Important: Safety Warning

This recipe calls for animal brains or related nervous-system tissue. Cattle brain and spinal tissue can transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the cause of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which is fatal and has no treatment.

This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.

No. 1483

Brains, Peasant Style

Cervelles a la Paysanne

Cook the brains and finish them the same as for aurora; drain, wipe, and cut them in thick slices; roll each of these in flour. Put some melted butter into a sautoir, let boil and purify well, and when it begins to blacken, add the pieces of brain; as soon as they are colored on one side, turn them over, and let them do likewise on the other, then lift them out without breaking and lay them on a napkin; wipe and then dress the slices on a well buttered white sauce into which has been mixed lemon juice and chopped parsley.

← No. 1482 Brains in Matelote Veal No. 1484 Brains with Black or Hazelnut Butter →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade that already knows how to prepare brains, so the whole first stage is hidden behind a cross-reference. Everything below the surface of this recipe happens before the sauté pan comes out.

The hinge: the brains must be poached and cold before they are slicedThe hinge: the brains have to be cooked and cooled before they are sliced -- "cook them the same as for aurora" points back to the house preparation, which in kitchens of this period generally meant soaking in several changes of cold water to draw out blood, peeling away the surrounding membrane and clotted veins, then poaching gently in salted water acidulated with vinegar or lemon and letting them cool, often pressed lightly, before slicing. Raw or warm brains will not hold a thick slice and will collapse in the pan.
Sourcing and legalityBecause of BSE controls, brain and other central nervous tissue from cattle 30 months and older is prohibited in human food in the United States and restricted across the EU and UK. Calf brains are still sold in some markets under those age limits, but many butchers will not stock them at all; lamb brains are the usual substitute where permitted. Buy from a licensed butcher who can state the age and origin, and use them the day you get them.
SautoirA shallow, straight-sided sauté pan, not a covered casserole. A wide skillet works; the point is room to turn each slice without crowding.
"Let boil and purify well"This is clarifying: melt the butter, let the foam rise and the milk solids settle, then use the clear fat. "When it begins to blacken" means the butter has gone past golden to a deep nut brown. That browned butter is the flavour of the dish, but it turns bitter within seconds, so have the floured slices ready at the pan.
FlouringFlour just before frying and shake off the excess. Brains are wet; flour left sitting on them turns to paste and will slide off in the fat.
"Lay them on a napkin"A clean linen cloth used as a draining surface, the period equivalent of paper towel. It matters here because the finished plate is a butter sauce, and any frying fat carried over will break it.
The white sauceIn Ranhofer's kitchen this is a velouté or thin béchamel, finished off the heat with lemon juice and chopped parsley. Add the lemon last and do not let the sauce boil after it goes in, or it will thin and separate. Pool it on a warmed platter and set the slices on top rather than napping them.
YieldThe recipe specifies no quantities. As a guide, one set of calf's brains, roughly 8-10 oz, will give a handful of thick slices, enough for about two as a course. Serve immediately; the crust softens within minutes.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its veal chapter carries brains through a run of treatments — in matelote, with black butter, with hazelnut butter, and here à la paysanne. The name means "peasant style" and describes the method rather than any particular rustic origin: floured, fried hard in browned butter, and served plainly with lemon and parsley. Calf's brains were ordinary market goods in nineteenth-century American cities, cheap enough for boarding houses and delicate enough for a restaurant that charged accordingly, which is why a book of Delmonico's cookery can devote several consecutive numbers to them. Their near-disappearance from English-language cooking has less to do with taste than with BSE controls, which removed bovine nervous tissue from the legal food supply in Britain and Europe in the 1990s and in the United States in 2004.