No. 668

Flemish Garnishing

Garniture a la Flamande

Blanch and drain a pound and a half of cabbage, put it into a saucepan with half a pound of salt pork, pepper, one onion with two cloves in it, and sufficient unskimmed broth (No. 194a) to cover the cabbage, then let cook all together for two hours. Cut sixteen carrots into pear-shaped pieces, parboil them first, and then finish cooking them in some broth with sugar, until they fall to a glaze. Have sixteen cork-shaped pieces of turnips, parboil and cook them also in consomme with sugar, till they fall to a glaze. Drain the cabbage when it is done, and lay them on the ends of the remove to be garnished, being careful to suppress the onion containing the cloves. Cut the salt pork into slices, and lay these on top of the cabbage, then set the carrots and turnips in clusters on the sides. Serve separately a half-glaze sauce (No. 413) or else a white sauce (No. 562).

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For the Modern Kitchen

A classic garnish from Ranhofer's Delmonico's kitchen, meant to dress a large joint rather than to be served alone. Two components run on separate tracks: a long-braised cabbage with salt pork, and turned root vegetables glazed in sweetened stock.

What a "remove" isIn this book the remove is the substantial meat course that follows the soup and fish, usually a large roast or braised joint. The garnish is banked at the ends and sides of that platter, so quantities here serve whatever the joint serves.
Unskimmed brothThe recipe calls for the broth cross-referenced at No. 194a with the fat left on, and the fat is the point: it enriches the cabbage as it braises. Ordinary unsalted beef or chicken stock with a spoonful of pork fat or butter added does the same job.
Soak the salt pork firstNineteenth-century salt pork was often saltier than today's cured belly, and modern salt pork still benefits from blanching or a cold-water soak before it goes into the pot. Otherwise the cabbage braises in brine. Add no salt at all until the end.
Two hours is longCabbage braised two hours in the old style collapses into something soft and sweet, which is the intended texture. If you want the leaves to hold shape, 45 to 60 minutes at a bare simmer is enough; the salt pork will want the longer time either way, so start it first.
"Fall to a glaze"The carrots and turnips cook in stock with sugar until the liquid reduces to a syrup that coats them. Use a wide pan, barely cover the vegetables, and watch the last few minutes closely, since the glaze goes from shining to scorched quickly. A knob of butter swirled in at the end helps it cling.
Pear-shaped and cork-shapedThese are knife shapes, not varieties. The carrots are turned into small tapered pears, the turnips into straight-sided cylinders about the size of a wine cork, so that the two clusters read as different objects on the platter.
The clove onionThe onion studded with cloves is a flavouring only and is fished out before serving. Ranhofer's warning to "suppress" it is worth heeding, since a clove left loose in the cabbage is unpleasant to bite into.
The saucesNo. 413 is a half-glaze, that is, a demi-glace: reduced brown stock, served separately in a boat. No. 562 is one of the book's white sauces. Either works; choose by the joint, brown for beef or mutton, white for veal or poultry.

A Little History

Garniture à la flamande is one of the standardised garnishes of the nineteenth-century French repertoire, in which a fixed combination of vegetables carried a geographic name and could be called for by that name alone on a menu. The Flemish association is straightforward: cabbage braised with salt pork and glazed roots is the everyday cooking of Flanders and the Low Countries, dressed up here with turned shapes and a separate sauce boat. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, compiled The Epicurean (1894) as a working reference, which is why this entry reads as a cross-referenced module rather than a standalone dish: the cook was expected to look up No. 194a for the stock and No. 413 for the sauce and assemble the plate from parts.