No. 2509

Garnishing of Hard Eggs in Chaudfroid

Garniture d'Oeufs Durs en Chaudfroid

Have two oval pastry cutters--one two and a quarter inches long by one and quarter wide, and another half an inch less in diameter; cut some slices of very red cooked beef tongue three-six-teenths of an inch thick, and cut them into ovals with the largest cutter; remove the center with the smallest cutter; glaze over the rings with a brush and dress on the bottom of a cold dish. Cut lengthways in two six shelled hard-boiled eggs, take out the yolks, garnish each half with a foies-gras puree preparation, having chopped truffles added; smooth the surfaces dome-shaped. Dip the half-stuffed eggs into a brown chaudfroid sauce (No. 594), thickened to a proper consistency, and drain off the surplus, then dress a half egg into each ring. After the sauce is thoroughly cold decorate the tops with fanciful cuts of truffles, and dress.

← No. 2508 Garnishing of Hard-Boiled Eggs, Basket-Shape Garnishings for Cold Dishes No. 2510 Garnishing of Halved Hard-Boiled Eggs →

For the Modern Kitchen

A cold-buffet garnish from Delmonico's kitchen: stuffed egg halves masked in brown chaudfroid and seated in rings of glazed tongue. Everything hinges on the sauce being at the right temperature when it goes on.

The hinge: sauce consistencyBrown chaudfroid (No. 594) is espagnole fortified with aspic or gelatin. It must be cooled, stirring, to the point where it just coats the back of a spoon and holds — roughly the consistency of heavy cream — before you dip. Too warm and it runs off in streaks; too cool and it sets in lumps. Set the bowl over ice water, stir constantly, and rewarm gently over a water bath if it tightens too far.
Work coldChill the stuffed egg halves thoroughly on a rack before dipping. A cold surface sets the coating on contact and gives the smooth, matte finish the recipe is after. Catch the drips on a tray beneath the rack; the drained surplus can be rewarmed and reused.
"Glaze over the rings"Brushed on for shine, not a sugar glaze: either melted aspic jelly or a reduced meat glaze (glace de viande). Ranhofer does not say which here. A spoonful of well-reduced demi-glace or a commercial veal glace, warmed until brushable, does the job.
Red cooked tongueThe color comes from curing; the tongue is brined with curing salts (saltpetre in Ranhofer's day, nitrite in modern commercial cures), then simmered and pressed. Ask a delicatessen for a whole cured tongue or buy sliced pastrami-style tongue. Ranhofer's three-sixteenths of an inch is about 5 mm — thick enough that the ring stands up on the dish.
CuttersThe larger oval is 2¼ by 1¼ inches (about 57 x 32 mm), the smaller "half an inch less in diameter" — read as roughly 1¾ by ¾ inch. The inner opening simply needs to seat half an egg without swallowing it, so match your cutter to your eggs rather than to the numbers.
Foie gras puréeA smooth foie gras mousse or a well-sieved chicken-liver parfait, softened with a little butter, pipes cleanly and holds a dome. Fold in the chopped truffle last so the flecks stay distinct. Pipe with a plain tip, then smooth with a small palette knife dipped in hot water.
Truffle décorFresh black truffle is a luxury purchase; canned truffle peelings, sliced thin and cut with aspic cutters, are a workable substitute. The cut shapes should be pressed on while the chaudfroid is tacky.
Yield and holdingSix eggs give twelve garnished halves — enough to border a large cold platter or to serve as twelve canapé-sized bites. Being a cooked liver preparation on a cold buffet, it should not sit at room temperature more than about two hours; keep the platter refrigerated until service.

A Little History

Chaudfroid — literally "hot-cold" — is a sauce made hot and served cold, set with gelatin so it masks poultry, eggs or fish in an even, opaque coat. Its invention is traditionally traced to an eighteenth-century French household where a marshal was called away from table and returned to find the fricassee congealed and improved, a story that is repeated in most nineteenth-century manuals and documented in none of them. What is certain is that by the time Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894, after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, chaudfroid work was the backbone of the cold buffet: whole birds, aspic-lined moulds, and small repeating garnishes like this one, built to be looked at down the length of a table. The numbered cross-references — the sauce at No. 594, the neighboring egg garnishes at 2508 and 2510 — show how the book was meant to be used, less as a set of recipes than as a parts catalogue for assembling a service.