No. 2277

Escalops of Beef Palates with Puree of Chestnuts

Escalopes de Palais de Boeuf Puree de Marrons

Prepare and cook the beef palates the same as for palates a la bechamel (No. 1326); when cold and pressed cut them into oblongs two and three-quarters inches by one and one-half inches. Cover both sides of the pieces with a layer of delicate chicken quenelle forcemeat (No. 89), mixing in with it an equal quantity of cooked fine herbs (No. 385). Dip in eggs and fresh bread-crumbs, and fry them to a fine color. Dress them crown-shaped, and garnish the center of the crown with a consistent puree of chestnuts (No. 712).

← No. 2276 Escalops of Tenderloin of Beef with Truffles Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2278 Escalops of Chicken, Financiere →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in cross-references, so this short paragraph conceals a two-day job: the palates must be cleaned, braised until tender and pressed flat before any of the work described here begins. Everything after that is straightforward breading and frying.

The hinge: the palates must be fully tender and pressed coldBeef palate is nearly all collagen and needs several hours of gentle braising before it will slice cleanly. Press it flat under a weighted board overnight; a palate that is warm or unpressed will curl in the fryer and shed its forcemeat coat.
Sourcing beef palatesThe hard palate of the ox is no longer a standard butcher's cut in most countries. Halal and Latin American butchers sometimes carry it frozen; otherwise it is a special order. Cleaning involves scalding and scraping off the tough outer skin before braising.
The cross-referencesNo. 1326 is the braise-and-press method for palates finished in béchamel; No. 89 is a chicken quenelle forcemeat, of the usual type (pounded breast with panada, egg white and cream); No. 385 is Ranhofer's cooked fine herbs, which in this tradition is closer to a duxelles of mushroom and shallot with parsley than to raw chopped herbs; No. 712 is the chestnut purée.
"Consistent" puréeIn this book consistent means stiff enough to hold its shape, not thin. The chestnut purée should mound in the center of the ring without slumping, so keep the cream or stock sparing and dry it out over low heat if needed.
Forcemeat thicknessSpread the quenelle mixture no thicker than about an eighth of an inch on each face. Too thick and the center will still be raw mousse when the crumbs are brown.
Frying temperatureRanhofer gives none, only 'fry them to a fine color'; in practice around 350-360F suits. The forcemeat needs a few minutes to set through, so a hotter fat will color the crumbs before the interior firms.
Dimensions and yieldDimensions -- The oblongs are 2¾ by 1½ inches. The recipe gives no quantities or yield; the dish is an entrée in the nineteenth-century sense, a course between the fish and the roast rather than a main plate.
If you cannot get palateBraised and pressed beef tongue takes the same treatment and gives a comparable gelatinous slice, though it is meatier and less neutral than palate.

A Little History

Beef palate belongs to the long French tradition of turning cartilaginous offcuts into refined garnish, alongside cockscombs, calf's ears and lamb's tongues. Its appeal was texture: braised and pressed, it takes on a firm, faintly gelatinous bite that holds a coating well and carries sauce without falling apart, which is why it recurs throughout Carême and Gouffé and then in Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the record of his three decades at Delmonico's in New York. The chestnut purée dates the dish to the autumn and winter service; chestnuts were a seasonal staple in the French kitchen and appeared as a purée, a garnish for game, and a stuffing. That an American restaurant could offer prepared beef palates at all says something about the scale of a nineteenth-century hotel kitchen, where a brigade had the hands to spend two days on a single garnished entrée among dozens on the card.