No. 694

Noisettes of Veal and Lambs' Fries Garnishing

Garniture de Noisettes de Veau et d'Animelles d'Agneau

Noisettes of Veal, are found in the shoulder of either veal or lamb; soak and blanch them, then cook them in a saucepan lined with bardes of fat pork and some good mirepoix stock (No. 419), let them get cold in this, and then pare them by removing all the fat parts; mix them in with a fleurette sauce.

Feurette Sauce is made with bechamel (No. 409) reduced with cream, into which mix finely cut up chives and finished at the last moment with a piece of fresh butter.

For the Lamb's Fries Garnishing.—Split them in two lengthwise, take them out of their skin season each piece with salt and pepper, and roll them in flour, and afterward dip them in beaten eggs and bread-crumbs, and fry them a fine color. Garnish with the veal noisettes the sides of a remove, and at the ends set the lamb's fries.

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For the Modern Kitchen

This is a two-part garnish for a large platter rather than a standalone dish, and both parts are organ meats despite the deceptively familiar names. Read the ingredients carefully before shopping.

What "noisettes" means hereRanhofer normally uses noix and noisette for small rounds of muscle, but the handling in this entry — soak, blanch, cool in the cooking liquid, then pare off all fat — reads as gland technique rather than muscle technique, which points to sweetbreads or a similar gland rather than a muscle cut. If so, ask a butcher for veal or lamb sweetbreads; a shoulder chop will not behave this way.
AnimellesLamb's fries are testicles. They are sold as "lamb fries" in some regions and generally need to be ordered ahead. Split lengthwise, the outer membrane peels away most easily after a soak in cold water.
Bardes of fat porkThin sheets of unsalted, unsmoked back fat, used to line the pan so the delicate meat never touches hot metal. Thinly sliced fresh pork fatback is the closest substitute; smoked bacon will overwhelm the sauce.
Mirepoix stock (No. 419)Ranhofer's own numbered mirepoix stock; check No. 419 for its exact composition rather than assuming. A well-reduced unsalted veal or chicken stock simmered with carrot, onion, celery, herbs and a splash of dry white wine gets you close.
Fleurette sauceCrème fleurette is light pouring cream. Make béchamel, thin and reduce it with cream to a coating consistency, then add chives and swirl in cold butter off the heat. This is the hinge: once the butter goes in the sauce must not return to a boil or it will separate and the chives will grey.
Cooling in the liquidDo not rush this. The sweetbreads firm as they cool in their own braise, which is what makes them possible to pare cleanly and slice; pulled out hot, they tear.
Frying the friesStandard flour, egg, crumb breading, fried at 350–360F until deep gold, three to four minutes depending on thickness. They should be cooked through to the centre — organ meats are not served rare.
"A remove"The relevé, the substantial course that in this style of service 'removed' the soup or the fish. The instruction is purely architectural: sweetbreads in sauce along the two long sides of the platter, breaded fries banked at each end.
QuantityNo amounts are given because the garnish is scaled to the platter. As a rough guide, allow one pair of sweetbreads and one pair of fries for every four to six diners being served from the same dish, with about a cup of fleurette sauce.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's summation of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its long "Garnishings" section is essentially a parts catalogue: scores of numbered borders, mounds and end-pieces to be combined with a joint or a fish according to the composed style of service Ranhofer had learned in France. Garnishes like this one show how much of nineteenth-century restaurant cooking depended on offal that was cheap at the wholesale level but demanded skilled hands — sweetbreads and animelles both require soaking, blanching, peeling and precise timing. "Fries" for testicles is often explained by the fact that frying was their usual treatment, though the derivation is not settled. That Ranhofer offers them as decoration rather than as a course in themselves says a good deal about the scale of Delmonico's kitchen brigade.