No. 1815

Tenderloin of Pork, Marinated

Filet de Porc Marine

Pare several pork tenderloins; split them in two lengthwise, then beat and trim; lard them with fine larding pork (No. 3, Fig. 52), salt over, and range in a deep dish; cover with a cooked cold marinade (No. 114), and leave the tenderloins in this for twenty-four hours, being careful to turn them over at frequent intervals, then drain, wipe dry, and lay them in a sautoir lined with fragments of fat pork, minced carrots and onions; moisten slowly with stock (No. 194a), and reduce the liquid gently to a glaze; remoisten several times, putting in very little at the time, until the meats are done, and then finish glazing in the oven. Dress the tenderloins, detach the glaze from the sautoir with a little clear gravy (No. 404) and two spoonfuls of the above marinade; thicken the whole with some brown sauce (No. 414), reduce, and strain it over the tenderloins. Surround with half heart-shaped croutons fried in butter.

← No. 1814 Tenderloin of Pork, Blanquette or Escaloped,Pork No. 1816 Pork Tenderloins, Pimentade Sauce →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with stock, espagnole and cooked marinade already standing by, and for a pork tenderloin far fattier than the one sold today. Two things need rethinking: the marinating conditions and the cooking time.

The hinge: don't cook it to Ranhofer's scheduleRepeated moistening and reducing to a glaze is a long process, suited to the fattier pork of the 1890s. A modern trimmed tenderloin is done at 145F internal, which may take only 20-25 minutes of gentle braising. Build the glaze in the pan first, then add the meat, or you risk dry grey pork under a beautiful sauce.
Marinate cold, not on the counterTwenty-four hours in an acidic marinade with frequent turning belongs in the refrigerator, in a covered non-reactive dish. Ranhofer's "cooked cold marinade" (No. 114) is of the usual type, wine and vinegar with aromatic vegetables and herbs, boiled and then cooled completely before it touches the meat.
Larding porkLarding needles and "fine larding pork" (long thin strips of firm back fat) are specialist kit. Laying thin sheets of fatback or unsmoked streaky bacon over and under the meat gives most of the benefit; today's tenderloin has almost no intramuscular fat and does want some added.
SautoirA shallow straight-sided pan, wider than deep, with a lid -- a modern saute pan or braiser. It is chosen so the small additions of stock spread thin and reduce fast.
The cross-referenced saucesNo. 414 is espagnole, a flour-thickened brown sauce built on brown stock; No. 404 is a light clear gravy. A good reduced veal or pork stock, or commercial demi-glace let down with stock, stands in for both. Deglaze with the stock plus two tablespoons of the strained marinade, reduce, and strain.
"Two spoonfuls"Ranhofer's spoonful is generally taken to mean a tablespoon, though he is not consistent; treat it as about 2 tablespoons and taste, since the marinade is sharp.
CroutonsHalf heart-shaped croutons are pieces of crustless white bread cut with one curved side, fried in butter until crisp, drained, and stood around the platter as a garnish.
YieldSplit lengthwise and flattened, one tenderloin serves two as a main course. The recipe scales straightforwardly; keep the pan crowded enough that the glaze does not scorch between additions.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of the kitchen he ran at Delmonico's in New York, and it is essentially French haute cuisine written in English, with numbered cross-references standing in for a chef's memory. This dish is a textbook glazing braise: the meat is moistened a little at a time so each addition reduces to a sticky film, building layer on layer of glaze rather than boiling the meat in liquid. The long cooked marinade is older still, and Ranhofer sends two spoonfuls of it back into the sauce. Larding, the threading of fat strips through lean muscle, was routine in a nineteenth-century professional kitchen and has almost vanished from domestic cooking -- one of the clearest markers of how much leaner butchered pork has become since.