No. 903

Crusts of Clams a la Schenk

Croutes de Lucines Orangees a la Schenk

Cut a few slices of bread so as to obtain eight crusts, having them half an inch thick; pare them into ovals, and slit them on the surface of one side, by making a slight incision a short distance from the edge, following the oval with the tip of a small knife, then fry them in clarified butter; drain as quickly as they get a nice color, and empty out the insides. Fill them with fish forcemeat (No. 90), poach for a few minutes. Blanch thirty-two medium-sized clams; drain, and cut them up into pieces, but should they be very small then leave them whole; add them to a little allemande sauce (No. 407), season with pepper, mignonette, nutmeg and lemon juice, and, if desired, a very little salt, besides a few cooked fine herbs. Cover the crusts with this preparation, and bestrew over the tops bread-crumbs and grated parmesan; set them into a very hot oven, and when a fine color and hot, dress them on folded napkins.

Crusts a la Schenk.—Remove all the hard parts from twenty-four clams, using only the soft pieces; chop these up and season with black and red pepper but no salt; put them into a saucepan with half an ounce of butter, a teaspoonful of very finely minced onion, the clam juice and two tablespoonfuls of cream; place the saucepan on the fire, and remove it on one side before the contents come to a boil. Lay slices of toasted bread on a chafing-dish, pour over the clams and serve. Slices of buttered brown bread may accompany this hors-d'oeuvre.

← No. 902 Croustades a la Morgan or with Scrambled Egg Hot Side Dishes No. 904 Crusts d'Henin, Morton, Chamberlain, or a la →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

Two preparations under one heading: a baked, filled croûte and a much simpler chafing-dish version. Both depend on clams being handled briefly and gently.

The hinge: clams and heatClams toughen within a minute of firming up. In the first version the blanching is only to open them and set the meat; the browning in the oven is what finishes the dish. In the second, Ranhofer deliberately pulls the pan off the heat before it boils.
The second version is barely cookedChopped raw clams warmed in butter and cream and removed before simmering will not reliably reach a temperature that deals with Vibrio or norovirus. If you make it, use clams you would be willing to eat raw, from a reputable source, and understand that it sits in the same risk category as a raw bar.
"Very hot oven"Roughly the top of a modern domestic oven, say 450-475F, with the rack high; the book gives no temperatures, so this is an approximation. The crusts are already fried and the filling already cooked; you are only gratinating the crumb and parmesan topping, which takes a few minutes.
Cross-referencesNo. 90 is Ranhofer's fish forcemeat, a pounded fish forcemeat of the quenelle type. No. 407 is allemande, a veloute finished with an egg-yolk-and-cream liaison. A thick modern fish veloute enriched with a yolk stands in for the latter; a fine pike or sole mousseline for the former.
MignonetteHere it means coarsely cracked black or white peppercorns, not the shallot-vinegar sauce served with oysters today. It is listed alongside pepper, presumably for the coarser texture as well as the heat.
Clam sizesThirty-two medium clams means hardshells roughly littleneck size. Ranhofer only leaves them whole if they are very small; at medium size they should be cut up.
"Lucines orangées"The French title names a specific clam, but Ranhofer is translating loosely for an American kitchen. Any sweet hardshell clam works; do not substitute surf clam, which is coarser and needs longer cooking.
Emptying the crustsThe scored oval lifts out as a lid once fried, leaving a shallow case. Fry in clarified butter rather than whole butter, which will burn before the bread colours, and drain the moment they take colour or they will keep browning in their own fat.
YieldEight crusts, so four servings as a hot side dish or first course, two as a light supper. The chafing-dish version on toast serves about four as an hors-d'oeuvre.

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 habit of attaching a patron's name to a dish - Schenk, Morgan, Morton, Chamberlain in the surrounding entries - is the book working as a record of who ate there as much as of what was cooked. Clams were the New York shellfish, cheap and constant, and Ranhofer treats them with the full apparatus of French garnish cookery: forcemeat, allemande, a gratin finish. The second preparation is the more revealing of the two. Chafing-dish cookery was fashionable in American houses through the 1880s and 1890s, done at the table by the host rather than in the kitchen, and creamed clams on toast with brown bread and butter alongside is exactly the sort of thing that repertoire consisted of - restaurant technique reduced to one pan and no oven.