No. 1817

Tenderloins of Pork, Roasted, Broiled or Sauted

Filets de Porc Rotis, Grilles ou Sautes

Roasted.—Take small pork tenderloins; pare them nicely and lard with fine lardons (No. 3, Fig. 52); marinate them while raw for two hours, then roast for twenty minutes in a quick oven. Dress and pour their own gravy over, after straining and skimming it, surround with water-cresses.

Broiled, Maitre-d'Hotel Butter.—Pare the tenderloins, then split them lengthways in two without detaching the pieces; season with salt and mask with butter; roll them in bread crumbs, and broil over a moderate fire, then cover with maitre-d'hotle butter (No. 581).

Sauted Half-Glaze.—Cut them whistle-shaped in two lengthwise, beat and pare into half-hearts, season with salt and saute on a moderate even fire; drain off the fat, detach the glaze with a little Madeira and half-glaze sauce (No. 413), reduce, dress the tenderloins and pour the gravy over.

← No. 1816 Pork Tenderloins, Pimentade Sauce Pork No. 1818 Pork Tenderloins with Puree of Celery—Breade →

For the Modern Kitchen

Three treatments of the same cut, written for a professional brigade with a larding needle and a stockpot of half-glaze at hand. Each translates cleanly to a home kitchen once the shorthand is unpacked.

The cutRanhofer's "small pork tenderloins" are whole psoas muscles, and he is calling for small ones. A modern tenderloin runs 1 to 1 1/4 lb and will need proportionally longer cooking, or halving crosswise.
A quick oven425-450F. Twenty minutes at that heat suits a small, larded tenderloin; a full-sized modern one wants roughly 20-25 minutes to an internal 145F, then a 5-minute rest. Cook to the thermometer, not the clock.
LardingLardons here are thin strips of firm back fat threaded through the meat with a larding needle to keep a very lean muscle from drying. Barding with thin sheets of fatback or pancetta tied around the loin does much the same work if you have no needle.
The marinadeRanhofer does not say which marinade; the numbered cross-reference in this line belongs to the lardons, not the marinade. Two hours at cool room temperature is what is meant; refrigerate it now, and pat the meat thoroughly dry before it goes near the oven or it will steam rather than colour.
"Whistle-shaped"En sifflet, a long slanting cut, like the mouthpiece end of a whistle. The pieces are then flattened and trimmed into half-heart shapes so they cook evenly in the pan.
Detaching the glazeThis is deglazing. Pour off the fat first, or the sauce breaks; add the Madeira off the heat, scrape up the fond, then add the half-glaze. Half-glaze is demi-glace, and a good jarred veal demi-glace or a reduced brown stock stands in for No. 413.
Maitre d'hotel butterButter creamed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, chilled into a roll and sliced onto the hot meat. Make it ahead; it should be firm enough to melt slowly over the crumb crust rather than soaking in at once.
Broiling the crumbed versionA moderate broiling fire means the meat sits well back from the coals. Under a modern gas or electric broiler, drop the rack a level or two so the crumbs brown at the same rate the interior cooks; close to the element the crumbs scorch quickly.
YieldTwo tenderloins of modern size serve four to six. Watercress is the intended garnish for the roast and its peppery bite is not decorative filler.

A Little History

This is entry No. 1817 from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous compendium he assembled after some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York. The book is arranged as a working reference rather than a domestic cookbook, which is why a single number carries three separate preparations and why nearly every sauce is a cross-reference to a number elsewhere in the volume: the reader was assumed to have half-glaze, marinades and compound butters already standing in the kitchen. Pork tenderloin in this period is often said to have been treated much as veal was, larded and marinated to compensate for its leanness, and served in small portions as an entree rather than as a roast joint, though a single entry can only hint at general practice.