No. 1725

Minion Fillets of Lamb in Surprise

Filets Mignons d'Agneau en Surprise

Pare and suppress all the fat from some lamb minion fillets, trim them into half hearts and make an incision on one side and flat across the thickness and almost through the entire width, but without separating the parts. Fry in butter a chopped shallot and four ounces of finely chopped truffles; moisten with four tablespoonfuls of Madeira wine, reduce this to a mere nothing, then stir in two spoonfuls of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of meat glaze (No. 402) and a thickening of two raw egg-yolks; fill the incisions with this mixture, egg and bread crumbs the meats and fry them in clarified butter. Pour a half-glaze sauce (No. 413), with Madeira over after dressing them in a circle.

← No. 1724 Minion Fillets of Lamb Cream Sauce Lamb No. 1726 Minion Fillets of Lamb Printaniere →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a brigade, a stockpot always going, and truffles by the pound. Stripped back, this is a stuffed, breaded lamb cutlet shallow-fried in butter, and it works well if the stuffing is bound properly and the meat is not overcooked.

What the cut is"Minion fillets" (filets mignons d'agneau) are the small tenderloins lying under the saddle, or the eye muscle cut from a loin chop. Each is only two or three ounces. Buy two boned lamb loins or four to six tenderloins for four servings; ask the butcher for the trimmed eye if the whole loin is easier to source.
Trimming to half heartsTrim each fillet to a rounded, tapering shape, then butterfly it: a horizontal cut almost all the way through, leaving a hinge so it opens like a book. Do not cut through the far side or the filling escapes in the pan.
Meat glaze, No. 402Glace de viande is brown stock reduced until it sets to a sticky, rubbery jelly at room temperature. A tablespoon of commercial veal or beef demi-glace concentrate is the practical equivalent. It is there for salt and body, so season the stuffing cautiously until it is in.
Half-glaze with Madeira, No. 413Demi-glace: brown sauce and stock reduced by half. For a home version, reduce good brown stock with a splash of Madeira until it coats a spoon and finish with a knob of cold butter. Ranhofer would have had it standing ready; it is the part of this dish that takes real time.
The trufflesFour ounces of chopped black truffle is a luxury purchase now and was a signal of the Delmonico kitchen then. A duxelles of finely chopped mushrooms cooked dry, with a little truffle oil or a chopped preserved truffle stirred in at the end, gives the same dark, dense filling.
The egg yolk bindingReduce the Madeira mixture until it is nearly dry, then take the pan off the heat and let it cool before stirring in the yolks. Added to a hot pan they scramble and the stuffing turns granular. The yolks set during frying and are what hold the filling inside the meat.
Breading and fryingChill the stuffed, breaded fillets for half an hour so the coating sets and the hinge stays closed. Fry in clarified butter over medium heat, about three minutes a side; whole butter burns before the crust colours. Lamb loin is best pink in the centre, roughly 130-135F, and the thin fillets will get there in the time it takes the crumbs to brown.
ServingThe original gives no yield. Allow two fillets per person, dressed overlapping in a ring on a warm platter with the sauce poured around rather than over, so the crumb coating stays crisp. Serves four.

A Little History

This is Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), drawn from his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the numbered cross-references to sauces and glazes are the giveaway that it was written for a professional kitchen rather than a household one. En surprise is a standard French menu term for a dish concealing something inside, a filling revealed only when the diner cuts in, and it turns up on Ranhofer's pages for both savoury dishes and sweets. The stuffing here, shallots, truffle and Madeira reduced hard and bound with yolk, is essentially a rich duxelles, the same preparation used to line beef Wellington and to stuff mushrooms. Truffles in this quantity mark the dish as expensive even by Delmonico's standards, and Ranhofer uses them throughout the book as a marker of a luxury course.