No. 2726

Cepes Stuffed

Cepes Farcis

Choose cepes of even size one inch and three-quarters to two inches in diameter, firm and fresh; remove the stalks and scoop out the heads from the stalk end with a vegetables spoon (Fig. 91), then peel and salt over; chop up the stalks and parings, mix with them some fat pork and cooked ham, both chopped, bread-crumb panada (No. 121), chopped parsley with a clove of garlic, a few raw egg-yolks, salt and pepper. A quarter of an hour after fill the hollow spaces with the prepared dressing and strew with bread-crumbs; range them in a sautoir, pour over butter or oil and cook very slowly for one hour in a slack oven, while covered; serve with their own stock, thickened with a little half-glaze sauce (No. 413) or bechamel sauce(No. 409).

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For the Modern Kitchen

A straightforward stuffed-mushroom preparation from Ranhofer, written for a kitchen that had stock, panada and demi-glace already standing. The hinge is the long, slow, covered bake: the filling contains raw pork fat and egg yolk, and it needs the full hour at low heat to set and render without the caps collapsing.

CepesCepes are Boletus edulis, sold today as porcini. Fresh ones at 1 3/4 to 2 inches across are a seasonal, specialist purchase; large cultivated cremini or portobello caps take the same treatment, though the flavour is milder. Dried porcini will not work here, as the recipe depends on whole firm caps.
Peeling and saltingPeeling refers to the slimy skin on the cap of a mature cepe in wet weather; on dry firm specimens it can be skipped. Salting and resting a quarter of an hour draws out water so the caps do not weep into the stuffing.
Fat porkMost likely fresh pork fat, fatback or the fat trimmed from belly, rather than bacon, though 'fat pork' in nineteenth-century American kitchens could also mean salt pork and Ranhofer does not specify. It is the moisture and richness in the stuffing; without it the filling bakes dry. Substituting ground pork shoulder with a little added fat is the practical route.
PanadaRanhofer's bread-crumb panada (No. 121) is simply fine crumbs soaked in milk or stock and cooked to a stiff paste. A handful of fresh crumbs moistened with a few spoons of milk and stirred over heat until it pulls from the pan does the same job as a binder.
Slack ovenA slack oven is usually reckoned at somewhere in the region of 275-325F. Covered, with butter or oil poured over, the caps steam-braise rather than roast. An hour is not excessive at that temperature, but check at 40 minutes if the caps are small.
SautoirA sautoir is a shallow straight-sided pan; any oven-safe skillet or small roasting dish that holds the caps in a single close layer will serve. Crowding them helps them hold their shape.
The saucesHalf-glaze is demi-glace, a reduced brown stock; bechamel is the white alternative. If neither is on hand, reduce the buttery pan liquid with a splash of stock and a knob of butter worked in off the heat.
YieldFigure three to four stuffed caps per person as a first course. The stuffing quantity is unstated because it depends on how much stalk and trimming the mushrooms give up; add egg yolk a little at a time until the mixture just holds together.

A Little History

This is from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the cross-references to numbered panadas and sauces show how the book was built: as a professional system rather than a set of standalone recipes. Cepes were a French kitchen's autumn luxury, gathered wild rather than farmed, and their presence on a New York menu speaks to the imported and foraged supply a top restaurant could command in the 1880s and 1890s. The stuffing itself is a classic farce of chopped trimmings, pork fat, ham, panada and persillade, the same formula used for stuffed artichokes, tomatoes and onions throughout the book, and the cap is scooped and its own chopped stalk returned to it.