No. 1724

Minion Fillets of Lamb Cream Sauce

Filets Mignons d'Agneau Sauce a la Creme

Raise the minion fillets from three or four saddles of lamb, free them of their fat and sinews, pare and lard with small lardons (No. 3, Fig. 52), lay them in a vessel to season with salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, minced onions and nutmeg, let marinate for twelve hours turning them about occasionally, then drain and wipe dry. Fry these meats in some good hot fat, and when done drain it all off and detach the glaze with some fresh cream thickening with a little well buttered bechamel (No. 409). Dress in a circle and pour the sauce over.

← No. 1723 Minion Fillets of Lamb As Venison Lamb No. 1725 Minion Fillets of Lamb in Surprise →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer is describing lamb tenderloins — the small strips lying under the saddle bones — larded, marinated overnight, pan-fried, and finished with a cream pan sauce. Two things carry the dish: keeping the little fillets pink, and building the sauce from the fond left in the pan.

What a minion fillet isEach saddle yields two tenderloins, each only a few ounces, so three or four saddles gives six to eight small fillets. A butcher can pull lamb tenderloins for you; failing that, boneless loin cut into 2-inch medallions behaves the same way in the pan.
Larding is optional nowThe lardons (strips of pork back fat threaded through the meat with a larding needle) were insurance against dryness in lean meat cooked hard. Modern lamb loin cooked to medium-rare does not need it. If you want the effect, wrap each fillet in a thin sheet of fatback or caul fat and tie.
Marinate coldTwelve hours in a covered dish is fine, but it belongs in the refrigerator, not a larder. Turn the pieces two or three times. Use about a teaspoon of salt per pound, a few grinds of pepper, a grated blade of nutmeg, one small onion minced, a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf.
Wipe genuinely dryThe onion and marinade moisture will steam rather than sear. Drain, then blot each fillet hard with paper towel before it goes near the fat.
"Good hot fat" and donenessClarified butter, lard or a neutral oil in a heavy skillet over fairly high heat. These pieces are small: two to three minutes a side takes them to 130 dash135F internal, which is where lamb loin should stop. Ranhofer says only "when done" and gives no time; nineteenth-century instructions often took lamb further, and at that point the fillets turn grey and tight.
Detaching the glazePour off the frying fat completely, then add cream off the heat and scrape up the browned fond. This is the whole flavor of the sauce; if the pan has scorched, the sauce will be bitter, so keep the heat honest while frying. About a cup of heavy cream serves eight fillets.
The béchamelThe béchamel -- No. 409 is Ranhofer's b eferenced béchamel, called for here rather than spelled out: a white roux thinned with liquid and simmered. "Well buttered" appears to mean enriched with butter beaten in at the end. Two or three tablespoons of a thick béchamel is enough to bind the cream; too much and it tastes of flour rather than pan drippings.
ServingDressed in a circle means overlapping the fillets around the rim of a round platter, sauce poured over, centre left free for a garnish. Figure two fillets per person, so three or four servings from three or four saddles.

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 is typical of how it works: a short, dense paragraph that assumes the reader has the rest of the book open, since the lardons and the béchamel are both cross-references to numbered preparations elsewhere. Filet mignon means simply "dainty fillet," and in nineteenth-century French kitchen usage it was applied to the small tenderloin of animals other than beef lamb and veal as readily before American menus narrowed the term to beef alone. Ranhofer gives a run of these lamb minion fillets in sequence, dressed as venison, in surprise, with cream. The larding needle and the overnight aromatic marinade suggest a period in which lean cuts were expected to be cooked well through, with inserted fat compensating rather than a shorter time in the pan.