No. 2612

Trout with Jelly, Tartar Sauce

Truites a la Gelee, Sauce Tartare

Let the fish be very fresh for it loses its best qualities when kept from the water or on ice for any length of time. Clean the fish through the gills without opening or scaling it. Lay it on the belly side on the fish grate, cover with cold and strained white wine court-bouillon (No. 39), heat the liquid and skim; at the first boil withdraw it to one side, so that it quivers for fifteen minutes. Remove the fish with the grate, and let drain for a couple of hours, then slide on a wooden foundation concealed by white paper and fastened on a large dish; support the fish upright, so it will not fall, and cover over with slightly reddened cold jelly; garnish the two ends with clusters of shrimps and surround the foundation with jelly croutons (No. 2442); fill up the spaces between the fish with bunches of fresh parsley leaves or chopped jelly; serve tartar sauce (No. 631) with the fish.

← No. 2611 Brook Trout a la Careme Garnishings for Cold Dishes No. 2613 Turbot a la Remoulade →

For the Modern Kitchen

A cold buffet centerpiece from Ranhofer's Delmonico's kitchen: a whole trout poached in wine court-bouillon, then glazed in aspic and presented standing on a concealed plinth. The cooking is simple; the assembly is where the work is.

The hinge: never let it boilThe hinge: keep the liquid barely moving. The recipe brings it up to the first boil, then withdraws it to one side "so that it quivers" for fifteen minutes -- well below a simmer, with barely a tremor on the surface. A rolling boil splits the skin and squeezes the flesh, which ruins both the look and the texture of a fish meant to be seen whole.
Fifteen minutes is for a small fishFifteen minutes suits a small fish -- the recipe gives no weight, but that timing at a quiver points to a trout of about a pound; a 3 lb fish needs longer. Judge by the thickest part behind the head, or by the dorsal fin pulling free cleanly.
Unscaled and ungutted through the gillsLeaving the scales on protects the skin during poaching and it lifts off afterward in one sheet, giving a smooth surface for the jelly. Drawing the fish through the gill opening with a hook or the handle of a small spoon keeps the belly intact so the shape holds upright.
Court-bouillon No. 39The white wine version: water and dry white wine with aromatics (onion, carrot, parsley, thyme, bay, peppercorns, salt), simmered and strained before the fish goes in; see No. 39 for the exact proportions. Note that the fish is covered with the liquid cold and heated with it, which sets the skin evenly.
The fish grateA perforated poaching plate or long-handled rack that sits inside the fish kettle. A wire cooling rack cut to fit a roasting pan, or a wide sling of doubled cheesecloth, does the same job: the point is to lift a cooked fish out without breaking it.
Jelly, reddened jelly, and jelly croutonsThe "jelly" is a clarified fish or veal aspic, brushed on in thin cold coats over a chilled fish, each layer set before the next. "Slightly reddened" would have been managed with a period colouring such as carmine; paprika or beet juice does it now. Croutons (No. 2442) are firm aspic poured shallow in a pan and cut into shapes.
The wooden foundationA shaped block of wood or bread, papered over, that raises the fish and lets it be propped on its belly. A small loaf pan turned upside down or a piece of foam-core cut to shape works; skewers hidden along the flank hold the fish from tipping.
Tartar sauce, 1894 styleNo. 631 is Ranhofer's tartar sauce, a mayonnaise-type sauce sharpened with mustard and chopped pickles and herbs; check that entry for the exact make-up. Sharper and coarser than the bottled version, and it should be made the day of service.
Yield and serviceThe recipe gives no number of servings; a whole trout will stretch to a couple of people as part of a cold table. Everything can be finished a day ahead and held covered in the refrigerator, but bring the fish out a little before serving or the jelly tastes of nothing.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this entry sits in a run of garnishings for cold dishes -- the aspic-glazed set pieces that anchored a nineteenth-century buffet or ambigu. Presenting a whole fish upright on a papered socle, coated in tinted jelly and ringed with cut aspic croutons, belongs to the display cookery codified by Careme earlier in the century, where a cold course was expected to be architecture as much as food; the trout immediately preceding this one is in fact titled a la Careme. Tartar sauce is the standing accompaniment, its name generally traced to the French fashion for labeling sharp, mustard-and-caper dressings "a la tartare" after the Tartars, with no closer connection than that. Ranhofer's opening warning that the fish loses its best qualities after any time out of the water is worth reading as period evidence: trout in the 1890s came from streams and hatchery ponds, often live to the kitchen door, and the whole conceit of this dish depends on a fish fresh enough to be worth looking at.