No. 273

Puree of Lentils, Chantilly

Puree de Lentilles Chantilly

Unsalt a pig's head for twelve hours, partially cook it; put into a saucepan one and a half quarts of picked and washed lentils, add the half pig's head, and moisten with four quarts of cold water to cover all well, then add two carrots cut in four lengthwise, four onions, one with two cloves in it, half a pound of well pared raw ham, and boil slowly until all be thoroughly cooked, then take out the half head, bone it, remove all the fat, and put it under a weight to reduce it to three-eighths of an inch thick; drain the lentils, suppress the vegetables and ham, and pound the lentils, diluting them with their own broth. Strain all through a sieve, add two quarts of bechamel (No. 409), and heat it up without boiling; skim and when ready to serve, incorporate into it a good piece of fine butter. Cut the gelatinous parts of the head into dice, and serve them with the soup as a garnishing, also some croutons of bread fried in butter.

← No. 272 Puree of Grouse a la Manhattan Soups & Broths No. 274 Puree of Leveret or Young Rabbit, St. James →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer is writing for a hotel kitchen, so the first adjustment is scale: as written this makes something like six quarts of finished soup, enough for twenty or more. Halving or quartering it works without changing the method.

"Unsalt" the headThe pig's head here is a salted (brine-cured) one, and the twelve-hour soak in cold water is to draw that salt out; change the water two or three times. If you are using a fresh, uncured head, skip the soaking entirely and salt the soup at the end instead.
Lentil quantityA quart of dry lentils is roughly 1 lb 12 oz, so a quart and a half is about 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 lb. Brown or green lentils hold up to the long simmer; red lentils collapse into the broth and lose the texture the sieving is meant to refine.
The half headHalf a pig's head is a butcher order, not a supermarket item, and it may arrive with or without the tongue and brain. Two or three fresh pig's trotters plus a pound of pork shoulder gives similar gelatine and flavour if the head is unavailable, though you lose the diced garnish.
"Partially cook it"The head is blanched and briefly boiled first, which firms the meat and lets you skim off the scum before the lentils go in. Do this in fresh water and discard it; the lentils cook in the four quarts of clean cold water.
Pressing the meatBoning the hot head and pressing the skin and gelatinous parts flat under a weight, to about 3/8 inch, is what lets you cut clean dice later. Set it between two trays with a few pounds on top and chill it thoroughly before cutting, or it will tear.
Sieve or blenderPounding and passing through a sieve was the only route to a smooth purée; a blender or food processor does it in a minute, but still pass the result through a fine sieve to catch lentil skins, which no blade breaks down.
Do not boil after the béchamelTwo quarts of béchamel is a large proportion of milk-based sauce, and boiling it into the lentil purée will make it catch on the pan bottom and taste scorched. Bring it only to a bare steam, skim, and whisk in the butter off the heat just before serving.
Seasoning orderBetween the cured head and the half-pound of ham, the broth may already be salty enough. Taste after the béchamel goes in, before adding any salt, and finish with white pepper.
ServingRanhofer gives no yield. Expect around twenty portions at full scale. The recipe says only to serve the diced head meat and the butter-fried croutons with the soup as a garnish; handing them round separately rather than stirring them in will keep the croutons crisp.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is organised as a professional reference: numbered recipes that cross-refer to one another, as this one does to the béchamel at No. 409. In classical French naming, "à la Chantilly" almost always signals cream, after the town north of Paris long associated with it, and here the cream arrives in the form of a heavy addition of béchamel to what would otherwise be a plain lentil pur isotto e. Lentil soup with salt pork or a pig's head is old and thoroughly domestic food across northern France and Germany; the interest of this version is watching a hotel kitchen dress it up, straining the pulses to velvet smoothness and then returning the humblest part of the animal to the plate as a neat garnish of diced head meat. The pressing of boned head under a weight is the same operation that produces fromage de tête, or brawn.