No. 1774

Chine of Pork a la Parmentier

Echinee de Porc a la Parmentier

The chine comprises the loin and a few of the rack chops; decrease the thickness of the fat, leaving it only half an inch in depth on its entire surface; beat down the projecting chine bone; score the fat into lozenges and wrap the meat in an oiled paper; cook it either on the spit or in the oven. The time it will take will be from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half; before serving unwrap the chine, sprinkle over with salt and brown it nicely; glaze and remove from the spit or oven. Dress and garnish around with potato balls cooked in broth and fried in butter; serve a Bretonne sauce (No. 439) separately.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A plain roast dressed up with two French conventions: potatoes for the Parmentier name and an onion sauce served apart. Most of the work is butchery and heat control.

What a chine isHere it means the loin end plus the first few rib chops, still attached to the backbone (the chine bone). Ask a butcher for a bone-in center-cut pork loin roast, four to six ribs, chine bone cracked or removed; "beat down the projecting chine bone" is Ranhofer's way of saying flatten it so the joint sits level and carves cleanly.
The fat capTrim to half an inch and score it into diamonds only through the fat, not into the meat. Deeper cuts let the juices out and the lozenges gape open as the fat renders.
Oiled paperA buttered or oiled parchment wrap, not foil. It shields the fat from direct radiant heat for most of the cooking so nothing scorches before the center is done; unwrapping for the last stretch is what gives the browning.
Oven temperatureThe recipe gives no temperature. For the timing stated, a moderate oven of roughly 325-350F is a reasonable modern equivalent, with the heat raised or a broiler used for the final browning once the paper comes off.
Time versus thermometerAn hour and a quarter to an hour and a half suits a joint of roughly four to five pounds, but cook to temperature rather than clock: 145F at the thickest point, away from bone, then rest before carving.
GlazeIn this book glaze is meat glaze, stock reduced to a syrup, brushed on at the end for shine. Reduced pork or veal stock does the job; a spoonful of the pan drippings boiled down works if you have no glace.
Potato ballsCut with a large parisienne scoop, simmered in broth until barely tender, drained well, then finished in foaming butter until golden. Drying them thoroughly between the two steps is the difference between browning and steaming.
Bretonne sauceNo. 439 is an onion-based sauce in the classical manner; a good onion sauce stands in. Note that it is served separately, not poured over.
YieldA four to five pound bone-in loin serves six to eight, with the potatoes as the only garnish the original intends.

A Little History

The name is a nod to Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the eighteenth-century French army pharmacist who campaigned to get the potato accepted as human food in France rather than fodder, and in classical kitchen shorthand "à la Parmentier" simply signals a potato garnish. Charles Ranhofer, who ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894, organized the book the way a professional brigade worked: a spare instruction for the joint, a cross-reference to a sauce made elsewhere in the volume, and a garnish named for its convention rather than described in full. The spit-or-oven choice is a period detail worth noting; large hotel kitchens of the 1890s are often said to have still kept mechanical roasting jacks turning before an open fire, and Ranhofer treats the two methods as interchangeable for a piece of this size.