No. 1795

Kernel of Pork a la Cavour and with Noodles—Sliced

Tranches de Noix de Porc a la Cavour et aux Nouilles

Cut from the kernel part of a young, fresh pig, some slices to weigh four ounces each, beat to flatten to half an inch in thickness, then trim them round-shaped; they should now weigh three ounces each; season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, saute them rare. Reduce some thick espagnole (No. 414); add to it fine cooked herbs (No. 385), and let it get cold; cover both sides of the slices with this and roll them in bread-crumbs, then immerse in beaten eggs and roll in bread-crumbs for the second time; smooth the breading nicely and fry in clarified butter. Have a spaghetti garnishing containing shredded mushrooms, clear gravy (No. 414), and ready prepared tomato paste, to be found at Italian grocers, and grated parmesan; pour this macaroni on a dish and dress the slices of pork on top. These slices may also be dressed on top of a garnishing of noodles fried in butter, and serve a tomato sauce (No. 549) and half-glaze sauce (No. 413) separately.

← No. 1794 Kernel of Ham a la Biarritz Pork No. 1796 Loin of Pork a la Reglain →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's method is a two-stage cook: the pork is seared rare, coated in a cold reduced sauce that sets like a paste, breaded twice, then fried. The sauce layer is the point of the dish, and it only works if it is properly cold and stiff.

"Kernel of pork"Noix de porc is the cushion or topside of the leg — the rounded muscle above the shank, sold today as fresh ham roast or leg cushion. A pork loin cut into medallions is the practical substitute and behaves the same way under the mallet.
The weightsFour-ounce slices beaten to half an inch and trimmed round lose an ounce to trimmings, giving three-ounce portions. Figure two or three per person, and keep the trimmings for the sauce or forcemeat rather than throwing them out.
Espagnole and "clear gravy"The recipe cites No. 414 for both the thick espagnole and the clear gravy, so the two sit under the same brown-sauce heading in the book. A modern demi-glace, reduced until it will coat and then chilled, does the same job. It must be cold and near-solid to spread on the meat — warm sauce will slide off and the breading will not hold.
Fine cooked herbsNo. 385 is Ranhofer's cooked fines herbes, a chopped mushroom-and-shallot preparation cooked down in butter with herbs; the recipe here gives no further detail. Chopped sautéed mushroom and shallot with parsley reproduces it closely.
Doneness"Sauté them rare" assumes the frying will finish the job. Sear the slices briefly, chill them thoroughly before coating, and fry the breaded medallions until the interior reaches 145°F. Pork at that temperature is faintly pink and safe; the older habit of driving it to grey is what makes leg meat dry.
Clarified butterWhole butter will burn before the crumb crust colours. Clarify it, or use a neutral oil with a spoonful of butter added at the end for flavour. Medium heat — the crust needs time to set without scorching.
Tomato paste from the Italian grocerIn the 1890s this was a specialty item sold through Italian importers as a dense conserva. Ordinary tinned tomato paste is the direct descendant; use it sparingly.
The pasta garnishSpaghetti tossed with shredded mushrooms, brown gravy, tomato paste and parmesan, or noodles simply fried in butter. Cook the pasta short of soft — it finishes in the sauce, and it sits under hot fried meat on the platter.
Sauces served apartFor the noodle version the tomato sauce (No. 549) and half-glaze (No. 413) go to table in separate boats, not over the meat. Sauce poured on the crust softens it within a minute.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer put this in The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of his cooking at Delmonico's in New York, and it shows the house style exactly: a French cut and a French sauce technique, an Italian garnish, and a name borrowed from a nineteenth-century celebrity. Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, the Piedmontese statesman central to Italian unification, gave his name to a small family of dishes in the period, and garnishes styled à la Cavour generally carry an Italian marker — polenta, pasta, parmesan, tomato. The construction here works much like the à la Villeroi trick applied to pork: meat masked in a stiff cold sauce, breaded and fried, so the sauce is sealed inside the crust rather than served round it. The analogy is with the method rather than the sauce itself, since a true sauce Villeroi is a white, velouté- or allemande-based preparation while this dish uses a brown espagnole. The offhand note that tomato paste is "to be found at Italian grocers" is a useful piece of dating — in 1890s Manhattan it was an ethnic-market item, not a pantry staple, and Ranhofer expected his readers to send out for it.