No. 872

Cromesquis of Lamb, Beef Tongue or Sweetbreads, Babanine

Cromesquis d'Agneau, de Boeuf de Langue ou de Ris de Veau a la Babanine

Prepare a few bands of fat pork a sixteenth of an inch in thickness; have some crepinette or dressing of pork, well cleaned and well drained, spread it on a cloth, and cover over with the bands of pork. Cut into three-sixteenths of an inch squares, one pound of either lamb sweetbreads or beef tenderloin, or lamb or calf tongues, half a pound of mushrooms cut the same size, half a pound of lamb brains, cut the same, half a pound of onions cut into three-sixteenth inch squares, blanched and cooked in broth (No. 194a). Put all these ingredients into a pint of allemande sauce (No. 407) with four ounces of cooked ham, and four ounces of foies-gras cut into dice; let the preparation get cold, then divide it into an inch and a half balls, wrap them up in the crepinette and after they are all prepared, bread-crumb them English style (No. 13), butter over, and broil them on a slow fire, dress on hot dishes, and serve separately a well buttered veloute sauce (No. 415), to which has been added some lemon juice and chopped parsley.

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For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Ranhofer's cromesquis are croquettes wrapped in caul fat rather than shaped in breadcrumbs alone, and the recipe leans on three cross-references the reader no longer has to hand. The hinge is temperature: the bound filling must be refrigerated until it is genuinely firm, or the balls will not hold when you wrap and crumb them.

CrepinetteHere it means caul fat (crepine), the lacy membrane from around a pig's stomach, not the small flat sausage the word usually denotes today. Order it from a butcher, soak it in cool water to unfold it without tearing, and pat it dry. It self-seals as it cooks and needs no tying.
Allemande sauce (No. 407)A veal or chicken velouté finished with an egg-yolk and cream liaison and lemon, reduced until very thick. A pint of it to the three pounds of solids the recipe lists is a binder, not a sauce; if it is thin the mixture will never set.
Velouté (No. 415)The sauce served alongside is a light stock-based velouté whisked with butter off the heat, then lemon juice and parsley. Once the butter goes in, keep it below a simmer or it will break.
Breading "English style" (No. 13)In this period that generally means beaten egg loosened with a little oil, then fine white breadcrumbs, sometimes with flour first; the book's No. 13 is not reproduced here, so check it. Chill the crumbed balls again before cooking.
"Broil on a slow fire"A gridiron over low coals, turned so the caul renders and the crumbs colour without scorching. A heavy pan over medium-low heat with clarified butter gives a similar result. The recipe pre-cooks only the onions and does not say whether the meats and brains go in raw or already cooked, so cook until the centres are hot through.
Bands of fat porkSheets of back fat sliced a sixteenth of an inch thick, laid over the caul to enrich it. Fatback shaved on a slicer works; thicker slices will not render in the time available.
Brains and organ meatsBovine brain is restricted as specified risk material in the United States (cattle 30 months and older) and the EU (bovines over 12 months), and lamb brain is hard to find at retail. Additional sweetbreads or poached veal will stand in for the texture.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its hot side dishes are where the kitchen's French repertoire is most densely coded: nearly every line points to another numbered preparation, because the book was written for cooks who had a brigade and a stockpot, not for households. Cromesquis is traditionally said to be of Polish or Russian origin, the name often linked to a Polish word for a croquette, though the derivation is repeated lore rather than documented; what distinguishes it from a plain croquette is the wrapper, whether caul fat as here or a thin pancake. The name "Babanine" follows the period habit of dedicating a garnish or a composition to a patron, a colleague or a diner, and Ranhofer's book is full of such labels: Stanislas on the preceding page, and dozens more attached to nothing more than a particular set of dice-cut ingredients. The recipe's readiness to accept lamb sweetbreads, beef tenderloin, tongue or brains interchangeably is a reminder that in a restaurant kitchen of this scale a side dish like this was partly a way of using up what the day's butchery had produced.