No. 406

Matignon

Cut half a pound of carrots, half a pound of onions, half a pound of celery root and two ounces of parsley root into either three-sixteenth inch squares or small Julienne; fry them lightly without coloring in half a pound of chopped up fat pork, and add to them half a pound of ham cut either in squares or Julienne shape, also a quarter of a pound of mushrooms, a few branches of parsley (about half an ounce), two bay leaves, as much thyme and a teaspoonful of mignonette; moisten with a pint of white wine and a pint of veal blond (No. 423); boil and reduce the moisture to a glaze.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A classic aromatic base rather than a dish in itself: matignon is a mirepoix enriched with pork fat, ham and wine, cooked down to a glaze so it can be spread on meat, packed into a braising pan, or used to line a mould. A few of Ranhofer's terms need translating.

MignonetteMignonette pepper is coarsely cracked peppercorns, traditionally white, not a dressing or a salad green. A teaspoonful of coarsely cracked pepper is what is meant.
Fat porkChopped fresh pork fat or unsmoked fatback. If you substitute salt pork, blanch it first and cut back on any salt elsewhere, since the mixture is reduced to a glaze and concentrates seasoning sharply.
Veal blondRanhofer's blond de veau (No. 423) is a light-coloured veal stock, pale rather than dark. A good unroasted veal or chicken stock stands in; avoid dark, heavily reduced demi-glace, which will overwhelm the vegetables.
The cutThree-sixteenths of an inch is a scant 5 mm dice. Julienne means matchsticks of roughly the same thickness. Uniformity matters here because everything must soften at the same rate in the fat without taking colour.
Sweating, not browningThe hinge of the recipe: fry lightly without coloring. Keep the pan at a gentle heat and stir. Once the vegetables catch and brown, the finished matignon turns bitter and loses the sweet, clean flavour that makes it useful as a bed for delicate braises.
Reducing to a glazeThe two pints of liquid should go down until the pan is nearly dry and the vegetables are coated in a syrupy film that clings to a spoon. Expect a good half hour or more of open simmering; stir toward the end, as the last of the moisture leaves quickly and the sugars scorch easily.
Parsley rootHamburg parsley root is sold at some farmers' markets and Eastern European groceries. Parsnip is the nearest common substitute, though sweeter; use a little less.
Yield and useThe finished mixture makes a substantial quantity, enough to line a braising pan for a large joint or to bed several birds. Keep it refrigerated and use within a few days, or freeze in small portions.

A Little History

Matignon belongs to the family of French cooking beds named for aristocratic households, and is generally traced to the Matignon family of eighteenth-century France, as mirepoix is traditionally credited to the Duc de Mirepoix; in both cases the attribution is culinary lore rather than documented fact. What distinguishes matignon from a plain mirepoix is the enrichment with ham and pork fat and the reduction to a glaze, which turns a flavouring into something firm enough to serve as a lining, a spread beneath a wrapping of caul or bacon, or even a garnish in its own right. Charles Ranhofer set it here among the stocks and auxiliaries of The Epicurean (1894) because a Delmonico's kitchen would have kept it standing by, ready to be pressed into the bottom of a braising pan for sweetbreads, ham or game birds. Its presence in an American book is a marker of how completely the grand New York restaurants of the Gilded Age worked in the French professional idiom, down to the vocabulary.