No. 2176

Epigrammes of Roebuck, Marinade Sauce with Truffles

Epigrammes de Chevreuil, Sauce Marinade aux Truffes

Pare some roebuck cutlets, put them into a deep dish and season with salt, pepper, mignonette, thyme, bay leaf, parsley leaves, olive oil and lemon juice. Prepare a game quenelle forcemeat (No. 91) with half venison and half rabbit meat, lay eight half heart-shaped bottomless molds, they being three and a half inches long by two wide and half an inch high, on sheets of buttered paper, fill them with the quenelle forcemeat and poach lightly in a slack oven; as soon as sufficiently done to bread-crumb, remove, unmold and dip in beaten eggs, then in bread-crumbs, smoothing this with the blade of a knife. Just when prepared to serve, drain the cutlets, wipe and saute them in butter, fry the quenelles to a fine color, then drain off the cutlets, trim them with paper frills (No. 10) and dress in a circle on a hot dish, alternating them with the quenelles (they to be arranged with the pointed ends uppermost), pour a little marinade sauce (No. 496) with Madeira into the bottom of the dish and serve a sauce-boat of the same, mingling into it three tablespoonfuls of truffles cut in one-eighth inch squares.

← No. 2175 Venison Cutlets with Chestnut Puree Other Game No. 2177 Deer or Roebuck Fillets a la Lorenzo →

For the Modern Kitchen

A Delmonico's game course built on a contrast of textures: marinated cutlets sautéed to order, alternating with breaded, fried forcemeat quenelles moulded into half-hearts. Nearly all the work is done ahead; only the final searing and frying happen at service.

RoebuckEuropean roe deer, a small species not sold in North America. Farmed or imported venison loin chops, cut about three-quarters of an inch thick, stand in well, though a roe cutlet is a smaller thing. Note that wild-shot game cannot legally be bought or sold in the United States, so this is a dish for farmed venison or for a hunter's own freezer.
MignonetteCoarsely cracked white or black peppercorns, not a dressing. Crack them in a mortar or under a pan bottom; pre-ground pepper gives none of the intended texture in the marinade.
The marinade is briefRanhofer gives no time. For a raw oil-and-lemon seasoning of this kind a few hours in the cold is the likely intention rather than the multi-day soak used for older, tougher game; lemon juice on thin cutlets can begin to firm the surface protein if left overnight, dulling the sear.
"Slack oven" for poachingAbout 275-300F. The quenelles are only being set enough to unmould and crumb, not cooked through; they finish in the frying fat. Set the paper-lined sheet in a water bath if your oven runs hot at the bottom.
The bottomless mouldsHalf heart-shaped cutter rings, 3 1/2 by 2 inches, half an inch deep, sat directly on buttered paper. Plain round or oval ring cutters of similar size work; failing that, pipe or shape the forcemeat by hand and chill it hard before breading.
Forcemeat proportionsNo. 91 is Ranhofer's game quenelle forcemeat, here made half venison and half rabbit. Both meats are very lean, so keep everything cold and test-poach a teaspoonful before filling the moulds.
Cook the cutlets rareThe hinge of the dish. Venison loin has almost no intramuscular fat and turns dry and livery past medium-rare. Sear hard in butter, pull at 125-130F internal, and let the cutlets rest while the quenelles fry.
Marinade sauce with MadeiraNo. 496 is Ranhofer's marinade sauce, a sharp brown sauce of the poivrade family. If you are substituting, use a well-reduced game or veal stock sauce sharpened with a little vinegar and Madeira; stir the diced truffle into the sauce-boat off the heat so it keeps its perfume.
Yield and dressingEight quenelles, alternated in a ring with the cutlets on a hot platter; Ranhofer specifies eight moulds but only 'some' cutlets, and gives no number of servings. The paper frills (No. 10) are period presentation and can be left off without loss.

A Little History

An épigramme in classical French cookery means two preparations of the same animal served together on one dish, most often lamb: a breaded, fried piece of braised breast set beside a plain sautéed cutlet. Charles Ranhofer, chef of Delmonico's in New York and author of The Epicurean (1894), carries the form over to game, pairing a sautéed roebuck cutlet with a forcemeat quenelle shaped and crumbed to echo it. The name's origin is traditionally explained by an anecdote about a hostess who ordered "epigrams" for dinner having misunderstood the word at a salon, a story generally treated as folklore rather than history. What the recipe genuinely documents is the Gilded Age game trade: American restaurants of the 1880s and 1890s could buy venison, rabbit and truffles across the counter, and Ranhofer's game chapter ranges over species that market hunting has since put beyond legal reach.