No. 2736

Eggplant in Cases a la Morton

Aubergines en Caisses a la Morton

Butter some cases, either of paper or china; cover the bottom of each with a slice of peeled eggplant an eighth of an inch thick, and around with small bands of the same, exactly like an apple charlotte; cut up the remainder of the plant in squares, and fry them colorless in butter, then drain. Chop up as much cooked chicken meat as eggplant, and mix both together with mushrooms, truffles and chopped parsley, seasoning with salt, pepper and nutmeg, adding a very little thick allemande sauce (No. 407). With this preparation fill the cases, smooth the tops and bestrew with bread-crumbs; pour a little oil over and push into a moderate oven; when done drain off the fat, cover over with a little half-glaze sauce (No. 413) and serve.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a brigade, a stocked sauce station and a reader who has already read several hundred pages. Stripped of that, this is a chicken-and-eggplant gratin baked in lined molds.

The hinge: line the cases like a charlotteThe eggplant slices are structural, not decorative. Cut them a true eighth of an inch, overlap the side bands slightly and press them firmly against the buttered walls, or the lining will sag when you fill it.
"Cases" means caissesSmall paper or porcelain molds; the recipe gives no size, so anything of individual-portion capacity will do. Buttered parchment cases, individual souffle dishes or ovenproof ramekins all work, and paper cases could presumably be sent to the table as they were.
Moderate ovenNo temperature is given; a moderate oven is conventionally read as something in the region of 350F. The filling is already cooked chicken and pre-fried eggplant, so the bake is only to set the assembly and brown the crumbs — check after 20 minutes or so.
Allemande sauceRanhofer's No. 407 is a veloute finished with egg yolks, cream and lemon. Use only a spoonful or two per case; it binds the filling and nothing more. A thick veloute or a very stiff bechamel stands in acceptably.
Half-glazeDemi-glace, No. 413 in the book: a reduced brown sauce. A well-reduced brown chicken or veal stock, lightly thickened, gives the same glossy spoonful over the top.
TrufflesFresh black truffle is a luxury purchase; a small amount of preserved truffle or truffle peelings, or simply more mushroom cooked down hard, keeps the dish honest. Truffle oil is a different flavor and will dominate.
"Fry them colorless"Cook the diced eggplant gently in butter until soft and translucent with no browning. Eggplant drinks butter, so use a wide pan and drain well on paper; excess fat is what makes these cases greasy.
YieldOne medium to large eggplant, with an equal volume of chopped cooked chicken, fills about four to six ramekins. Serve as a first course or a light lunch dish.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is organized less as a cookbook than as a reference to a working restaurant repertoire, with cross-referenced sauce numbers standing in for instructions. Dishes in it are routinely named for patrons, and "a la Morton" appears to belong to that habit; the book gives no explanation, and attaching it to any one New Yorker of the name is guesswork. What the recipe does document is one way eggplant was used in fine American dining: not as a vegetable in its own right but as a container and a bulk element for chicken, mushroom and truffle, dressed with two classical French sauces. The lining technique is borrowed from the sweet course, where it belongs to an apple charlotte.