No. 1599

Mutton Cutlets Breaded with Puree of Truffles or with Puree of Chestnuts

Cotelettes de Mouton Panees a la Puree de Truffes ou a la Puree de Marrons

Pare several outlets all of the same thickness, salt and dip them in clarified butter, then roll them in fine bread-crumbs and broil over a slow fire until they are cooked and attain a good color then trim the handle with a paper frill (No. 10), and dress in a circle around a croustade filling this with a puree of truffles (No. 731). Serve a half-glaze sauce (No. 413) apart.

With Chestnuts.—Prepare the cutlets as for the above with the only difference that they should not be breaded and the puree of truffles replaced by a puree of chestnuts (No. 712).

← No. 1598 Mutton Cutlets Breaded, English Sauce Mutton No. 1600 Mutton Cutlets, Russian Style with Horseradi →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with a larder of cross-referenced components, so the whole recipe hinges on things numbered elsewhere. Strip it back and this is breaded lamb chops grilled slowly, arranged around a pastry case of truffle puree.

What the numbers meanNo. 731 is a truffle puree, No. 712 a chestnut puree, No. 413 a demi-glace, No. 10 the paper frills for the bones. None are given here; substitute your own, or serve the chops with a good reduced brown sauce and skip the croustade.
Mutton means lamb nowTrue mutton, sheep generally over a year or so old, is rarely sold outside halal and specialist butchers. Rib or loin lamb chops behave the same way but are milder and cook faster, so watch them closely.
Even thickness is the point"Pare several cutlets all of the same thickness" is the instruction that decides whether this works. Ask for chops cut a uniform 3/4 to 1 inch, French the bones, and trim the fat cap back so it does not flare on the grill.
Slow fire, and whyCrumbs coated in butter scorch over high heat before the meat is done. Grill over medium, or the cooler side of the coals, turning once; a chop of this thickness reaches medium-rare at about 130F internal, roughly 4 minutes a side.
Clarified butter, not wholeThe milk solids in whole butter burn and make the crust bitter. Clarify it, or use ghee, and let the chops sit a few minutes after crumbing so the coating sets.
The croustadeA hollow pastry or fried bread case used as a serving vessel. A blind-baked tart shell or a thick round of fried brioche does the same job; it is decorative, and the dish works served without it.
Truffle puree, realisticallyRanhofer worked with truffles in quantities and at prices no domestic cook will match. A modern approximation is a duxelles of finely chopped mushrooms bound with demi-glace and finished with a little real truffle rather than truffle oil.
The chestnut variationNote that the chestnuts version drops the breading entirely, so the chops are simply buttered, salted and grilled. Cooked peeled chestnuts pureed with stock and butter, seasoned lightly, are the modern equivalent of No. 712.
YieldAllow two chops per person as a main course, three if they are small rib cutlets; the recipe as written scales to whatever the croustade will hold.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer spent some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the restaurant's working system set down in print, which is why nearly every line points to another number rather than explaining itself. Cutlets dressed in a ring around a filled croustade, bones capped with paper frills, is the en couronne style of dressing common in nineteenth-century service, and the truffle puree marks it as a luxury plate. Mutton was a common market meat of the period and carried a stronger, fattier flavor than modern lamb.