No. 2711

Carrots, Colbert

Carottes a la Colbert

Take a few dozen small, new carrots of uniform-size, trim them pear-shaped, blanch for a few moments in salted water, drain and lay them in a saucepan with a little butter, salt, a pinch of sugar and white broth (No. 194a); cook until they fall to a glaze, and should they then not be sufficiently tender, remoisten and reduce the liquid once more; finish with a little half-glaze sauce (No. 413), butter and lemon juice.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in cross-references, assuming you have his stocks and sauces already made. Stripped of them, this is a straightforward carrot glaze finished with a spoonful of dark sauce.

The hinge: cook to a glaze, then checkThe carrots must reduce until the liquid is a syrupy film clinging to them, not a pool. If they are still firm at that point, add more broth and reduce again rather than pushing the heat, or the sugar in the pan will scorch before the carrots soften.
White broth (No. 194a)A pale, unroasted veal or chicken stock. A good low-sodium chicken stock stands in; keep the salt light since it will concentrate as the liquid reduces.
Half-glaze sauce (No. 413)Ranhofer's demi-glace: espagnole reduced with stock. A tablespoon or two of a decent reduced brown sauce or well-reduced dark stock is enough, and it is what gives the dish its color and gloss. Without it these are simply glazed carrots.
Trimming pear-shapedCarrots turned to a tapered shape with a small knife; the recipe specifies only that they be small, new and of uniform size. It is cosmetic; equal size matters more than the outline, since uneven pieces will not glaze evenly.
Blanching "a few moments"Thirty seconds to a minute in boiling salted water, then drain well. This is a rinse and a head start, not a cooking step, and the carrots should still be raw at the center.
Quantity"A few dozen small, new carrots" is roughly 2 lb, serving six to eight as a garnish. Use real young carrots if possible; supermarket "baby carrots" are lathe-cut mature roots and glaze poorly.
FinishingRanhofer says only to finish with the half-glaze, butter and lemon juice; the usual practice is to add the butter away from direct heat, swirled so it emulsifies into the glaze rather than splitting. Add lemon last and taste, as the sugar and reduced stock together can turn cloying.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book is organized as a professional's reference: nearly every preparation points to a numbered stock, sauce or garnish elsewhere in the volume. Dishes labeled a la Colbert in nineteenth-century French kitchens are often said to take their name from Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's minister, though the derivation is traditional rather than documented, and they most often denote a finish with maitre d'hotel butter or a meat glaze sharpened with lemon; here it is the demi-glace, butter and lemon that earn the title, the carrots themselves being cooked by the ordinary glazing method. Turned root vegetables of matched size were standard garnish work in a brigade kitchen, where a commis might spend a morning shaping carrots for the evening's roasts, and the pear shape Ranhofer specifies may well have signaled the house's care to a diner who would never see the labor behind it.