Minions of Tenderloin, Pompadour

Tenderloin fillets topped with Bearnaise, jardiniere and artichoke.

Procure two and a half pounds of tender fillet of beef, pare it neatly all around and cut it up into six equal sized small fillets; flatten them slightly and equally and put them on a dish, season with a pinch of salt and half a pinch of pepper, then put them in a pan on a hot range with half a gill of clarified butter, allowing them to cook for four minutes on either side, next prepare a pint of Bearnaise sauce, dress three-quarters of it on a hot dish and reserve the other quarter for further use. Next lay six round-shaped pieces of bread croutons fried in butter over the Bearnaise sauce and dress the six fillets one on top of each crouton and fix six warmed artichoke bottoms right in the middle of the fillets; fill up the artichokes with a tablespoonful of hot jardiniere garnishing and evenly divide the remaining pint of hot Bearnaise sauce over the jardiniere, and then cut into six evenly shaped slices one good sized truffle and put one slice on the top of each in the center of the Bearnaise sauce, and serve as hot as possible.