No. 1608

Mutton Fillets a l'Alexandre

Filets de Mouton a l'Alexandre

Pare the mutton fillets, cut them up into thin slices a quarter of an inch thick and cover each one with a cooked fine herb preparation (No. 385), seasoning first with salt and pepper, dip in beaten eggs, roll in fine bread-crumbs, giving each a horseshoe-shape and fry in clarified butter. Slice six mutton kidneys, as many raw mushrooms and half as many truffles, fry the kidneys in butter, add to them the mushrooms and truffles, drain off the butter and replace it by a little espagnole sauce (No. 414), lemon juice and fresh butter, pour this stew into a dish and dress the cooked fillets over in straight rows, one overlapping the other.

← No. 1607 Epigrammes of Mutton a la Jardiniere Mutton No. 1609 Fillets of Mutton Grenadins, Poivrade Sauce →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with a sauce station already running; the whole dish depends on two cross-references and on not overcooking the kidneys. Read the sauce and herb notes before starting.

The hinge: the kidneysSliced kidneys need one to two minutes in hot butter, until just browned and still pink inside. Held longer, or reheated in the sauce, they turn grainy and bitter. Sear them, then add mushrooms and truffles and finish the sauce off direct heat.
Mutton filletsThe fillet here is the boned loin of a mature sheep, a commonplace cut in 1890s butchery. Lamb loin, boned and trimmed of silverskin, is the practical substitute; the recipe never says how many fillets to use, but two loins will yield a good number of the quarter-inch slices it calls for.
No. 385, fine herbsRanhofer's cooked fines herbes appears to be a duxelles-like preparation: shallot and mushroom sweated in butter with parsley, often moistened with a little sauce and reduced until stiff enough to spread. Check No. 385 for the exact formula. Whatever the details, it must be cold and thick, or it will slide out during frying.
No. 414, espagnoleA brown veal-stock sauce thickened with browned roux and simmered for hours. A good commercial demi-glace, loosened with stock, does the same work; you want only a few spoonfuls, glossy rather than soupy.
Horseshoe shapeThe recipe crumbs the slices and then gives each a horseshoe shape, so they hold their arc in the pan; they are then dressed in straight rows, one overlapping the other. Press the crumbs on firmly and chill the shaped pieces for 20 minutes before frying.
Clarified butterWhole butter will burn at the heat these thin cutlets need. Clarify it, or use ghee, and keep the fat at a steady medium-high; each side takes about a minute and a half.
Truffles"Half as many truffles" as mushrooms was a reasonable proportion at Delmonico's and is not one now. A small amount of preserved truffle, or a few drops of truffle-scented butter stirred in at the end, carries the intent without absurd cost.
YieldThe recipe fixes six kidneys but gives no number of fillets and no serving count; six to eight portions is an estimate. The garnish sits under the fillets, so use a shallow warmed platter rather than a deep bowl.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry shows his habitual method: a plain cut, a stuffing or spread, a crumb coat, and a separately built garnish underneath. The book gives no explanation of the name a l'Alexandre, and its origin is not established; personal names of this kind in nineteenth-century repertories generally commemorate a person rather than describe a technique. What is more telling is the casual use of mutton loin and kidneys together. Mutton -- meat from a mature sheep, stronger and firmer than lamb -- remained common in American and British butchery well into the twentieth century, and organ meats were not yet second-class; a hotel could serve kidneys and truffles in the same sauce without apology. The book's numbered cross-references, to the fine-herb preparation and to espagnole, reflect a kitchen in which basic preparations were made in quantity and drawn on through the day.