A guide to modern cookery

Send a Chateaubriand sauce separately. 1134—TOURNEDOS VALENTINO Prepare as many pieces of turnips, of the same diameter as the tournedos and one and one-half inch thick, as there are tournedos. Cut them neatly round, stamp them with an even and round cutter, and parboil them until they are almost completely cooked. Hollow them out, by means of a spoon, inside the mark left by the fancy-cutter, and stuff them with a preparation of semolina with Parmesan. Put these stuffed pieces of turnip in a sauté-pan; add a little water, butter, and sugar, and glaze them while finishing their cooking-process. Fry the tournedos in butter, and dish them in a circle, each on a stuffed case of turnip. 1135 —TOURNEDOS VERT-PRE Grill the tournedos, and dish them simply with half-melted butter a la Maitre-d’Hétel upon them. Surround them with alternate heaps of water-cress and freshly-fried straw potatoes. 1136—TOURNEDOS VICTORIA Fry the tournedos in butter. Dish them in a circle, each on a little round and flat croquette of chicken-meat. On each tournedos set a half-tomato tossed in butter. 1137—TOURNEDOS VILLARET Prepare (1) as many tartlet-crusts as there are tournedos; (2) a sufficient quantity of very smooth flageolet purée to garnish the tartlets; (3) a fine grilled tomato per each tournedos. Grill the tournedos, and dish them on the garnished tartlets. On each tournedos set a grilled mushroom, the hollow of which should have been filled with Chateaubriand sauce. 1138—TOURNEDOS VILLENEUVE Fry the tournedos in butter, and dish them in a circle on little quoit-shaped croquettes of chicken-meat, fried at the last moment. On each tournedos set a crown of small roundels of tongue and truffle, laid alternately, and a small grooved mushroom in the middle. Send a Chateaubriand sauce separately. 1139—TOURNEDOS VILLEMER Grill the tournedos, and dish them in a circle, each on a fried, hollowed-out crust, garnished with truffled Soubise. On each tournedos set a large slice of truffle coated with meat-glaze. 1140—FILETS EN CHEVREUIL For the ‘‘en chevreuil ’’ treatment, the meat used is generally cut from the narrowest end of the fillet of beef. The weight of the pieces cut should average about three oz. each. After having slightly flattened and trimmed them, lard them with very thin strips of bacon, and marinade them for a few hours in the raw marinade given under No. 169. When about to cook them, dry them thoroughly, and fry them quickly in hot oil, taking care that the latter be smoking, and therefore hot enough to set the meat and to cause its external moisture to evaporate. The fillets may be accompanied by all vegetable purées and highly-seasoned sauces, the most suitable of the latter being the Poivrade and the Chasseur. 1141—SIRLOIN OF BEEF (Relevé) Sirloin of beef is that part of the bullock’s back reaching from the haunch to the floating ribs, which is equivalent to the saddle in veal and mutton. This piece, however, cannot properly be called ‘“‘sirloin,’’ except when it comprises the fillet or undercut, and the upper fillet (Fr.: contrefilet), so-called to distinguish it from the undercut. If this joint be treated whole, it need only be shortened by suppressing the flank, and by sectioning the ligament lying alongside of the chine on the upper fillet, in different places. A little fat is left on the undercut, but none whatever must be removed from the upper fillet. As a rule, when sirloin of beef is braised, it is cut laterally into pieces weighing from six to seven lbs. If it is to be roasted, it is best to keep it whole. When served as a relevé, it is braised or roasted, and is kept underdone if so desired. Unless it be of excellent quality, however, braised sirloin generally turns out to be dry.