No. 2276

Escalops of Tenderloin of Beef with Truffles

Escalopes de Filet de Boeuf aux Truffes

After paring a medium-sized tenderloin, cut it lengthwise in two, then across in pieces three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness; trim them round-shaped an inch and a quarter in diameter. Place them one beside the other in a well-buttered stewpan, add some slices of the truffle of the same dimensions; cover with melted butter and when ready to serve put the stewpan on a moderate fire for a few moments. Drain off the butter, and finish with a reduced Madeira sauce (No. 492).

← No. 2275 Young Rabbit Cutlets a la Previllot Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2277 Escalops of Beef Palates with Puree of Chest →

For the Modern Kitchen

A butter-poached beef medallion, cut far thinner than a modern filet steak and cooked barely a minute. The whole dish hinges on not letting the butter get hot enough to fry.

The hinge: warm butter, not hot"a moderate fire for a few moments" means the butter should stay below a sizzle, just long enough to turn the meat from red to rose. At 3/16 inch thick these escalops cook very quickly; browning them defeats the point of submerging them in butter in the first place.
Thickness and shapeThree-sixteenths of an inch is a hair under 5 mm, and an inch and a quarter is about 3 cm. Cut the trimmed tenderloin lengthwise in half, slice across, then stamp the pieces with a round cutter. A partial freeze of 20-30 minutes makes slices this thin manageable.
StewpanA stewpan here is a stovetop pan rather than a covered baking dish. Use a wide sauté pan or shallow saucepan so the escalops sit in a single layer with the truffle slices between them.
How much butterRanhofer says only "cover with melted butter": enough to submerge a single layer of medallions, which will depend on the width of the pan. The drained butter should be saved for another use rather than thrown out.
TrufflesThe original does not say whether the truffle is fresh or preserved; it calls for slices cut to match the meat, laid in the pan beside the escalops and covered with the butter. Preserved truffles are the practical substitute; truffle oil is a different flavor altogether and will fight the Madeira.
Madeira sauce No. 492The cross-reference is to the book's Madeira sauce, which in the classic manner is a brown sauce reduced with Madeira. Standing in for it: reduce 1/2 cup dry Madeira by half, add 1 cup good demi-glace, simmer to a coating consistency, then finish off the heat with a knob of butter. Add the Madeira reduction to the sauce, not to the hot pan of beef.

A Little History

This is entry 2276 in Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of what came out of the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York during his roughly thirty years as chef there. Escalope simply means a thin scallop or slice of meat, and cutting the most expensive muscle on the animal into coin-sized discs to be poached in butter and dressed with truffle is a fair summary of the restaurant's economics: the technique is undemanding, the materials are not. The numbered cross-references, here to a Madeira sauce elsewhere in the volume, show that the book was written for professionals working from a standing larder of mother sauces rather than for a household cook starting from nothing.