No. 1461

Tenderloin of Beef Braised with Roots—Whole

Filet de Boeuf Braise aux Racines--Entier

The tenderloin for this must be prepared and cooked the same as for a la Bienvenue (1445); glaze, then dress it and garnish around with small olive-shaped carrots first blanched, then cooked in broth (No. 194a), butter and sugar; when done the broth will be reduced to a glaze; also have turnips cut ball-shaped, blanched. then cooked in broth, butter and sugar and reduced the same as the carrots; some small glazed onions, and celery roots cooked in gravy (No. 404). Serve separately the braise stock reduced with espagnole (No. 414); when ready to serve add some Madeira wine.

← No. 1460 Tenderloin of Beef a la Travers—Whole Beef No. 1462 Tenderloin of Beef, Hunter's Style—Whole →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in shorthand for a professional brigade, so nearly every element here points to another number in the book. What you actually need to build is a braised whole tenderloin, four glazed root garnishes, and a Madeira-finished sauce.

The cross-referencesNo. 1445 (à la Bienvenue) is the base preparation the recipe sends you to for cooking the whole tenderloin; No. 194a is a broth; No. 404 is a meat gravy; No. 414 is espagnole, the flour-thickened brown mother sauce. A good store-bought or homemade demi-glace stands in for the espagnole without harm.
The hinge: tenderloin does not want a long braiseIt turns dry and mealy if held at a simmer. Brown it, braise covered in a moderate oven (about 325°F; the book gives no temperatures) only until the centre reaches about 130°F, then rest it and reduce the braising liquid separately. The dish is a short braise, not a pot roast.
LardingIf the fillet is not threaded with strips of pork fat, bard it instead — wrap it in a sheet of caul fat or thin sliced fatback and tie — or the braise will be joyless.
"Olive-shaped" and "ball-shaped"Both mean turned vegetables: carrots cut into small seven-sided olives, turnips into spheres roughly an inch across. Uniform size matters more than perfect geometry, since all four garnishes must finish glazing at once.
Glazing the rootsBlanch, then cook each vegetable separately in just enough broth to come halfway up, with a knob of butter and a pinch of sugar, uncovered, until the liquid reduces to a syrup that coats. Use separate pans — turnip liquid will tint and flavour the carrots. Roll the vegetables in the glaze off the heat rather than stirring them over flame, or they break.
Celery rootCut it the size of the turnips and cook it in gravy rather than water; it absorbs liquid greedily and goes grey and fibrous if held too long. Twelve to fifteen minutes at a bare simmer is usually enough.
The MadeiraAdded at the last moment, off the heat, so the wine stays aromatic. Use a dry Sercial or Verdelho; the cooking Madeira sold salted in supermarkets will wreck an already-reduced sauce.
YieldA trimmed whole tenderloin runs 4 to 5 lb and serves eight to ten with this quantity of garnish. Carve in thick slices and pass the sauce in a boat; the original directs only that the braise stock reduced with espagnole be served separately.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows how that kitchen worked: one base preparation, the braised larded fillet, spun out across numbered variations by changing only the garnish and the finishing wine. Aux racines — "with roots" — is the plainest of them, and its four glazed vegetables are straight out of the French classical repertoire that Ranhofer learned before emigrating. Braising a fillet whole rather than roasting it or cutting it into steaks was standard for a grande pièce meant to be carried to the dining room intact and carved in front of the party; the practice faded in the twentieth century, for reasons often attributed to more tender beef and faster service, which is why a braised whole tenderloin now reads as an oddity rather than a centrepiece. The Madeira stirred in at the last second is a period signature too: fortified wine was the standard lift for a reduced espagnole in the American luxury kitchen of the 1880s and 1890s, when Madeira still carried social weight left over from the earlier part of the century.