Escoffier At Home

Tag: butter

2921. Côtes de Porc à la Flamande, Baked Porkchops with Apples

Escoffier recipe for making côtes de porc à la flamande, baked porkchops with apples, at home (Escoffier, 2921).

Have you ever made pork chops with apple sauce for dinner before? Well then, if you have, you’ve already cooked côtes de porc à la flamande. This Escoffier recipe is a very simple, but delicious dish of pork chops with baked apples. It’s a quick dinner to make, too!

Côtes de Porc à la Flamande, Baked Porkchops with Apples

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Quarter, core, and peel the apples (allow one apple per chop). Cut them up in thick slices and coat with the lemon juice to prevent their browning. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a hot pan, and quickly brown the pork chops on both sides. Remove them to an earthenware or ceramic baking pan in a single layer. Save those pan juices!

Cover the chops with apple slices and drizzle them with the leftover butter and pan juices.

Bake in a 375ºF oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Remove and let rest, then dish ’em up!

We served our côtes de porc à la flamande with some leftover mashed potatoes and stuffing from Thanksgiving.

Ingredients
4 boneless pork loin chops
4 Granny Smith apples
Juice of one-half lemon
35g Challenge unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Equipment
Cutting board and kitchen knife
Salter digital scale
Measuring bowls
Small bowl
Frying pan
Set of tongs or spatula
Baking dish

25 November 2012
0282. Flour Panada

Recipe for making Flour Panada for all meat and fish forcemeats, les farces (Escoffier, 282).

Flour Panada

Used as a general base to thicken all meat and fish forcemeats, les farces in French cooking, this simple mixture of bread and milk is called a panada, (not to be confused with the Italian bread soup of the same name). There are five types of panada described by Escoffier, each suitable for thickening different types of forcemeats: bread panada, flour panada, Frangipane panada, rice panada and potato panada. They are generally used in a 1:2 ratio with the ingredient they are thickening, sometimes with eggs and butter added.

In a small saucepan, bring the water, salt and butter to a simmer over medium heat.

Turn down the heat, whisk in the flour, return to medium heat and stir.

Turn out onto a prepared flat surface (buttered cookie sheet, Silpat mat, or cutting board) to cool.

Store the panada in a covered plastic container in the refrigerator.

Ingredients
305g water
50g Challenge unsalted butter
salt, to taste if you like
150g Gold Medal all-purpose flour, sifted

Equipment
Salter digital scale
Measuring bowls
Kitchen knife and cutting board
Small saucepan
Wire whisk
Rubber spatula
Cookie sheet or Silpat mat
Plastic container

From the Book

282 Flour Panada
Suitable for all fish and meat forcemeats.

Ingredients:
3dl (1 1/4c) water
pinch of salt
50g (3oz) butter
150g (5oz) sifted flour

Method:
Place the water, salt and butter in a pan and bring to the boil; add and mix in the flour away from the fire, then return to a good heat and mix with a wooden spoon as for Chou Paste. Turn out onto a buttered tray or dish to allow to cool.

A. Escoffier. Le guide culinaire: the complete guide to modern cookery, H.L. Cracknell & R.J.Kaufmann, transl.

24 November 2012
0013. Roux Brun, Brown Roux

Escoffier recipe for making roux brun, brown roux, at home (Escoffier, 13).

What is a roux? It’s a simple thickener, made with only two ingredients – butter and flour! Roux brun (“roo BROWN”), is made the same way as roux blanc and roux blond. The only difference is it’s cooked longer, until the flour turns a strong brown color. Its taste is described as very toasty or nutty.

Mise en place for brown roux:

Roux Brun, Brown Roux

Make some clarified butter, by melting the unsalted butter, skimming off its foam and saving the yellow butterfat.

Mix the clarified butter and flour together in a heavy pan and cook on low heat, whisking for about 30-35 minutes — or until the flour turns a strong brown color.

This dark roux may used to thicken up many types of gravies and heavy, darker sauces. When you cook the roux for this length of time, the clarified butter separates from the flour. Escoffier even suggests the butter may be saved for another use. I just stir it up to re-incorporate the oil a bit before using.

When mixing a roux into sauce, be careful to either a: mix cold roux into a hot sauce, or b: mix hot roux into a cold sauce. This activates the starch so it will thicken your sauce.

White roux and blond roux are made the exact same way, only cooked for shorter lengths of time. Here’s a shot of them side-by-side for comparison. From left to right: white, blond and brown roux.

Ingredients
225g clarified butter, unsalted
275g sifted, all-purpose flour

Equipment
Salter digital scale
Cutting board and kitchen knife
Heavy-bottomed pan or medium saucepan
Wire whisk
Plastic container

20 November 2012
0014. Roux Blond, Blond Roux

Escoffier recipe for making roux blond, blond roux, at home (Escoffier, 14).

What is a roux? It’s a simple thickener, made with only two ingredients – butter and flour! Roux blond (“roo BLON”), is made the same way as roux blanc. The only difference is it’s cooked few minutes more, until the flour starts turning a golden blonde color. Keep cooking it and you get roux brun.

Mise en place for blond roux:

Blond Roux

Make some clarified butter, by melting the unsalted butter, skimming off its foam and saving the yellow butterfat.

Mix the clarified butter and flour together in a heavy pan and cook on low heat, whisking for about 15-20 minutes — or until the flour smells nutty and begins to turn a golden color. It may take more or less time depending on the level of heat used.

This roux is used to thicken up lighter-colored sauces, like fish velouté.

White roux and brown roux are made the exact same way, only cooked for different lengths of time. Here’s a shot of them side-by-side for comparison. From left to right: white, blond and brown roux.

Ingredients
225g clarified unsalted butter
275g sifted, all-purpose flour

Equipment
Salter digital scale
Cutting board and kitchen knife
Heavy-bottomed pan or medium saucepan
Wire whisk
Plastic container

20 November 2012
0175. Beurre Clarifié, Clarified Butter [1907]

Escoffier recipe for making beurre clarifié, clarified butter, at home (Escoffier, 175 [1907 ed]).

What is clarified butter? It’s one of the easiest things to make in your kitchen, and so useful in a wide variety of recipes. You’ve no-doubt already had it in some American seafood restaurant as ‘drawn butter’ with trout, steamed lobster tail or crab claws.

It’s easy as 1-2-3!

1. Melt some butter.
2. Skim the foam from the surface.
3. Save the clear yellow liquid.

This is called ‘clarifying’ the butter. What’s left is the actual butterfat, also known as ‘butter oil.’

If you heat it until it’s a little nutty smelling, you have Indian ghee. If you heat it some more, you have brown butter, or French beurre noisette. And if you whisk butter into a little boiling water, you have beurre monté.

Beurre Clarifié, Clarified Butter

Cut some butter up in cubes. I like Challenge Dairy brand, but use your own favorite unsalted butter. Don’t use salted or sweet butter. And margarine is right out — that’s a no-no.

Melt the butter over slow heat in a saucepan. Be careful not to heat it too quickly. You don’t want to burn the butter.

Cooking until a salty foam separates to its surface. This is salt and casein, which has separated from the pure yellow butterfat.

Remove from the heat and skim off the top layer.There will be a clearer liquid layer at the bottom – water and whey.

You can strain the butter through a sieve or damp cheesecloth if you really feel like it, but it’s not necessary. When saving, leave the last watery layer in the pan.

Clarified butter may be saved just as regular butter in the fridge. If you’re planning on using it in a recipe, keep it warm while preparing your other components, as it will start to solidify at room temp. I keep mine on the stovetop, nearby a burner (not on direct heat).

Ingredients
16oz unsalted butter

Equipment
Salter digital scale
Cutting board and kitchen knife
Medium saucepan
Wire whisk
Strainer and/or cheesecloth
Plastic container or pan

Total time: Prep: 1 minute, Cook: 5 minutes

Yields: 14 oz clarified butter.

From the Book

175—Clarified Butter

A certain quantity of clarified butter should always be kept ready and handy.

To prepare this butter, put one lb. to melt in a saucepan large enough to hold twice that amount. Place the saucepan on the side of the fire, over moderate heat; remove all the scum which rises to the surface, and, when the butter looks quite clear and all foreign substances have dropped to the bottom, put the liquid carefully away and strain it through muslin.

— A. Escoffier, A guide to modern cookery, 1907.

20 November 2012