No. 158

Ravioles

Roll out some raviole paste, very thin and in a perfect square; lay on top half an inch from the edge and one inch apart some chicken raviole forcemeat balls, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, after the entire flat is covered, moisten it lightly by passing a brush around the forcemeat balls and then place another flat of paste on top, it to be the same thickness as the under one and about four inches wider. Press on to this upper paste between the balls of forcemeat with a ruler and the whole length of the flat and then across so that every one of the balls is enclosed in a small square; cut each of these out with a channeled wheel or jagger. The jaggers are used for cutting lattice work bands for pies, or else replace it by a round channeled pastry cutter. Lay the cut pieces on a flour dredged saucepan lid and then drop them into boiling water to poach for about twelve minutes.

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a component entry rather than a standalone dish: Ranhofer assumes you have already made his raviole paste and chicken raviole forcemeat from their own numbered entries. What follows is purely the shaping and poaching method, and it holds up well.

"Flat" means a rolled sheetA flat is a single sheet of pasta rolled out on the bench. The lower sheet is rolled square; the upper one is specified about four inches wider, presumably so it has slack to drape over the mounds of forcemeat, though Ranhofer does not say why.
The jaggerA jagger is a fluted pastry wheel, still sold as a crimped or lattice cutter. Ranhofer's alternative, a round channeled cutter, does the same job; either presses the edge as it cuts, which a plain knife does not, so press the seams firmly if you use one.
Moisten sparinglyPass a barely damp brush around each mound, not over the whole sheet. Too much water makes the paste slippery and the two layers will slide apart instead of bonding; egg wash is unnecessary with fresh paste.
Press out the airWhen the top sheet goes on, work outward from each mound with the ruler so air is pushed out before the seam closes. Ranhofer directs only that you press between the balls, but air trapped in a parcel can expand in the poaching water and split it.
The floured lidThe saucepan lid is a transfer peel — the pieces slide off its curve into the water in one motion. A well-floured baking sheet or a wooden board does the same job.
Poach, do not boilRanhofer says to drop them into boiling water to poach. A bare simmer is gentler: a rolling boil is more likely to batter the seams open, which is the usual cause of ravioli disintegrating.
Twelve minutes is for a raw fillingTwelve minutes suits a raw filling -- The chicken forcemeat goes in uncooked, and modern guidance is for poultry to reach 165F at the centre; Ranhofer gives no temperature. With an already-cooked filling a shorter poach will do, since thin fresh paste goes slack with long cooking.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's summation of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its "Elementary Methods" chapter is a set of building blocks meant to be read alongside the finished dishes rather than cooked on its own. The spelling ravioles follows the French usage of the period, and the dish sits in a Franco-American professional kitchen of the 1890s, where such garnishes were poached small and dropped into consommé or served in a sauce as an entrée. Ranhofer's filling is a chicken forcemeat rather than the ricotta or greens of Italian domestic cooking. The improvised tools — a ruler to mark the squares, a saucepan lid as a peel — show a cook making do with what hung on the wall.