No. 2973

Noodles with Fried Bread-Crumbs

Nouilles a la Mie de Pain Frite

Prepare the noodles as for the Lauer (No. 2970), but instead of using six ounces of butter, have only two, and finish precisely the same. Fry a handful of bread-crumbs in butter, and when a fine color throw over the dressed noodles. It is then ready to serve.

← No. 2972 Noodles Sauted in Butter Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous No. 2974 Polenta →

For the Modern Kitchen

A two-line variation that depends entirely on an earlier entry, so the work is in the noodles rather than the topping. What matters is the ratio: less butter in the pan because browned crumbs bring their own fat.

It is a cross-referenceThe recipe is unusable on its own 2970 supplies the noodles, their cooking and their dressing. Any good fresh egg noodle, boiled in well-salted water and drained but not rinsed, will stand in for it.
Two ounces of butterFour tablespoons, down from twelve in the parent recipe. Ranhofer gives no reason for the cut, but the fried crumbs arrive carrying butter of their own, which would likely account for it.
Bread-crumbsThe recipe specifies nothing beyond "bread-crumbs"; dry crumbs from stale white bread are the likely intent. A handful is loosely a half cup.
Frying the crumbsMelt butter over medium heat and stir the crumbs constantly. They colour quickly and burn quickly after that; pull them into a cool bowl as soon as they reach "a fine color," about hazelnut brown.
Order of operationsHave the crumbs fried and waiting before the noodles are drained. Crumbs scattered over noodles that have sat and cooled will steam and go soft, which defeats the point.
ServingFiled among the farinaceous dishes, so most likely an accompaniment rather than a dish in its own right; the recipe does not say what it was served with. A pound of noodles is a reasonable working quantity for several as a side.
SeasoningNeither this entry nor its text mentions salt, so any seasoning presumably happens when the noodles are dressed under No. 2970. Taste before the crumbs go on.

A Little History

Buttered browned crumbs over boiled noodles or dumplings is a habit associated with Central European cooking, and French kitchens catalogued a related treatment for vegetables under the label "a la polonaise". Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York and author of The Epicurean (1894), gives noodles a run of consecutive entries -- the neighbouring numbers here are noodles sauteed in butter and these crumbed noodles. The chapter heading, "Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous," collects the starches a large kitchen kept on hand for garnishes alongside expensive meat, and polenta follows immediately. Fried crumbs are a familiar way of using bread too stale for the table, and comparable dishes survive in Hungarian noodles and pasta con la mollica in southern Italy.