room temperature for an hour before it goes in the oven.
LardingThe pork is firm back fat cut into narrow strips and drawn through the surface of the meat with a larding needle. Modern tenderloin is usually barded instead: tie a thin sheet of fatback or a few slices of pancetta over the top, or simply skip it and baste.
The temperature that mattersTenderloin is lean and unforgiving. Roast hot, around 425F, and pull it at 125-130F on an instant-read thermometer for medium-rare, then rest 15-20 minutes. A whole trimmed fillet of 4-5 lb will take roughly 35-45 minutes; the internal reading, not the clock, decides.
"Glaze it a fine color"Brush the roast during the last few minutes with reduced meat glaze (glace de viande) so it takes on a dark shine. A few spoonfuls of demi-glace boiled down to a syrup does the same job.
The hamBayonne ham gives the dish its name: a dry-cured, lightly salted ham from the Adour valley. Prosciutto or serrano, cut a scant eighth of an inch thick and warmed briefly in butter, stands in. Cut the slices into half-hearts as directed and set them at either end of the roast.
The macaroniThis is not baked macaroni. Blanched pasta is finished in stock until the liquid has entirely reduced away, about twenty minutes, then seasoned with pepper, nutmeg and parmesan. Tossing rather than stirring with a spoon keeps the tubes whole; the starch and cheese bind it.
The two saucesHalf-glaze is demi-glace, and Ranhofer wants the tomato sauce loose enough to pour. Serve both in sauceboats rather than over the meat, which would dull the glaze.
YieldA whole trimmed tenderloin serves eight to ten as a main course, and a whole roast like this would most likely have been carved at the table or on the sideboard.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house repertoire written down, dish by numbered dish, with three consecutive whole-tenderloin preparations here alone. The garnish name tells you the source: à la Bayonnaise generally signals Bayonne ham, the dry-cured ham of the Basque country and the Adour, and by the late nineteenth century it was often used as French shorthand for a raw-cured ham garnish in something like the way à la milanaise signals macaroni and parmesan. Both cues appear here, which is characteristic of Ranhofer's grand-service style: a plainly roasted centerpiece surrounded by two or three separate small preparations, with the sauces passed rather than plated, so that a waiter could compose the portion in front of the guest.