Chef Juliette
Potato Croquettes
Dry the purée until it becomes a paste, bind it with yolks, then crumb à l'anglaise and fry: crisp golden croquettes with a tender center that hold their shape in hot fat.
Culinary Explorer
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Maintenon (Stuffing for Côtelettes à la Maintenon)
Created by Chef Juliette
Maintenon turns two finished sauces into a dense, mushroom-studded stuffing: reduce them by half, bind them off the heat with yolks, and it will stay where a breaded côtelette needs it.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
30 min cook•1 hr 15 min total
YieldAbout 1¼ cups (300 ml), enough for 4 côtelettes
Maintenon (a dense Béchamel and Soubise stuffing) teaches one uncompromising principle: make the body through reduction before the yolks go in. The yolks bind and enrich, but they cannot rescue a loose base. Properly made, Maintenon falls from the spoon in glossy folds, chills to a spreadable paste, and stays against the côtelettes instead of escaping into the pan.
The grand kitchen assumed a saucier tending finished parent sauces beside a stockpot that never cooled, with a salamander waiting to finish the assembled chops. Your honest equivalents are prepared Béchamel, Soubise Sauce (No. 104), a heavy two-quart saucepan, and an ordinary broiler when the full côtelette recipe eventually calls for it. This formula is scaled to roughly five-eighths of the brigade measure, enough for four chops, with only the yolks rounded to a practical whole number. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Making the two parent sauces inside this preparation was work the brigade had already completed, so reach for them finished and leave their separate methods whole. That is scaffolding. The brisk reduction, the off-heat liaison, and the dry mushrooms are the dish itself. Reduce the combined sauces to half their measured volume before touching the yolks; this is the step that decides everything.
Maintenon belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen repertory of named preparations, and its title points to Madame de Maintenon rather than to a regional larder. For côtelettes, the name denotes an appareil, a binding mixture, of reduced white sauces, yolks, and mushrooms rather than a pourable table sauce; its dense structure also made it useful in bourgeois kitchens where breaded chops could be assembled ahead of the meal.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
finished thick Béchamel
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g)
warm
small button mushrooms
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 80 g), to yield 2½ tablespoons (38 ml / 38 g) cooked
very finely minced
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 10 g)
large egg yolks
Quantity
3 large egg yolks (about 3 tablespoons / 45 ml / 50 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| finished thick Béchamelwarm | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g) |
| Soubise Saucewarm | ⅝ cup (150 ml / 155 g) Soubise Sauce (No. 104) |
| small button mushroomsvery finely minced | 1 cup (240 ml / 80 g), to yield 2½ tablespoons (38 ml / 38 g) cooked |
| unsalted butter | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 10 g) |
| large egg yolks | 3 large egg yolks (about 3 tablespoons / 45 ml / 50 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •2-quart (2-liter) heavy-bottomed saucier or saucepan
- •Flat-ended wooden spoon or heatproof spatula
- •2-cup (500 ml) heatproof measuring jug
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Fine-mesh sieve
Instructions
- 1
Stew the mushrooms dry
Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms and étuver, stew them gently in butter, stirring often for 6 to 8 minutes. Keep them pale and cook until their released liquid has disappeared completely; the spoon should leave a dry path across the pan. Measure 2½ tablespoons (38 ml / 38 g) of cooked mushrooms and set them aside. If they still glisten with water, keep cooking. Do not add crumbs to absorb it, because mushroom moisture must leave the pan rather than enter the stuffing.
- 2
Reduce by half
Combine the Béchamel and Soubise Sauce (No. 104) in the clean heavy saucepan. Bring them to active bubbling over medium-high heat and stir continuously with a flat-ended spoon, scraping the base and corners. Reduce the measured 450 ml to 225 ml, about 12 to 18 minutes. Check the volume in a heatproof measuring jug rather than trusting the clock: the reduction should fall in heavy folds, and a channel drawn across the pan should remain open for several seconds. If you have more than 225 ml, return it to the heat. If you have gone below the mark, whisk in hot water a teaspoon at a time until the volume is restored. Ça se rattrape.
Brisk heat supplies the reduction, but constant stirring protects the milk sauces. If the base begins to catch, lower the heat and transfer the unscorched portion to a clean pan without scraping the bottom. - 3
Make the yolk liaison
Take the saucepan completely off the heat and let the bubbling subside for 1 minute. Whisk the yolks smooth in a heatproof bowl, then gradually whisk in about ¼ cup (60 ml) of the hot reduction to temper them. Whisk this liaison, the yolk thickening, back into the saucepan until the mixture turns satiny and gains body. It should reach at least 71°C (160°F); if it falls short, return it to the lowest heat and stir constantly just until it reaches that temperature, never allowing it to bubble. If tiny yolk flecks appear, remove it immediately, whisk in 1 teaspoon of cold water, and press it through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Ça se rattrape, provided you stop before the yolks fully scramble.
- 4
Fold and cool
Fold the cooked mushrooms into the hot Maintenon until they are evenly dispersed. Do not cook it further. Scrape the stuffing into a shallow dish, smooth it into an even layer, and press parchment directly against the surface. Cool briefly, then refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until cold and firm enough to hold a ridge from the spoon.
- 5
Judge the set
Test a cold spoonful before assembling the côtelettes. Maintenon should spread without tearing the meat, yet remain exactly where you place it in a layer about 5 mm thick. Allow up to ¼ cup (60 ml) for each côtelette, following the assembly and cooking directions in the full chop recipe. If the mixture merely seems soft, chill it longer. If it flows when fully cold, it was under-reduced; return it to the lowest heat, stir until it again forms heavy folds, then cool it completely before use.
Chef Tips
- •Use finished Béchamel and Soubise Sauce (No. 104) with real body, not thin pouring sauces. Their seasoning will concentrate during reduction, so taste them together before heating and add no extra salt unless the finished Maintenon truly needs it.
- •Choose small white button mushrooms and mince them finely enough to disappear into the appareil. Brown cremini mushrooms are usable, but they darken the filling and give it a more assertive woodland flavor than the source intends.
- •Butter, not oil. The mushrooms should stew gently until dry while remaining pale; hard browning would pull the stuffing away from its quiet onion, mushroom, and cream character.
- •Maintenon is not meant to nap a spoon and flow. It is a structural stuffing, dense enough to survive coating and cooking without leaking from the côtelettes.
Advance Preparation
- •The Béchamel and Soubise Sauce (No. 104) can be prepared up to 2 days ahead, chilled promptly, and warmed gently before they are combined.
- •Finished Maintenon keeps for up to 2 days under parchment in a covered container in the refrigerator. Cool it quickly and keep it at or below 4°C (40°F).
- •Do not freeze the finished stuffing. The Béchamel and yolk liaison can release water after thawing, which is precisely what the dense filling must avoid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 138g)
Calories
225 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
175 mg
Sodium
225 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
6 g
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