No. 1449

Tenderloin of Beef Breaded and Browned in the Oven a la d'Aurelles

Filet de Boeuf Pane et Colore au Four a la d'Aurelles

This tenderloin should be prepared the same as for a l'Ambassade (No. 1441); when done, trim, drain and cover it with four egg-yolks mixed with two onnces of melted butter, salt and ground nutmeg. Besprinkle over with bread-crumbs in which mingle a little grated parmesan cheese; press the bread-crumbs down slightly with the blade of a knife, and pour over some melted fresh butter. Set the meat in a hot oven so as to brown quickly; serve it up and garnish the dish with veal kernels (or small sweetbreads). Pour a Perigueux sauce (No. 517), over the garnishing and finish with small quenelles. A half-glaze sauce (No. 413) is to be served separately.

← No. 1448 Tenderloin of Beef a la Conde—Whole Beef No. 1450 Tenderloin of Beef a la d'Orleans—Whole →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a finishing method rather than a standalone recipe: the tenderloin is cooked first by another entry (No. 1441, à l'Ambassade — larded and braised), then gilded with an egg-yolk and butter wash, crumbed and flashed in the oven. Read the base recipe first or the instructions here will not add up.

The hingeThe browning stage is measured in minutes, not in doneness. The beef is already cooked when it goes back in; the oven is only setting the crust. Leave it in long enough to cook the meat further and the tenderloin turns grey and dry.
"A hot oven"Take that as roughly 425-450F, hot enough to colour the crumbs in a few minutes rather than to go on cooking the meat. A broiler at some distance does the same job faster, but the crust scorches quickly under direct heat.
Typo in the original"Two onnces of melted butter" is two ounces, about four tablespoons. Four yolks and that much butter make a thick, pourable gilding, not a sauce.
Veal kernelsRanhofer gives small sweetbreads as the substitute, so the two are close but not presented as the same thing. Sweetbreads are glands of the calf (the thymus, and the pancreas), and must be soaked, blanched, pressed and cooked before they touch the platter; they are not a garnish that can be added raw. Expect to order them from a butcher.
Périgueux sauceNo. 517 is a demi-glace finished with chopped truffle and usually a little Madeira. Black winter truffle is the intended flavour; truffle oil is a different and much cruder thing. Without truffle, serve the half-glaze alone and drop the name.
Half-glazeNo. 413, demi-glace: brown stock and espagnole reduced together to a coating consistency. Reducing a good veal stock with a splash of Madeira gets you close in a modern kitchen without the multi-day escoffier chain.
QuenellesSmall poached forcemeat dumplings, here almost certainly veal or chicken, shaped with two teaspoons. They are poached in barely trembling salted water or stock and drained before plating; they should never boil, or they break.
Parmesan in the crumbsUse a little, as written. Parmesan browns faster than breadcrumbs and burns while the crumb is still pale, so keep it to a modest fraction of the mixture.
YieldA whole trimmed tenderloin serves eight to ten. With sweetbreads, quenelles and two sauces this is a garnished platter for a formal service; scale the garnish, not the beef, if you are cooking for fewer.

A Little History

This comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, where a single cut of beef is given dozens of numbered treatments distinguished chiefly by garnish and sauce. The construction here "-and-crumb gilding, sweetbreads, quenelles, a truffled Perigueux " is standard high French service of the period, in which the meat is a plinth and the name of the dish refers to the arrangement around it. Names like a la d'Aurelles were the usual currency of that system, honouring patrons, places or public figures; who or what is meant here is not identified, and Ranhofer gives the name without explaining it. What the entry really documents is a kitchen brigade large enough that "prepare as for No. 1441" was a reasonable thing to write down.