Chef Juliette
Selle de Chevreuil et Cuissot
Selle de Chevreuil et Cuissot teaches the discipline of game: strip every tendon, skip marinade for a young, well-hung joint, roast in butter, and stop before leanness turns to dryness.
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Filets de Levraut à la Mornay
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1817, Filets de Levraut à la Mornay, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Leveret collops and buttered croûtons meet slice for slice with black truffle, then a pale Madeira glaze is strained, mounted with cold butter, and poured over the lot. The lesson is timing; the reward is gloss.
Main Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
45 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Filets de Levraut à la Mornay (thin leveret medallions with truffle, buttered bread rounds, and Madeira) teaches the discipline of the final five minutes. Before you touch a pan, know this: every collop, croûton, and truffle slice must be cut and counted, the serving dish must be hot, and the sauce ingredients must be waiting. Once the meat begins its sauté, there is no useful pause.
The original formula assumed two leverets to trim, a saucier on staff, pale meat glaze drawn from stock never off the fire, and another pair of hands coloring the croûtons while the collops cooked. A salamander has no part in this entry, so we won't invent one; a low oven warms the timbale perfectly well. At home, you buy the four trimmed saddle fillets, reduce unsalted stock into the required glaze, and brown the croûtons just before the meat. Those are scaffolding changes for one cook. The matched pieces, truffle cooked in Madeira, quick sauté, strained reduction, and generous monter au beurre, whisking cold butter into the sauce, are the dish and must stay.
When it lands correctly, the leveret is tender, the croûtons are butter-gold but beginning to drink in the sauce, and each dark truffle slice carries a glaze deepened by the pan's fond. One cook, one stove, one evening. The sauté decides everything: dry meat, high heat, an uncrowded pan, and seconds rather than minutes.
Filets de Levraut à la Mornay belongs to the grand Parisian dining-room repertory, where patron names often traveled with dishes from private tables into celebrated public houses. The source records the formula as the Comte de Mornay's own contribution to one such house, which made the combination of leveret, truffle, Madeira, and buttered croûtons a specialty. Despite its name, this is not Sauce Mornay: there is no béchamel or cheese, because à la Mornay here identifies the patron's preparation rather than the familiar sauce family.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
boneless leveret saddle fillets
Quantity
4 fillets (about 1 lb 5 oz / 600 g)
trimmed of sinew and silver skin
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
pain de mie
Quantity
6 large slices (about 6 oz / 170 g)
crusts removed
unsalted butter for the croûtons
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
unsalted butter for clarifying
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g)
clarified to yield about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
black truffles
Quantity
1 large or 2 medium (about 4 oz / 115 g)
cut into one thick slice for every collop
dry or medium-dry Madeira
Quantity
1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g)
unsalted pale veal or chicken stock
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / 480 g)
for reducing to 1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g) of glaze
cold unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g)
cut into small cubes
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| boneless leveret saddle filletstrimmed of sinew and silver skin | 4 fillets (about 1 lb 5 oz / 600 g) |
| fine salt | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
| pain de miecrusts removed | 6 large slices (about 6 oz / 170 g) |
| unsalted butter for the croûtons | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) |
| unsalted butter for clarifyingclarified to yield about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) |
| black trufflescut into one thick slice for every collop | 1 large or 2 medium (about 4 oz / 115 g) |
| dry or medium-dry Madeira | 1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| unsalted pale veal or chicken stockfor reducing to 1/2 cup (120 ml / 120 g) of glaze | 2 cups (480 ml / 480 g) |
| cold unsalted buttercut into small cubes | 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan
- •10-inch (25 cm) skillet for croûtons
- •Two small saucepans, including one about 2 quarts
- •1-inch (2.5 cm) round cutter for the bread
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Instant-read thermometer with a fine probe
- •Heatproof deep serving bowl or timbale
Instructions
- 1
Make the pale glaze
Pour the unsalted stock into a wide saucepan and boil it steadily until only 1/2 cup (120 ml) remains and it lightly coats a cold spoon, about 20 to 25 minutes. This concentrated stock is the home equivalent of the succulent pale glaze that a classical stockpot supplied without asking. Keep it unsalted until the end. If it slips past the mark and turns sticky, add water a tablespoon at a time until you have 1/2 cup again.
Use a light, gelatin-rich stock without tomato or dark roasting flavors. A salty packaged reduction becomes punishing before it becomes a glaze. - 2
Clarify the butter
While the stock reduces, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter over the gentlest heat. Skim away the pale foam, then pour the clear butterfat into a small cup, leaving the milky sediment behind. You need about 3 tablespoons of clarified butter for the collops; its missing milk solids let the pan run hot without scorching.
- 3
Cut matched pieces
Chill the leveret fillets for 10 minutes if they feel soft, then slice them across the grain into collops 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter and 1/3 inch (8 mm) thick. Count them. Cut the same number of bread croûtons, each matching the collops in diameter but only half their thickness, then cut one substantial truffle slice for every collop. Keep the meat cold and uncovered so its surface stays dry. This counting is not decoration; each forkful is meant to carry meat, bread, and truffle together.
- 4
Color the croûtons
Set a heatproof timbale, a deep serving bowl, in a 200°F (95°C) oven to warm. Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in a broad skillet over medium heat, then fry the croûtons in a single layer until evenly golden on both faces. Move them to a rack or plate and keep them near the stove. The source colored bread and meat simultaneously; doing the croûtons first removes the extra pair of hands while preserving the buttered crust.
- 5
Cook truffles in Madeira
Put the truffle slices and half the Madeira into a small saucepan. Bring them just to a tremble and cook for 45 to 60 seconds, then lift the truffles into a warm 2-quart saucepan and reserve every drop of the Madeira. This happens at the last minute because prolonged cooking spends the truffle's perfume before the dish reaches the table.
- 6
Sauté the collops
Pat the collops dry and season them with the salt and pepper. Heat the clarified butter in a wide sauté pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then cook the collops in uncrowded batches, about 45 to 60 seconds on the first face and 20 to 40 seconds on the second. They should brown at the edges, turn just firm, and reach 160°F (71°C) at the center of a test piece. Transfer each batch to the saucepan with the truffles, then add the croûtons. If the pan fills with liquid, remove the meat immediately, let the liquid boil away, and restore the heat before continuing. Ça se rattrape, provided you don't leave the collops sitting there to stew.
Thin collops cook through very quickly. Test the thickest piece from the first batch, then use its timing for the rest. - 7
Reduce the pan sauce
Pour the reserved truffle Madeira and the remaining Madeira into the hot sauté pan. Scrape the fond from the floor with a wooden spoon, then add the 1/2 cup of pale glaze. Boil briskly until the sauce tastes concentrated and coats the back of a spoon in a thin, glossy layer, about 2 to 4 minutes. Strain it through a fine sieve into a clean warm saucepan. Straining stays because the sauce must be smooth; the separate saucier can go.
- 8
Monter au beurre
Take the sauce completely off the heat. Whisk in the cold butter a few cubes at a time, letting each addition disappear before adding the next, until the sauce is glossy, softly thickened, and generous enough to cling to every collop. Taste and adjust the salt only now. Never boil it after the butter goes in. If it separates into oily streaks, put 1 teaspoon of cold water in a clean warm pan and whisk the broken sauce into it one spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape.
- 9
Bind and serve
Pour the finished sauce over the leveret, croûtons, and truffles. Fold them together gently for no more than 10 seconds, just long enough to coat without breaking the bread. Transfer everything to the very hot timbale, spoon every trace of sauce over the top, and serve immediately. This dish does not wait under a lamp, and neither should your guests. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Buy leveret or young hare saddle from an inspected game dealer and ask for the four long fillets already removed. Rabbit loin is milder and softer, while venison loin is darker and firmer; either can follow the method, but neither is an invisible substitution for leveret.
- •Fresh black truffle carries the dish when it is in season. At another time, use whole preserved black truffles of good quality and the same drained weight. Truffle oil cannot provide the slices, texture, or measured perfume this formula requires.
- •Choose Sercial for the driest Madeira or Verdelho for a slightly rounder sauce. Avoid a sweet Madeira, because reduction concentrates its sugar and turns the sauce heavy.
- •Keep the exact count of collops, croûtons, and truffle slices. It looks fussy on the board and makes perfect sense on the fork. Cooking well is not cooking fancy.
- •A red Burgundy with fresh acidity suits the dark game and Madeira without smothering the truffle. Pour it before the sauté begins, because the finished dish allows no delay.
- •We don't apologize for butter, but we do control its temperature. Cold cubes and an off-heat pan make the emulsion; boiling undoes it.
Advance Preparation
- •Reduce the stock to pale glaze up to 2 days ahead, chill it promptly, and keep it covered. Warm it before it reaches the sauté pan.
- •Clarified butter keeps well under refrigeration for several days. Melt it gently before cooking without disturbing any sediment.
- •Trim and cut the leveret up to 4 hours ahead, then keep the collops cold and uncovered on a rack or paper-lined tray. Cut the bread rounds at the same time and hold them separately at room temperature.
- •Slice the truffles, brown the croûtons, sauté the meat, and finish the sauce close to serving. The completed dish does not hold well, and reheating toughens the leveret while the croûtons collapse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 255g)
Calories
660 calories
Total Fat
43 g
Saturated Fat
25 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
16 g
Cholesterol
190 mg
Sodium
900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
25 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
42 g
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